Boston University Student Government heard presentations about a potential mural on the back of the College of Arts and Sciences building, a virtual ID proposal and an update on a Google G-Suite Initiative passed last year in a meeting Monday night.
Arié Haddad and Mackenzie Bower, seniors in CAS, presented the mural idea to members of StuGov.
The mural would depict the Boston skyline — including the Citgo sign and Prudential Center — created from the artificial grass beneath a painted watering can pouring the words “Grow Your Future.”
“The purpose of this piece is to promote sustainable architecture and to motivate students in sustainable action in their everyday lives and in their careers that they are building here at BU,” Bower said.
The intended audience for the mural would be both current and prospective students.
“We envision a campus tour guide saying, ‘and on your right we see ‘Grow your Future’ artwork by our two own undergraduate students,’ which shows exactly what you can accomplish here at BU,” Bower said.
The mural would be made of about 434 square feet of synthetic grass IntelliTurf, which would cost an estimated $5,316 to $6,645, and at least $136.07 in Golden heavy body acrylic paint. Facilities and set-up costs were not included in budget calculations.
Bower said at the meeting that BU Arts Initiative has said they would match $2,000 if they raised $2,000, but that they do not have any funding at the moment.
“We have people saying ‘We’ll give you money if you have money,’ but we don’t have money yet,” Bower said.
Haddad and Bower did not request funding from StuGov at the meeting but said they might potentially request $1,000 to $2,000 at a later date.
“We really, really would love to have Student Government be with us on this project because it is a student program,” Haddad said. “We are trying to unite the students and the BU community.”
Senator Jacob Aznavoorian, a CAS freshman and Terriers United Senator, and Chief of Staff Neha Shabeer, a CAS junior, next gave a presentation on introducing virtual student identification cards.
Aznavoorian and Shabeer said virtual Terrier Cards would be more convenient and sanitary, unable to be misplaced and eliminate the $40 cost of replacing a lost physical ID.
Shabeer said she and Aznavoorian plan to meet with the Terrier Card Office to continue discussing their plans.
The meeting continued with an update about the Google G-Suite Initiative, introduced by Executive Vice President Hessann Farooqi, a CAS senior. The original initiative where StuGov said they would stand “united against Google’s attempt to price gouge students for heretofore free services” was drafted in April in response to Google suddenly charging the University $900,000 annually for previously free Google workspace services.
Members of the administration told Farooqi at the time that Google’s “price gouging of college students,” as he said, would be a contributing factor to a rise in tuition costs
Farooqi and Navya Kotturu, his Chief of Staff and a CAS sophomore, presented an update about the University’s negotiations with Google, reporting that BU negotiated the price down from $900,000 to $171,000 annually, reducing the cost by approximately 81%.
Kotturu said while she did not know what the specific price increase to tuition would be, the number would likely depend on the number of students enrolled at BU.
The meeting concluded with a short presentation about preparing for BU StuGov elections.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated BU negotiated the price of access to Google G-Suite services down to $175,000. The correct new price was $171,000.
