Student Government has members from every undergraduate college at Boston University, with the exception of Kilachand Honors College.
The Kilachand Leadership Advisory Board has been at odds with StuGov over getting a seat in the Senate for about two years.
StuGov Chief Justice Andrea Gomez said KHC has been denied recognition due to disputes over its eligibility to function as a standalone college, because granting it Senate seats would allegedly enable double-representation of students in the College: its members pursue degrees through BU’s other colleges.
In 2019, KLAB reached out to StuGov seeking representation in the Senate, and has communicated with Student Activities Director and StuGov adviser John Battaglino to discuss its eligibility for representation in StuGov.
However, in December 2019, StuGov’s judicial branch decided KHC does not function like a college, and therefore, should not be given a Senate seat.
KLAB member Francesca Davy-Falconi said StuGov ruled judicially on the question without KHC’s knowledge, consultation or consent.
Gomez said the decision — made in consultation with Battaglino, who she said did not influence StuGov’s ruling — was based on several factors, including KHC’s nature as a “supplementary” college, demonstrated partly by its lack of a matriculation ceremony.
Gomez said comparisons between KHC and the College of General Studies helped cement the decision that KHC is not a college. The primary reasoning, Gomez said, is StuGov’s perception that KHC does not have an individualized curriculum, while in CGS, students take CGS-specific classes for two years before transitioning to another BU college.
“During those two first years, [students] only pertain to CGS,” Gomez said. “It’s not like they need to be in another school to be part of CGS.”
However, KLAB members wrote in a later email the College does provide an individualized curriculum because it requires KHC-specific courses.
Gomez said giving KHC a seat in the Senate could skew representation because students are already represented through their primary college of enrollment. This could violate existing constitutional rules, Gomez said, which state that only college governments can elect senators to the Senate.
“If the justices were to violate the constitution by allowing a non-college to have a seat in the Senate, not only would we be failing in our duty to the constitution,” Gomez said, “but we also would be severely altering the Senate and giving double representation to students in the honors program.”
Gomez said she, along with Senate Chair Vincent D’Amato, held a meeting with KLAB in September to discuss other avenues to acquire representation, such as reaching out to current senators in StuGov who are also in KHC, attending Senate meetings and forming or joining committees to carry out specific tasks.
Another option, she said, would be creating an at-large party and running under them in the Spring. At-large parties are interest groups that change year to year depending on which ones the student body elects to the Senate, according to the StuGov Constitution.
KHC rejected the suggestion to start an at-large party because being a permanent institution, it should not have to run for a transitional senate seat, said KLAB member Charlie McMahon, a sophomore in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.
However, Gomez said being a permanent institution does not ensure a seat in the Senate. She cited examples such as Residence Life, the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground and the BUild Lab.
“We don’t really give Senate seats on virtue of being a permanent institution,” Gomez said, “but rather on virtue of being a college.”
Davy-Falconi, a senior in CAS, said KHC is as much a college as those currently with representation in StuGov.
“The University does recognize us as a college, and we are in the drop-down menu on the Student Link,” Davy-Falconi said. “It doesn’t get more real than that.”
She added she does not think StuGov has the right to designate KHC as a non-college. The Constitution states each college is allotted one seat in the Senate, but Davy-Falconi said this does not dictate what constitutes a college.
KHC Director Carrie Preston said the interdisciplinary education KHC students receive means they hold “a unique perspective, unique needs and a unique understanding” of BU.
“I do feel like the value of representation is something that both groups would very much agree on,” Preston said. “Finding a path forward to increase representation is a good that both groups may be able to discuss and figure out.”
Preston said she is currently in conversation with the administration to have KHC represented in matriculation. She added, however, she doesn’t believe matriculation is important to it being able to identify as a college.
“I would never, ever say a college is a place into which students matriculate,” Preston said. “I think colleges are much more complicated than that.”
She said StuGov and KHC members might find it more productive to discuss what benefits could come from granting KHC its own representatives in the Senate.
Preston also said StuGov can potentially avoid overrepresentation by allowing honors college students to run for a KHC senate seat, but not another college seat.
KLAB member Noelle Wojciechowski said the fight for KHC representation has brought up important issues that “have been lost in translation.” Giving KHC a Senate seat, Wojciechowski added, could help BU students better understand how the college operates.
“We really want to show people who we are, and we want to integrate better with the community,” Wojciechowski said. “I believe, and I think we all believe we have a lot to offer to the greater BU community.”
Wojciechowski said representation in StuGov would provide a larger platform to promote co-curricular events with the BU community. While KHC events are planned for all University students, they are mostly attended by KHC students, Wojciechowski said.
Davy-Falconi said she thinks StuGov has not had “productive conversation” with KLAB, and the process for gaining representation has “felt more bureaucratic than anything else,” which was not the goal of the initial request for representation.
“We have this argument,” Davy-Falconi said, “but it hasn’t really been acknowledged.”
D’Amato, a Sargent senior, said there has been some efforts to restructure the legislative branch over the years, but that none have gained traction.
D’Amato said adding senate seats “changes the math a little bit,” and likened it to adding new seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I don’t believe any change in numbers would affect [procedure],” D’Amato said.
Davy-Falconi said this issue is not unique to KHC, and any new college in the future might face the same issue.
“This is basically about establishing a fair precedent,” Davy-Falconi said. “We would love to spare them the Lin-Manuel-Miranda-esque drama of it all.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated KLAB reached out to StuGov in 2018 and met with John Battaglino. KLAB reached out in 2019 and all decisions were made in 2019, and communication with Battaglino occurred over email or phone. Noelle Wojciechowski’s name was misspelled “Wojcieschowski” in one instance. The article has been updated to reflect these changes.
UPDATE: One line has been added to reflect KLAB’s response after publication to StuGov’s perception on the individualization of KHC’s curriculum.
