EDIT: Union’s fate up to Provost

It is no secret that this year’s Student Union had a rocky start. While it began with infighting and resignations from a number of the body’s top officials, it was also a year filled with a number of positive changes including record turnouts at Programming Council events, the formation of a committee to investigate the possibility of bringing cable to campus and the complete reformatting of the Union’s structure.

While the heated first semester ultimately delayed the Union’s initiatives, the body was still able to accomplish a number of important tasks – although mainly during the second semester. A newly renovated Guest Policy proposal is currently in the hands of administrators and a committee has been formed to discuss bringing cable to campus – a feat many thought would never be accomplished.

The Union has made huge steps forward in the effort to bring cable to campus. While the arrival of President ad interim Aram Chobanian as Boston University’s top administrator provided the Union with a number of opportunities that were not available under President emeritus John Silber’s reign, the Union took advantage of those opportunities and worked with Chobanian to open up discussion about cable. The Union addressed Chobanian’s concerns, and the president produced a committee in return. Now that a committee has been formed, the Union must follow through with its proposal and keep pushing for cable.

Programming Council has done an excellent job this year. SUPC Chair Mike Pereira has pushed the group to organize countless successful events – the council has played host to thousands of students attending events like “Putt-Putt and Pancakes,” movies on the Warren Alpert Mall, or BU Beach, and the Back Bay Ball. The group has had a blue-ribbon-performance year and provided the Union with a much-needed area of success.

But while SUPC stands out in a class of its own, other Union groups have also made significant changes. The Environmental Initiatives Committee has made a number of steps forward in its effort to increase environmental awareness on campus and make more BU departments and schools use recycled paper. The Residence Life Committee has also increased cleanliness on campus with its initiative to bring soap and hand-towel dispensers to bathrooms in the larger dormitories.

But the inner turmoil of the beginning ultimately forced Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore to step in and reorganize the entire Union. While the Union did accomplish a number of things during the second semester, the problems delayed Union initiatives and gave the body a severely tarnished image. It’s a sad statement when another major accomplishment this semester was avoiding infighting and resignations – the bar has been set embarrassingly low. Elmore’s changes – completely reformatting the body – will allow the Union to begin with a clean slate.

Elmore made the right decision in abolishing the slate system and stopping groups of friends from running together on slates, as they have in years past. The change made for elections that allowed the most competent individuals to be elected for specific positions – not an entire group of seemingly unqualified friends.

While the combination of four different students into one Executive Board may slow things up in the beginning, the newly elected officials must act together as one body in one direction. As we have said before, President-elect Deon Provost is capable of handling the difficulties associated with new Union structure and he was the best person for the job. The results of last week’s elections demonstrate the student body’s confidence in him, and he must now work to prove them correct by acting as a strong leader, though he is in uncharted territory.

Provost will have a lot on his plate next year, as he will basically set the tone for the Union’s future. The constitution will be the biggest difficulty to overcome, as creating and passing a new constitution has been the source of many problems for the Union in the past. Provost must use the summer months – as promised during his campaign – to work on the new constitution and have a document prepared for the newly elected body immediately when the fall semester begins.

This is the perfect opportunity for the Union to make a fresh start. Provost and the rest of the newly elected E-Board must lead the Union into a year in which both the first and second semesters are productive. The first step to a constructive year is beginning on the right foot and beginning the year immediately with a set constitution will start the year off right. Both “True” and “True 2” also visited incoming freshmen during orientation, and next year’s Union should follow in their footsteps by making a good first impression on the incoming students.

But while Elmore has given the Union a much-needed initial push in the right direction, he must now take the training wheels off and step back and let the body set its own course if he wants it to be the effective student government for which we have all wished. Elmore has done an excellent job of acting as a guide, but now he must back away and let it fend for itself.

It will take a great deal of work next year, but the Union may finally be on the rebound. After a fairly positive – if simply not negative – semester and a clean slate, the table has been set. It’s time for the E-Board to take action and make the Union what it has the potential to be.