From increased student representation around campus to a continued problem with student involvement, the outgoing Boston University Student Union Executive Board is pleased with the mark they’ve made this year but believes more must be done, they said Monday.
At the final General Assembly meeting for the semester, attended by about 25 students, Union leaders discussed what to do with the remainder of their budget, and opened the floor to discussions about how the year has gone before introducing the newly elected Renew BU slate, consisting of College of Arts and Sciences junior Arthur Emma for president, CAS junior Daniel Ellis for vice president and School of Management junior Benjamin Noble for treasurer, with Emma and Ellis in attendance.
SMG and CAS senior James Sappenfield listed print quota, library reform, registration reform, H1N1 representation and bringing governmental leaders to campus as some of the goals accomplished this year.
He opened the floor for discussion about progress made within committees, but committee chairs said they have seen members dwindle throughout the year, making progress difficult.
“Unfortunately, I had no members of my committee so it was just me talking to administrators alone,” Residence Life Chairman and CAS sophomore Jared Kleiman said.
Tech Committee Chairman and CAS junior John Bavlsick agreed, but said one improvement made this year has come from print quota negotiations that he said Information Systems and Technology Vice President Tracy Schroeder estimates have saved students almost $10,000 as of last week.
“I know it’s not necessarily what our task force was asking for when we approached the administration, but it’s a very quantifiable benefit we got for the student body next year,” he said.
In general discussion about future ideas, SMG sophomore Joseph Nangle of the BUnited slate, who placed second in the race for treasurer, brought up simplifying the housing process, dining options improvements and tuition transparency as the issues he had found during the campaign that most concerned students.
Union treasurer Mary Gameng said she has been working to make tuition transparent but has met with resistance in the administration.
Nangle said even still, it’s an issue students care about.
“But if the Student Union is the voice of the students, then we care about tuition transparency,” he said, glancing at the Emma and Ellis. “And you should care too.”
In a budget proposal, Union voted to allot $750 for orientation spending over the summer and the rest of the $3,622 budget to a proposal by CAS senior and Union senator Anant Shukla to fund free coffee and mugs at night in Mugar from April 30 to May 5, with money leftover going toward summer spending.
Shukla said if he can make it happen, the goal of the free coffee would be to get the Union’s newly elected leaders out and interacting with students so they know the people representing them next year.
At the end of the meeting, Emma and Ellis introduced themselves to the GA.
“We have great expectations of ourselves and of Student Union next year,” Emma said. “We have to make sure the students’ voices are heard.”
Student Elections Commission chairman Jeff Maynard questioned the slate’s immediate plans for the summer after they said they want to learn about the process from Union members, saying, “You just got elected into office and weren’t thinking about what you’re going to be doing this summer?”
But Emma said after the meeting that the slate is still too worn out from the elections cycle and needs time to develop summer plans.
“You can’t just suddenly say what are all your plans for the summer?” Emma said. “All our focus has been key issues and going out and outreaching to the students and the whole campaign process.”
The current e-board also had a farewell message for the GA.
“I’ve really appreciated you guys’ attendance and participation this year,” Sappenfield said. “We’ve been in university-wide policy negotiations and actually gotten things accomplished.”
Sappenfield said after the meeting that overall, Union has taken steps in the right direction this year but needs to go further.
“I think Union’s become more representative in terms of, we’re addressing issues that students are interested in,” he said. “I do think we could have had higher direct participation but I am proud of the fact that I think we’ve made Student Union more relevant to the everyday student.”
He said he hopes Renew BU can bring more students into the mix.
“The one thing I really recommend to Renew BU and Arthur is follow through, and bring Student Union to the students in every way shape and form,” he said.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
