Boston University Moot Court Organization opted not to present at the Student Leaders Dinner held by the Office of the President April 7 after it was informed it had to remove two slides from its presentation by the Dean of Students’ office.
In a paper flyer and Instagram post in collaboration with BU Young Democratic Socialists of America, which was later taken down, MCO said the DOS office had “censored” its endorsement of a sanctuary campus initiative and its calls for a reevaluation of Student Activity Office procedures.
In addition to MCO, BU Closet, Unofficial Project Dance Team and the Vietnamese Student Association were invited to speak at the dinner about their clubs and be recognized for the work they do, BU Spokesperson Colin Riley said.
Riley added one of the presentation slides was requested to be removed because the initiatives did not align with the event’s purpose and the University had already heard both requests prior to the presentation.
“Ironically, it was a moot point,” Riley said. “It had already been decided, but it wasn’t that. It was that it didn’t align with the purpose of the presentations.”
A member of MCO who was involved with the planning of the presentation, who requested to remain anonymous to protect their safety, said the slides did align with the event’s purpose in their view.
The member said because MCO is a pre-law competitive organization, their group discusses the Constitution and legal precedent in detail, which is relevant to the detainments and deportations of international students on college campuses.
Additionally, the group’s members have a personal stake in the sanctuary campus initiative at BU.
“This is also something that very much affects our organization because we do have members that are international students or rely on visas,” they said.
Riley said the endorsement of the sanctuary campus initiative did not align with the event because “it’s not an issue that the University is considering.”
Danielle Sopko, senior director of Student Affairs Operations and Strategy, wrote in the original email to MCO that the dinner was “not the appropriate time or place” to discuss the issue.
The MCO member said it was “really eye-opening” to see how BU “doesn’t care or even want these discussions to happen,” considering the constant fear international students face.
“Time or place?” they said. “People are living with this fear every single day, so maybe it’s not appropriate for their time and place, but it’s something that’s affecting some people every time and every place.”
Following MCO’s withdrawal from the group’s presentation, the flyer called the event “ritualistic” and “performative.”
“All student organizations deserve to freely express themselves, especially on platforms designed to hear about student experiences,” the flyer read. “BU is made up of over 25% international students. By that logic 1 out 4 of your club members is in fear of the Trump administration. BU is being complicit by censoring our speech.”
Besides the sanctuary campus initiative, the group was told they needed to remove a slide requesting a reevaluation of SAO’s funding request procedures. The anonymous MCO member said SAO procedures and a lack of pre-law funding have historically left some club members paying “thousands” from their own pockets, waiting to be reimbursed.
“We’re the only competitive pre-law organization that doesn’t receive direct pre-law funding, and that has really affected us as an organization because our competition dates don’t align with SAO deadlines,” they said.
The club was told this request to reevaluate SAO funding processes was “already being evaluated, so it is unnecessary to address it again” in the same email from Sopko.
Margaret Babson, director of SAO, said evaluations about the efficiency of SAO funding request procedures are currently underway.
“We’re working throughout this spring semester and into summer to be able to look at the Student Activities Office processes,” Babson said. “To really have them take a deep dive and look at our procedures, and then how we’re being as effective as possible.”
Following its withdrawal from the Student Leaders Dinner presentation, MCO leadership met with the DOS and said it plans on meeting with President Melissa Gilliam in May.
MCO President Briana Leibowicz Turchiaro said the new MCO leadership team has decided to refocus the group’s advocacy to remain bipartisan. The Instagram post announcing a partnership with BU YDSA could be interpreted as a political affiliation, which is something the incoming E-board wanted to avoid, Leibowicz Turchiaro said.
“It’s not necessarily saying that everything in the post we disagree with, it’s just for the greater goal of not making anyone feel excluded or avoiding possible political affiliations, it’s better to archive and remove the post for now,” Leibowicz Turchiaro said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re also redacting every single thing we’ve said.”
Leibowicz Turchiaro said the group plans to continue being in conversation with the University about the issues of censorship, but will do so less publicly to protect the organization’s safety.
“These decisions can impact how [student groups] receive funding, so just keeping that in mind was the main concern behind the group,” Leibowicz Turchiaro said. “[MCO] is supposed to help people practice law. It’s not supposed to be politically affiliated in any way, so if these discussions continue to be public, that’s a risk that we run.”
