Hundreds of Boston University students flooded the George Sherman Union on Friday night again this semester, as the Student Activities Office presented a basketball after-party featuring old-school rapper Coolio. What’s more, most of the 700-plus students that attended the concert at the GSU were in attendance at the BU men’s basketball game earlier that night, because concert tickets were distributed at Agganis Arena. SAO and the Athletic Department worked together to provide a night of campus-building entertainment. At a university that isn’t traditionally a ‘campus school,’ increased student activity and participation is a welcome change that promises to bring future events and happenings to BU.
Since September, BU has seen its fair share of big-ticket attractions and events. On Sept. 20, electronic mash-up artist Girl Talk played to more than 1,600 BU students in a concert presented by the Programming Council. Over the next month, BU Central would host a number of performers and events, with comedians like Bo Burnham even drawing upward of 1,000 students. Now, with this latest collaboration between the SAO and the Athletic Department, hundreds of students came to the oft-overlooked BU basketball game and a special concert at the GSU.
Initiatives like these have already gone a long way toward building a tighter-knit campus community in line with President Robert Brown’s aim of breaking down inter-university barriers. But other events still manage to detract from this idea and slow down the community-building process. Though more than 700 students attended the Coolio performance, the number could have been greater if it had not been for COM Prom, which simultaneously drew more than 300 students. College-specific programs or events devalue the efforts to build ‘One BU’ and a more active campus.
For most students, the BU experience lasts a short four years. But over those years, one will be exposed to innumerable new ideas and will try new things. Student and university organizations like SAO, PC and BU Central are doing more than ever to bring exciting happenings and events to campus. It’s up to students to determine the experiences they want from their short college careers, and to push for more of what they want. With a combination of university-supported initiatives and student-pushed activities, the experience for BU students can be much, much more than students can accomplish ‘-‘- or afford ‘-‘- on their own.
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This article does a really good job of pointing out the extraordinary and difficult work that the Student Activities Office, Programming Council, and BU Central are all doing to build community on this campus. This has been a HUGE year for all three organizations and I can only hope that students continue to build the community at BU through attending these events.