When I read the headline of the Daily Free Press article today (“Group’s fliers banned from tour groups,” April 14, pg. 3), my initial thought was “that’s news to me.” Displeased Students at Boston University has not been banned from handing out fliers, we were simply discouraged by the administrators at the GSU. When an administrator approached me to say she was “not appreciative” of our actions, I made sure I had the right to be handing out fliers, and then I left.
Furthermore, my quote about Dean Elmore was taken out of context. I said that he might use the logical “silent majority” argument if we did not have enough signatures, and that is why he would not support our proposed changes. Though I cannot prove it, I believe this is just another area where student apathy hurts us as a community.
DSBU does not wish to be at odds with the administration. Accordingly, handing out those flyers will not be a regular thing. We did it this one time to make a statement: Prospective students should be informed about these policies before they enroll at the university. This should not be the Office of Admissions’ problem, though, as their goal is to make the university look attractive to students. As students, it is our responsibility to inform prospective students of BU’s controversial policies before they enroll so that they can make an informed decision before they enroll. On our website, http://people.bu/edu/dsbu, you can view the letter that I have written to prospective students informing them of the pros and cons of the university.
In this respect, DSBU takes offense to Colin Riley’s statement, implying that we did not act in a “mature and responsible” way. We performed no action that would merit such a response and we have, in fact, “gone to the right people” as well. If the university did not have such disagreeable policies, they would have nothing to hide. By discouraging DSBU from handing out flyers, the university has acknowledged that such policies might dissuade prospective students from attending BU; they have acknowledged that these policies are not what students look for in a school.
Seth Lubin UNI ’06 President, Displeased Students at Boston University