Students send messages of tolerance

A little slice of tolerance and love, in 30 minutes or less.

That’s the message members of the Boston University chapter of NAACP, Spectrum, the Multicultural Committee and the Black Student Association, teamed with members of the Watertown High School Peer Leadership program, worked to ‘deliver’ Thursday night by decorating pizza boxes with slogans promoting tolerance and respect.

The boxes, which carry different respectful phrases, will be displayed in various BU dining halls through January or February as part of the Student Union’s ‘RESPECT’ campaign, according to Deborah Greene, the Union Vice President of Multicultural Affairs.

The ‘Deliver the Message’ boxes were the brainchild of Jennifer Silverberg, facilitator for the Watertown Peer Leadership program. She said she made a mental connection between the ‘Deliver the Message’ theme and the idea of delivering pizza or take-out, hence the decorative pizza boxes bearing messages like ‘You Hate When You Discriminate’ and ‘You Can’t Judge a Book By Its Cover.’

The Watertown students came to BU to help bring their message to a broader community, Greene said.

‘BU is the first one,’ she said. ‘They want to take it to the greater Boston area.’

Silverberg said the group plans to try to display the boxes in Watertown pizzerias if possible and also plans to staple papers with respectful messages or results from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey to pizza boxes being delivered in the city.

Amy Fisher, a senior at Watertown High School, said she thought the campaign was a good idea because it promotes positive messages through art.

‘You can only say so much and have it all be heard … it’s looked at in a little bit different kind of perspective than if they just listen,’ Fisher said.

Fisher said being in the peer leadership program has been a positive experience for her because it allows her to share opinions with peers who care about the same issues. ‘We all work together and respect each other,’ she said.

Brendan Antonelli, a Watertown junior and member of the peer leadership group, said he had reservations about the ‘Deliver the Message’ project at first, but warmed up to it after he made his first pizza box.

‘Originally I was like, ‘That’s kind of weird,” but after working on the project, Antonelli said the program made more sense. ‘We just randomly threw things on one [pizza box]. It was more after you got involved,’ he said.

Aaron Herfurth, a CAS junior and president of Spectrum, BU’s Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender student organization, was working on a box emblazoned with ‘Respect Love’ and anime drawings.

‘It’s really going to show that BU is a place for respect,’ he said.

Greene said she thinks BU students will respond positively to the campaign.

‘They will be drawn to it because it’s art, and art is a wonderful medium to relay a message,’ Greene said. ‘People will see it and be more socially aware of what’s going on in the community and what their peers have to say.’

She also said the campaign provided benefits for the high school students involved.

‘These high school students are so eager to meet college students,’ Greene said. ‘This is another good way for interaction, not just for BU students but for them also.’