As students returned to campus last weekend, the guest policy proposal, which was submitted to Boston University President Jon Westling more than five months ago, has not brought about the changes in the original policy for which the authors of the proposal had hoped.
Complicating the matter was the resignation of President Jon Westling in early July. The proposal remained on Westling’s desk at the time of his resignation, and, as a result, he was unable to fulfill his early-summer promise of a response to the Union’s proposal by the beginning of this academic year.
Union President and former BU Free President Ethan Clay delivered the proposal to Chancellor John Silber in mid-July. Silber will act as the president of BU until a permanent President is found.
Clay said he plans to meet with Silber in the next two weeks, but there has been no official response from the president’s office. Silber could not be reached for comment in the weeks after he received the report.
Silber, who made several controversial comments about the student effort last March, made positive comments about the possibility of changing the policy in a July interview with The Daily Free Press, though he had yet to see the Union’s actual report and proposal.
“Well, one thing — and as I say, I haven’t seen that document [the proposal] — but one thing that I’ve heard about that may have some serious justification is this question about, suppose your brother or sister or your cousin arrives in town unexpectedly, and you don’t have time to get a permit — 24-hours in advance, 48-hours in advance, whatever it is — and so you can’t put them up,” Silber said during the interview. “Now, I think we can do something about that.”
During the same interview, Silber said his likely response to the Union’s proposal would be to form a committee to review the issue and suggest changes to the current policy. His comments were much less combative than those he made in mid-March, saying “there may be aspects of that guest policy that call for correction.”
Silber did, however, maintain that much of the current policy makes sense.
“The only reason that we put this ban on overnight guests in rooms was at the request of students,” he said. “It wasn’t something that was conjured up in the central administration and we decided, ‘How could we put a chastity belt on the student body?’ That’s not what we tried to do.
“Many of the student body were damn tired of not being able to get a night’s sleep because an inconsiderate roommate brought in a girlfriend or a boyfriend to spend all night in lovemaking while they were trying to sleep, or while they were trying to study,” he continued.
Efforts on changing the policy began early last semester and students have not yet received any response on the proposal from the administration. The proposal called for 24-hour student access to all dormitories on campus and relaxed non-student visitation rules. It was part of a 78-page report submitted by an ad hoc Student Union committee to change the policy, comprised of both members of the Union and BU Free, a group that was formed to enact change in the Guest Policy.
According to Clay, Silber received an updated copy of the report that included only minor changes and clarifications from last year’s version.
“The initial proposal was from the last Student Union,” Clay said. “I wanted to update things, and after reading about Chancellor Silber and the history of BU, it opened my eyes to ways we could better advance our argument.”
Clay said he met with Silber the week he took office, and they discussed several student issues including the guest policy. According to Clay, he discovered during the meeting that Silber had not seen a copy of the Union’s proposal, and Clay said he sent one to Silber the following Monday. Silber has been out of town much of the last month and will continue a busy schedule over the next few weeks, according to Clay.
Despite Silber’s negative comments toward the majority of the proposed changes, Clay said he was happy there were comments, saying it indicated the school’s top administrators were noticing the efforts put forth by the ad hoc committee.
“If we go by that alone, the past year has been a success,” Clay said. “The administration is working on it and the administration has recognized areas of the policy that can be improved.
“If we get a committee formed, that is a huge success,” Clay continued. “As for specific changes to the policy, it comes down to the negotiating table.”
The Union is planning a guest policy campaign similar to last year’s, according to Clay, including posters in dorms and information tables in the George Sherman Union Link. However, Clay said the Guest Policy will be no more important than many other Union initiatives this year.
“Our slate ran on the true college experience,” Clay said. “This is just a fraction of the experience.”
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