Boston University Student Government proposed a bill to remove Starbucks from campus and discussed at-large party responsibilities on Monday night.
Members of the Senate delivered a bill which would allow StuGov to ask BU administrators to publicly release the University’s contract with Aramark — which owns and operates the Starbucks stores in Questrom School of Business, Warren Towers and George Sherman Union — in an effort to challenge Starbucks stores on campus.
“[Starbucks is] just not a great company even though they say they are,” said Sen. Sean Waddington, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. “We can present all the evidence we can to people.”
Members of StuGov have already launched a scannable petition and completed a Zoom call with United States Representative Maxwell Frost to put pressure on the University to address ethical violations concerning Starbucks.
StuGov cited other collegiate motions to address these concerns, like how the Cornell University Student Government successfully pushed the administration to end all contracts with Starbucks.
Like the Cornell Student Government’s proposition, the bill aims to ask the administration to “either break [the contract] or let it expire” given how “Starbucks has violated, as it says in the resolution, labor law hundreds of times [and] are not good to their workers,” Waddington said.
If passed, Waddington said he will remain in regular contact with Starbucks employees to address potential other action items and work with the University to find substitute ethical vendors.
Later in the meeting, the Rules Committee introduced an amendment requiring refined responsibilities for at-large parties in the Senate.
This request would force at-large party representatives to adhere to senators’ roles, responsibilities and conditions for removal from office, along with defining the role of at-large party leaders to create and select their party senators.
Student Body President Dhruv Kapadia, a senior in CAS, highlighted upcoming StuGov events such as the Winter Fair activity night and a collaboration with the Newbury Center for first-generation students. He also mentioned two successful donation installments to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, which earned over $12,000 in total funding.
“We’re going to continue tabling in collaboration with over a dozen organizations until the end of the month,” Kapadia said. “Let’s see how much money we can end up fundraising but we’ve had a really good number so far, so that’s exciting.”
