Student Union narrowly passed the election timeline change proposal after mistakenly announcing at the meeting Monday night the proposal failed.
Sixty-five percent of the senators who were present at the meeting voted to pass the proposal.
Union required that two-thirds of members be present for the proposal to go to a vote, Male said. Of those members, there needs to be a simple majority of at least 51 percent for a measure to pass.
Student Elections Commission Chair Amanda Peterson said whoever wins the election in April will serve a six-month term through the fall semester. Whoever is elected in early November will take office in January.
Peterson, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, said Union will notify students about the six-month term for the candidates by distributing posters and flyers, as well as posting on Facebook and Twitter.
The ballot is expected to include a statement indicating that elected candidates will serve for six months, rather than a full year.
The proposal went to vote in spite of the lack of consensus surrounding it. Union members spent the majority of the meeting debating over the election timeline proposal, and a number of members proposed alternatives.
SMG sophomore Caitlin Seele said SMG Government agreed and supported the election timeline proposal.
However, South Campus Sen. Lauren LaVelle said her constituents did not agree with the proposal. They offered suggestions for ways to enhance the transition period, such as holding elections earlier in the spring semester.
Senators debated a possible compromise to hold elections in February or March to provide a longer transition period than what currently exists without expanding it to an entire semester.
Peterson said, however, it would be difficult to hold elections earlier.
“We already lengthened the campaign period to give candidates enough time to decide that they want to be candidates and then find people to help them with a campaign,” Peterson said. “It is a crunch period so we couldn’t push things further forward.”
A number of Warren Towers residents suggested alternatives to the proposal, said School of Management freshman D.A. Whatley, Vice President of Warren Towers Residence Hall Association.
Whatley’s counter-proposal stated that instead of changing the election cycle there could be a formalized effective method of transitioning power.
One benefit of the counter-proposal included allowing seniors to serve on the executive board. The transition of power would show BU students that Union is undergoing changes and gaining increasing participation from freshmen, Whatley said.
The e-board is an important role and seniors have had four years to network so they are in a good position, said CAS junior Tarif Ahmed.
“How will formalizing what already occurs change anything?” Male asked. “We [current e-Board] think having an entire semester of overlap would be better.”
School of Education sophomore Haley Jensen also had her questions unanswered.
“If we are concerned about having enough time for campaigns and platforms, why are we moving them to first semester when there would be even less time to prepare?” she said.
First semester is always a difficult adjustment, Jensen said.
“The biggest issue is not the timeline, but rather preparing leaders for a position on the e-board and to make sure everyone is prepared,” said CAS senior James Boggie. “The group is struggling with the fact that people do not understand how [the] process works and how to run.”
Union Chief of Staff Sophia Woyda said the use of time and training is key, rather than the move to calendar-year elections.
Union members also discussed advocacy committee projects, “rape culture” at BU and socially responsible investing. Members gave updates on a number of projects, including the 24-hour study and printing space, advertising space on the BU Shuttle and improvements on the BUS mobile application, among others.
Student Union voted to support the BU Take Back the Night rally, which will address the issue of rape culture at BU.
Union also decided to create an ad hoc committee in which two students will be nominated to join the Board of Trustees on socially responsible investing, Male said.
“The committee will advise the Board of Trustees on how we can ethically invest the university’s endowment in a way that reflects the social climate of the university community,” he said.
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