Carl Woog’s perspective (“Everyone can help in university development,” Sept. 16, pg. 6) about how everyone can do his or her part has inspired me to get my thoughts out on “the good and the bad” of Boston University. I fully agree with Mr. Woog that students should engage in open discourse more often, so I write to the readers of The Daily Free Press.

Allow me to share how BU gladdens me on a daily basis. I am glad that our student body is united and bands together outside of class time. Seeing that Boston-accented lobsters bring a swell of pride to even those from Arizona warms my heart. Clearly we attend hockey games and lectures by Elie Wiesel out of BU pride, not because we love sports or wish to receive a timeless blessing from listening to one of history’s greatest survivors. Thank God for the student government, which has been able to shepherd us all to these tremendous BU events.

Let me also address some of the diverse ideas which the student government is currently tackling.

How inventive the student government is to offer monetary rewards to student groups for bringing in voters! This melding of capitalism and democracy is surely in the spirit that all free-voting people have sought. This encouraging proposal plants faith in my heart that our Student Union seeks fairness and justice above all else. Let BU never be accused of being an undemocratic campus with an atmosphere dubious to its own students.

Yes, Mr. Woog, I will keep the good and bad in perspective. As I take tests at squeaky desks in the basement of the Mathematics and Computer Science building or engage in group projects at the wobbly tables in SED 406, knowing Warren Towers is getting new ovens to replace their already functioning ovens warmly assures me of the “good” of BU. I know when I consider the “good” of BU, the first thought in my mind is the new structure rising up from the bulldozed ruins of the old Armory. Perhaps not rising like a phoenix, but it certainly offers tribute to BU’s priorities.

I could not have spoken better that “the feeling of Boston University is what we as the students make of it.” Sadly however, I must dissent and say that the wide display of BU apparel does not cause me to draw this conclusion. No, you see, BU gladdens me on a daily basis because BU always fulfills my expectations – as does the student government.

I remember seeing Carl Woog and his “True 2” slate in the Tsai Performance Center during a debate between the competing slates. I remember thinking how much like administrators “True 2” looked and how abrasive they were to their fellow slates. But assuredly, Mr. Woog and his cohorts have made themselves closer to the BU student body. They promote diversity of both race and thoughts among students, even though the vice president of multicultural affairs position has been removed from the E-Board.

Every year BU fulfills what I have expected of it. Thank you Carl Woog because you have also helped fill my expectations. And I assure you that I, and many others, will receive a degree while having the “good and bad” in perspective.

Nicholas Pasquale CAS/SED ’04