Members of Boston University’s True BU, one of the three slates running for the Executive Board of BU’s Student Government, seek to reach out to student groups and bring awareness to important issues at BU.
Andrew Cho, who is running for executive president, said the slate plans to partner with student groups on campus and engage in social issues.
“Our goals for office is to build partnerships and to respond to the needs of student groups [in order] to address larger issues such as multicultural awareness and stigmas involved around sexual assaults,” said Cho, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. “We want to do this all through partnering with active student groups involved in these issues.”
Kimberly Barzola, the slate’s candidate for vice president of finance and a sophomore in CAS, is active in the Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism at BU and said she would like to fund similar groups to get students involved on campus.
Cho said he has had experience in SG as a senator for Warren Towers and a leader in the Environmental Leadership Network.
“This year, I have been sitting on the Executive Board as the president of [the Residence Hall Association] mainly to keep communication, to offer support where [I] can and I’ve been actively keeping in touch with all the RHA senators making sure they have direction,” he said.
Marwa Sayed, who is running for vice president of internal affairs, is part of the Kilachand Hall RHA. She said the slate would like to support student initiatives and focus on issues already brought up by student groups.
“We really want to focus on the resources already present in the student body,” said Sayed, a sophomore in CAS. “We know that there’s a wealth of student initiatives and student action already taken place. We really want to uplift that and bring that [forward].”
Engagement with multiple cultural groups on campus could benefit the student body if the slate is elected, Sayed said.
Melesilika Finau is the slate’s candidate for executive vice president. She said she would like to strengthen the relationship between SG and the student body.
“We really want to help Student Government and make it more assessable to students,” said Finau, a sophomore in CAS. “The only way to truly make a difference is to connect to students that already have [brought] issues.”
Finau, who is currently a Danielson Hall and Cluster RHA senator, said her experience has prepared her to take on the role of executive vice president.
“I have been in Student Government Senate, and I know the different ways that we can reform [the student body] and make it more connected to student groups,” she said. “[Senate] really exposed me to Student Government and its structure. It’s really been great because I have seen the student government side as well as the RHA side. The contact between both and connecting these communities together [has been beneficial].”
Cho said during the campaign True BU has been active on social media and on campus.
“We’ve been active in the GSU this week going up to people asking their thoughts. We ask people to write on the white board what True BU means to them, so if anything in our policy resonates for them, we’ll take a picture and set that up. That has really helped us in finalizing and formulating the ideas for our policy.”
Moving forward, Cho said True BU seeks to build on the initiatives and work the current SG E-board has completed.
“We are really committed to building up student government rather than breaking it down,” he said. “It is really difficult for student government to gain legitimacy among the student body, so we really believe that creating that positive image and moving forward on what’s been worked on in the past is really important … Every area in our policy is connected to people we know and people we [talk] to about these issues at hand.”
Voting for the Student Government Executive Board begins March 30 and will close on April 6. Results of the election will be announced on April 8.
