Conversations about restructuring seats in the Boston University Student Government Senate have led to speculation about how a change would affect student representation in the 2015-16 academic year.
The incoming SG Executive-Board and several 2014-15 senators have expressed differing approaches as to how the board should address Senate seat appropriation and student group representation.
Andrew Cho, the incoming executive president for the 2015-16 academic year, said Senate seat expansion will be a priority on his agenda once the fall 2015 semester begins.
“In the past year or two, they’ve [Senate] added more groups in the bases that they’re large, which is great, but it’s not a full solution to increasing representation because obviously there are tons of groups that are [still] not represented,” said Cho, junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. “My hunch is that the senators are open to adding more seats, and there’s just concerns about how we’re going to do it.”
Senate membership must consist of at least 2 percent of the current student body, and for every additional 1,000 members added to a student group, the organization will gain one seat in Senate, according to Article VII, Section V of the SG constitution.
Cho said he does not agree with the current amendment to the constitution that only allows Senate representation after the 2-percent rule is met.
“One of the ideas that came out [from the Town Hall meeting Monday] was, ‘Why not allow any group to have a Senate seat if they are willing to come to the meetings?’” he said. “It would be very energizing, difficult to manage, but it would also kind of be much more representative. We’re still not sure what the best solution is, and that’s why we’re having conversations to get feedbacks and concerns.”
During a town hall hosted by the incoming E-board Monday evening, some of the senators present brought up proportional representation in Senate.
The incoming E-Board sent out an email survey to the members of Senate before the town hall to gather feedback on structural solutions, Cho said. However, the survey caused backlash, and “several senators jumped to conclusions,” he said.
Stephen Chang, the current Senate chair who will also serve for the 2015-16 academic year, said according to the constitution, any structural change cannot officially be made until the next Senate meeting, which will be at the beginning of the fall semester.
“If they [the incoming E-board] have to move a structural change, they have to go through two-thirds vote of the Senate in order to be approved in our constitution. That’s how structural changes move,” said Chang, a junior in CAS. “They haven’t reached out to Judicial [Commission] or me about adding seats, removing seats or really trying to work this out and negotiate.”
Chang also said he’s happy with the way Senate seats are structured, including the 2-percent threshold. He said the system already gives an equal distribution of representatives.
“Alternatively, I don’t believe in additional seats,” he said. “There have been concerns about them [E-Board] trying to remove seats. I would shut it down immediately if they want to remove seats. Almost every year, there’s always structure changes, and now we have confusion here.”
Members of student groups such as BU Hillel and the Student Athletic Advisory Council have expressed concern over speculation of some of their seats in Senate being removed, Chang said.
Claire Peaceman, one of three Hillel senators for the 2014-15 academic year, said she doesn’t want to speculate about something that is not definite, but that she has heard rumors about Senate seat removals.
“A lot of [Senators] would’ve expected something like that to come on the floor [at the last meeting] like removing seats. It would’ve been voted down,” said Peaceman, a junior in CAS. “It would be a real shame and a real loss to the SG community if it were to happen … People are just over-reacting.”
Abbi Erkes, representative for the Panhellenic Council, said she has not heard of the talks about restructuring Senate, but believes eliminating seats would be counterproductive to the E-board’s goal of inclusivity.
“You can’t exclude other senators, especially if they have a history of being [in Senate] for a certain amount of time,” said Erkes, a sophomore in the College of General Studies. “We do need to expand. For some reason right now, it’s like exclusive. That’s not what BU is. That’s not what we need. Expansion is necessary, but also there has to be appropriation according to the size.”
Austin Kruger, a representative from SAAC, said the 2015-16 E-board makes it seem as though they plan to target specific groups within Senate and the student body.
“[The incoming E-Board is] catering towards the vocal minority, which is somewhat slanted against Hillel, Greek Life and athletics,” said Kruger, a junior in the Questrom School of Business. “It’s interesting the BU groups that they’re targeting. That’s pretty blatantly obvious that it’s kind of politically motivated.”
Several current senators said a structural change is not a surprise, but the E-board should not remove any seats without consensus of the Senate.
Chloe Hite, a Myles Standish Hall Residence Hall Association senator, said restructuring and expanding the Senate seats would create openness to get more students involved. It would also increase student representation and institutional transparency, she said.
“I have heard these rumors and believe them to be baseless,” said Hite, a sophomore in CAS. “If anything, Senate will be restructured to expand or streamline senator involvement and further represent the growing student body.”
Rachel Feigelson, a senator for the West Campus RHA, said SG should focus on students’ needs, which could include adding seats accordingly.
“There are going be seats added, but no seats are going to be taken away,” said Feigelson, a freshman in CGS. “I don’t know if that’s True BU’s intention, but they’re not True BU anymore. They’re True BU plus BUtiful Dreamers, and I know [Executive Vice President Barron Roth] is not interested in taking any seat away. He won’t allow for that.”
