Boston University Student Government voted Hanna Dworkin — a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences — as Senate Chair for 2022-2023 and passed a resolution to endorse a mural and modify its budget.
The meeting began with a series of committee chair confirmations for next year, culminating in the election of current Senate Vice-Chair Dworkin as next year’s Senate Chair.
Dworkin’s “Yassification of Senate” platform focused on three key areas — redefining the role of the Senate Chair in “a more positive, optimistic context,” making the Senate more approachable and creating more opportunities for social interaction and engagement.
“I think one of the biggest issues in Senate is the fact that Senators themselves don’t even take Senate seriously,” Dworkin said. “I honestly think the best thing we can do is to legitimize Senate internally.”
Dworkin proposed planning a once-a-semester team bonding day for the Senate, producing and presenting to the Senate an informative film on Robert’s Rules of Orders — a system of parliamentary procedure used widely in local governmental settings across the United States — and increasing social media outreach.
Dworkin was confirmed as Senate Chair for the next academic year with 34 votes in the affirmative.
The meeting continued with an endorsement of the “Grow Your Future” mural. Created by two CAS seniors — Arié Haddad and Mackenzie Bower — the mural will be situated on the side of the steps leading to the Joan & Edgar Booth Theater, which is maintained by School of Theatre faculty and students.
The mural — to be painted with synthetic grass and acrylic paint — was initially planned to be painted on the back of the CAS building. The project was shut down at CAS due to high costs of installation, potential damage to the facade and the lack of mechanical lifts, according to the students who presented the idea for the mural.
Following the project shutdown, Bower and Haddad said they intended to move the mural to the Booth Theater.
“The goal that we’re trying to reach with this design is keeping the same message,” Haddad said. “Sustainable architecture through adaptive reuse.”
StuGov endorsed the mural with 30 votes in the affirmative.
Haddad said the mural will be completed before this year’s graduation on May 19.
The meeting concluded with an adjustment to StuGov’s budget, which stands at $11,901 as of April 10.
“We were not given the money we were promised this year. So, we need to make some changes,” as stated in the Google Slides presentation created by Shahaf Dan, Vice-President of Finance and CAS senior.
The proposed Budget Re-Appropriation Amending Bill would cut funding across the board in all StuGov committees and departments except in leadership budgets. The Communications Committee, however, is getting a slight increase in funding.
Five committees had their budgets cut because of what Dan described as “miscommunication.”
“We tried to minimize everything to the best of our ability,” Dan said. “We understand we have to make some serious cuts, as unfortunate as it is.”
StuGov approved the budget adjustments with 34 votes in the affirmative.
