Boston University students dressed as zombies stood in front of the George Sherman Union on Friday to protest the BU level-4 biosafety lab built in Roxbury.
The lab, if opened, would research dangerous and highly contagious pathogens and has caused controversy over the past decade.
Demonstrators have been protesting the BioLab since 2003 when the idea was proposed, but some BU students hoped their approach would catch the public eye.
“Roxbury is a dumping ground for depots, disposal areas and garbage facilities,” said Graduate School of Arts and Sciences third-year student Ian Chinich. “This is a form of eco-racism.”
Other concerns of the group included the facility’s inability to meet health codes.
Zena Ozeir, a CAS junior and BU BioLab protestor, said she was concerned with the BioLab’s alleged standard failures.
“BU has failed the [National Institutes of Health] test multiple times,” Ozeir said. “I just don’t see a way for this being safe in such a populated area.”
The facility, which finished construction in 2009, may be opening for research this fall.
Ozeir’s said her main concern was the university’s response to the controversy.
“I don’t think that they are taking us seriously,” Ozeir said. “I don’t know if they have addressed [the BioLab] enough to know that they are taking it seriously.”
Ozeir said she is frustrated with BU’s response to the groups’ actions and wishes that they would be more communicative about the issues.
“I think [the BioLab] is something that [BU] should be more transparent about,” Ozeir said.
The office of President Robert Brown declined to comment.