The Boston University Student Government explored the possibility of future involvement in initiatives on mental health on campus and introduced dialogue about the BU Office of the Provost’s Task Force on General Education to the Senate floor at their meeting Monday night.
The SG Advocacy Department sent out their Mental Health Survey Friday to the student body, which was completed by 2,300 students thus far, according to a slideshow presentation during the meeting.
The results of the survey will be used to help SG and BU Student Health Services address mental health issues prevalent on campus, SG President Andrew Cho said during his president’s address. Cho, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said that the survey was a result of several meetings SG had with Carrie Landa, the director of behavioral medicine at SHS. Landa suggested SG gather students’ feedback, Cho said.
“Advocacy Department is using [the survey] to argue for more support, changes in behavioral health in the short term,” Cho said after the meeting. “[The Advocacy Department] is going to analyze the data and create a report that they are then going to submit to Student Health Services again, and try to follow up with that.”
Introducing the general education task force in his president’s address, Cho said task force member Bruce Schulman, a professor in CAS, will attend the next Senate meeting. Cho said that Schulman plans to gather insights from Senate on whether general education is of interest to students.
Near the end of the meeting, Cho said that senators should pay more attention to Terrier Voice, a new online forum Senate created for open conversations on issues prevalent at BU. He added that Senators should invite friends to participate in the dialogues, particularly issues surrounding mental health and the task force.
Barron Roth, SG vice president and a senior in the College of Engineering, said Terrier Voice allows students to anonymously submit questions and ideas that would be displayed and voted on.
“If [students] had a suggestion, something that was concerning them or suggestion that they think that, ‘Oh BU should implement this,’ then they can put their money where their mouth is — submit it to Terrier Voice,” he said. “We respond to the most up-voted submissions.”
Senate Chair Stephen Chang, a senior in CAS, said the meeting was successful in organizing the committees and following through with procedural actions.
“Hopefully people go to their [Residence Hall Association] events and their college [government] events that are going on throughout this month,” he said. “We’ve been working really hard on it.”
Following the meeting, the Student Life Committee met to talk about their goals and plans for the year. Rachel Feigelson, leader of the committee and a sophomore in the College of General Studies, said during the Senate meeting that she hopes to address discrimination within the student body and even the Senate itself.
“Everyone has their own views on things, and sometimes that makes for a hostile environment, which is not really okay.” she said. “There have been certain situations within Student Government that we are working on dealing with.”
Feigelson said that she hopes Student Life can make a difference in how sensitive topics are discussed in BU and Senate specifically.
Jonathan Franco, a Myles Standish RHA senator and sophomore in the College of Communication, said this is his second year being part of the Student Life Committee and helping students participate in events around campus.
“What we try to aim for with this committee is find what we can do to find things that can benefit BU undergrad student body as a whole,” Franco said.
Samantha Day, a CGS senator and a freshman in CGS, said that in Student Life meetings, members can openly converse about certain topics that often aren’t brought up in Senate.
“There is only so much we can do at general meetings, so the committees are to specialize and focus on the different areas,” Day said. “I’m interested what Senate can do specifically with Student Life.”
