As an alumnus of Boston University, I am pleased that our president ad interim is taking an active role with our students. I was a student who was actively involved in a number of on-campus activities, including the Student Union Executive Board, as well as a Scarlet Key Award recipient, and I can honestly say that I was never given the forum to meet the president of the university.

I felt then, and continue to feel now, that students who take an active role in the university should be given an outlet to express their concerns and suggestions on reasonable improvements that would better the lives of the student population. Boston University prides itself on the fact that its incoming students are brighter and more diverse every year, but they do not take advantage of all that these students could bring to the table regarding long-term university reform. Instead, they are left feeling disconnect from those leaders who impact the public’s perception of a university to which they contribute daily.

With all of the issues that the university has been having with its leadership, as well as the Student Union leadership, I believe that more students would take an active role in their university experience if they felt they could contribute to making a difference in the future of the university. I left Boston University feeling confident that I impacted the lives of students in one way or another; however, I left feeling the university as a whole did not recognize the work of my classmates and myself in a broad way.

Congratulations to our new president for recognizing this from the start and allowing students voices to really be heard!

Jessie Lemovitz CAS ’01 (617) 470-9676