BUnited, the current Student Government executive board, has shared their plans to focus on Uniting Health, Uniting Justice and Uniting Community — their three policy pillars for the Fall.
Under the Uniting Health pillar, BUnited pledged to work towards sexual assault prevention and food and environmental justice. They said they aim to offer healthy vending machines, more work and wellness spaces in East Campus and a peer therapy program.
In terms of sexual assault prevention advocacy, executive vice president Hessann Farooqi, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, mentioned the work already done by pre-existing organizations such as 16,000 Strong and the progress already inspired by the protests conducted last February.
He noted a notable recent success was Provost Jean Morrison “[agreeing] to create a campus-wide working group to address the issue and this will be comprised of staff, faculty and students.”
Working with other organizations and their plans on campus is a common theme for BUnited in the upcoming year — a quality Nyah Jordan, the president of BUnited and a senior in the College of Communication, said is new.
“One thing that has made our platform different is that typically you won’t see executive boards build off of specific things from last year,” said Jordan. “One thing that we’ve made a point to do, was first to acknowledge a lot of the systems and a lot of the work that student clubs and other students have already created and then finding new ways to support that.”
Under the Uniting Justice pillar, BUnited plans to focus on monthly service days mainly focused on the environment, monthly StuGov town halls, prioritizing supporting local and BIPOC vendors as well as social justice causes.
“At the end of the day, we’re here to serve the student body. We’re here to make sure they’re happy, to bring events, to bring equality, to bring community justice and health to the public and to the student body of BU,” Shahaf Dan, the vice president of finance and a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said.
Although BUnited has been unable to directly work on some areas of this policy plan, such as integrating voter registration into orientation, they have made progress on other aspects, like working to support the LGBTQ+ community on campus.
For instance, Jordan noted the possibility of creating in-person workshops about LGBTQ+ allyship. She also said she looked forward to continuing BUnited’s relationship with BU’s Queer Activist Collective and furthering their relationship with other LGBTQ+ groups on campus like the Trans Listening Circle.
“If we were able to have [workshops] in person and even have interactive activities as well, I think that will be really impactful,” Jordan said.
Under the Uniting Community pillar, BUnited said they would focus on social life and helping people adjust to a more normal life after the pandemic, such as with a peer advising mentorship program, monthly network-building opportunities with professionals, cultural meal events and a monthly Boston brunch day. The plans also mentioned renewing the “new normal challenge” this year, which encourages students to think of creative ways to navigate campus life with COVID-19.
Celeste Delgadillo, a sophomore in the College of Fine Arts, said she wanted the student government to focus on building community on campus.
“A lot of us were isolated last year and for us to come together as a community this year would be really, really nice,” she said.
BUnited will continue to use a hybrid approach for upcoming meetings, including two Student Government information sessions for anyone interested in joining, with the aim to move towards more in-person meetings throughout the year.
Farooqi said he encourages more students to get involved.
“The biggest obstacle,” he said, “is going to be folks across the student body not thinking that they have the power to make a difference.”
Dan said students can reach out over Instagram @bunited2021 with any concerns or visit the Student Government Office for office hours.
Hi! This post could not be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my good old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this page to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!