Boston University Student Government backed a proposed mental health initiative that requests more funding for behavioral medicine at BU Student Health Services and gave updates on various other SG programs at their Senate meeting Monday evening.
The Senate unanimously voted to sign a letter of support for the mental health initiative. The letter will be presented to the administration in hopes of receiving financial support, said Ramya Ravindrababu, the senator who proposed the petition.
Ravindrababu, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said students are inadequately served for mental health because there are only 18 professional staff members serving a community of thousands.
“So many students have gone through having trouble with [mental health issues] and I feel like I’m very connected to my community. The petition is supposed to help behavioral medicine get the funds that they need and the support they need,” she said after the meeting. “This isn’t something that I’m fighting with administration with. I want to help, as a student organizer, make these things happen.”
Senate also addressed new proposals and gave updates on the progress of previous initiatives.
SG President Andrew Cho said that SG will be hosting a Town Hall meeting Monday in regards to Senate expansion seat efforts.
“This Town Hall is going directly to clubs that we know have opinions about [the question of Senate seats] to bring testimonies so we can gather information,” he said after the meeting. “It’s much more like a hearing … it’s directly about this question.”
The 16,000 Strong committee also presented future plans and programs. Committee Chair William Horne said the committee is initiating an agreement with Agganis Arena to air a two-minute video addressing sexual assault at BU during events. Another initiative called Make Allston Safe asks Allston residents to keep lights on late at night and allow signs to be placed in their yards to protect students at night.
Horne, a junior in the Questrom School of Business, said the two projects are in response to the recently released Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey results, in which one out of four female respondents reported that they were victims of sexual assault while at BU.
Several senators said the behavioral medicine initiative gave light to the importance of enhancing BU’s mental health service and policy.
Stephen Chang, Senate chair and a senior in CAS, said that student mental health has always been an important topic to the Senate. However, forwarding the proposal to administration has failed in the past.
“Hopefully this letter, sent to administration, will be a time that BU students agree with [Ravindrababu], that we need more mental help support at BU,” he said. “Hopefully administration will figure out that Senate, comprised of a diverse student body, has approved this letter to go through and that they should show a little bit of action or at least a response.”
Juliahna Green, a sophomore and senator for CAS, said that the petition should be sent to a higher level within the administration to produce real action.
“What I’d like to see is it goes to [BU] President [Robert] Brown, it goes to people who actually have control over the budget, the people who may be somewhat more influential,” she said. “It’s an excellent proposal. It’s well-drafted and I’d like it to be sent to the people who can make a difference.”
Steve Sang, a freshman in the College of Communication and co-chair of the communications committee, said that the camaraderie in Senate meetings makes way for a diverse selection of initiatives.
“It’s really good to be able to know that there are so many people involved and so passionate.” he said. “So it helps me step out of my comfort zone and do that as well.”
