SG endorses BU Bold climate plan, other campus initiatives

Boston University’s Student Government voted to endorse BU Bold, a version of the Climate Action Plan that urges BU to adopt 100 percent renewable energy, among a slew of other initiatives at its meeting Monday night.

Kicking off the meeting with her president’s address, SaraAnn Kurkul said she attended a dinner with BU President Robert Brown earlier that day to discuss the BU-Wheelock College merger. Brown clarified Wheelock faculty with tenured positions will keep their positions in the transition, Kurkul said.

Kurkul also announced the Howard Thurman Center will be moving to 808 Commonwealth Ave. as part of its upcoming expansion.

“There’s going to be a kitchen, there’s going to be a lot of great student space to use and they’re going to send an email next Monday when we get back from Thanksgiving announcing that,” Kurkul said.

Kurkul said she met with Peace of Mind Technologies, a security technology firm, last Friday to talk about their safety device, POM, which would enable students to call the BU Police Department or 911 when pressed three times.

“It’s just like a little gadget that you can put on your keychain,” Kurkul said after the meeting. “We’re going to get a couple trials before we commit to doing it, and then we’ll have them come and talk more to students about it and get more student feedback.”

DivestBU members Masha Vernik and Stephanie Eggers presented two proposals regarding BU Bold, a version of the CAP, which the Board of Trustees will vote upon in December.

Vernik and Eggers proposed that SG endorse the adoption of BU Bold and that Senate obtain at least 100 student groups or college government endorsements by Dec. 1.

Senators passed the first proposal with an amendment to include a statement of senators’ assistance in engaging interested student groups, but did not pass the second proposal that required Senate itself obtain the endorsements.

Eggers, DivestBU’s media liaison, said student action is imperative in supporting climate action.

“This started because of student action and student action held [the trustees] accountable when they didn’t fully divest, and now we need student action to hold them accountable to take on the climate action plan,” Eggers said during the meeting.

Eggers also said DivestBU is experiencing a sense of urgency with the Board of Trustees voting on CAP in just three weeks.

“The more student voices we have, the more likely they are to adopt it because it shows that we care, that students aren’t just going to back down and let the board do whatever they want with the money they’re given,” she said.

Also during the meeting, College of Engineering senators Aditya Jain and Arthan Bhatt presented their “BU Shuttle Improvement” proposal seeking to recruit a team of four to six app designers to improve the BU Shuttle function on the university’s mobile app.

Senators unanimously passed the proposal, which aims to implement upgrades by the end of the semester.

Bhatt said the idea for the proposal came from surveying students in the dining hall about their grievances with BU.

“Overwhelmingly the response was the bus section in the BU mobile app,” Bhatt said during the meeting.

Senate also passed a budget proposal from the Mental Health Committee which granted $700 for its “Stress-Less” initiative at the Midnight Breakfast event Dec. 12.

Mental Health Committee Chair Julianne Leber, a College of Arts and Sciences senator, said the money will be used for materials including crochet stress balls and calming drink kits.

After the meeting, several senators said they were pleased with the proposals passed.

Layan AlSharif, a freshman ENG senator, said she was happy the BUS app proposal was approved because it takes into account real student concerns.

“It’s very important that we get transportation on time because it deals with our classes,” AlSharif said.

At-large Sen. Ria Wang said that while she agreed with the first BU Bold proposal, she thought the second one was too ambitious for such a short timeframe.

“I think 100 is just a little too many groups for us to get just in a week,” the freshman said.

Junior and ENG Sen. Nehemiah Dureus said he thinks it is great that SG is working constructively with DivestBU.

“I’m gonna do my part and try to help [DivestBU] to reach out to different student groups and get them to sign onto the proposal if they want to,” Dureus said.

Shaun Robinson contributed to the reporting of this article.