Boston University Student Union members at Monday’s General Assembly expressed widespread opposition to a proposal amending Union’s constitution by restructuring the GA and other organizational areas.
Union discussed proposed amendments regarding the structure of the Union and passed an amendment creating a director of marketing.
Union President and College of Arts Sciences and School of Management senior James Sappenfield introduced a series of nine amendments, including several job definition amendments for the Union’s executive board, directors, committees and voting members.
He also discussed a records amendment, an oversight amendment and the GA structure amendment.
The last of these proposes that college and Residence Hall Association presidents sit down together with the Union president to directly discuss motions they wish to pass, bypassing the GA voters until voting is actually required.
“This would make us look much stronger in the students’ eyes and the university’s eyes,”Sappenfield said. “We would be a stronger student government, and it legitimizes the Student Union and makes it more effective.”
Sappenfield said his main concern was the amount of time it takes the current structure to get anything done. He said having those in charge meet on a regular basis will speed things up and make BU student organizations more effective.
However, many were critical of the proposed amendments, particularly the proposal to restructure the GA.
“I don’t think it’s necessary to make [the presidents] spend two hours here on top of their own meetings,” said Kelly Clark, the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences president.
“It’s a terrible idea.It’ll never work,” said Jared Kleiman, who chairs Union’s housing committee and is vice president of Student Village 2.He expressed his concern that for the past three years, the Union has frequently sought to change its constitution without ever settling on a final format.
In response, Sappenfield said this change was for the student body’s benefit.
“This is about representing the students, not the e-board changing the constitution,” he said.
Student Elections Committee Chairman Jeff Maynard, said the proposed oversight amendment would create more problems than it would solve.
“We’d be adding a lot of positions and making it convoluted,” he said, referring to the amendment’s proposal to create a judicial position that would interpret the constitution, as well as other benchmark positions.
Public Relations Director Amy Mahler said the debate showed the Union’s strength as an invested student body.
“The amendment showed that the e-board has concerns for the future, looking further than their time in office, and even though the GA has different ideas, the fact that we can have a structured discussion about the philosophy of the union shows that we’re doing well,” she said.
Union Vice President Mikhail Makalsk suggested a forum meeting to continue discussion on the proposed amendments at a later date.
Following the structure discussion, Union passed an amendment creating a director of marketing.
This person’s responsibilities will include understanding students’ needs and wants for Union, developing the Union brand to attain recognition across campus, helping promote committees, securing a graphic designer for Union posters, flyers and other materials to be distributed and having monthly meetings with the PR director.
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