At a Student Government Senate meeting Monday night, Grace Cusick was unanimously approved as next semester’s president of the Student Election Commission. Members of the Executive Board Cabinet also garnered support for a number of student outreach programs.
The SEC serves as a moderator of filed complaints during election periods, administers the voting process and coordinates election-related events, said Cusick, a sophomore in the College of General Studies.
“It is my goal to provide the slates that will be running with a fair, equal and competitive environment,” Cusick said during the meeting. “The commissioners as well as myself are ready to ensure that each slate follows the rules and the constitution.”
Together with her vice chairs, Jasmine Miller, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Kate Ryan, a junior in the College of Engineering, Cusick said the SEC is looking to update their internal constitution and rules.
“We realized that some things need to be adjusted to better suit the slates and their campaign,” Cusick, a former SEC commissioner, said after the meeting. “Last year we did have a couple of hiccups and we tried to keep everything as fair as possible. My goal is to keep [the problems] in mind and have a good group of commissioners dedicated for that.”
SG Senate Chair Courtney Bold, a senior in the Questrom School of Business, said she is optimistic about Cusick’s performance as the new SEC Chair. Bold also said the upcoming election is likely to gain more traction this year due to the public controversy that occurred around SG last month.
Conflict arose within SG and several student groups following the removal of former E-Board Vice President of Finance Kimberly Barzola and former VP of Internal Affairs Marwa Sayed. Following the impeachment, Boston University Students Against Silence held several rallies against the decision, which lead to a proposal to dissolve the Senate.
SG tabled the proposal and instead created a task force of students and members of SG to amend the SG constitution, The Daily Free Press reported Dec. 1. The amended constitution will be voted on during the election in the Spring 2016 semester in a student-wide referendum.
“The constitutional amendment might have an impact on how elections are done in the future and that is something that definitely has to be talked about in the committee that is going to amend the constitution and bring it to the referendum vote,” she said. “We will see more involvement in electing our E-board as well as perhaps more slates willing to run.”
At Monday’s Senate meeting, members of the E-Board Cabinet also garnered the Senate’s support for a number of student outreach programs.
Katie Maningas, chair of the Department of Social Affairs, introduced the Social Injustice Awareness Campaign that aims to shed light on human rights violations occurring inside and outside of BU. The campaign would be held during a five-day event that unites different student groups on campus to collectively address injustices in the Spring 2016 semester, according to a presentation during the meeting.
SG President Andrew Cho and CAS Senator David Huang introduced the Student Involvement Board. The board, comprised of SG members, aims to provide recommendations to the Students Activities Office to approve and recognize student groups, a presentation during the meeting stated.
Sabina Razak, chair of the Department of Academic Affairs, gathered support for the SG-run initiative, Finals Care Packages and Tutoring in the Dorms.
Regarding the programs presented by cabinet members, Bold said she is proud of what is coming out of the Cabinet.
“[The initiatives were] a very good way to wrap up the semester,” she said. “They are really trying to make a difference on campus and are bringing forward programming that appeals to the student body that engages them.”
Cho, a senior in CAS, said SG is moving in a positive direction and he hopes to work with more student groups.
“[The initiatives are] going to put us on a good foot for next semester,” he said. “My hope [is] that everything we do would be in a collaborative nature.”
After several weeks of disorder within the group, several senators said they are pleased with SG’s productivity.
Huang, a freshman in the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, said the meeting was productive and said he hopes for SG to be better accepted by the student body.
“The academic committee had some really interesting projects to help students alleviate their stress in finals,” he said. “I hope that we can come together to advance Student Government.”
Anish Guha, a sophomore in Questrom, said the programs are capable of garnering engagement with the student population.
“This is a great meeting to sum up the semester,” he said. “The Social Injustice Week has the biggest potential because there are range of topics addressed [despite] a lot of structure that needs to be added. I’m going to wait and see.”
Senate Vice Chair and CAS Senator Daniel Collins said the range of programs presented at the meeting signaled a bright prospect for SG.
“It’s nice to see everything back on track,” he said. “If we can keep staying this productive, have as many people involved, this is exactly what we’re hoping for”
