The Undergraduate Student Government Senate condemned the Boston University administration’s choice to pay for Ben Shapiro’s security detail and acknowledged that the Senate welcomes and supports all members of the study body in a resolution passed Monday.
The meeting took place four hours after the USG Executive Board released an email to the student body stating they would not be taking a definitive stance on Shapiro’s visit. The email invited students to attend a gathering the Executive Board is hosting before the meeting and referred students concerned about the visit to on-campus student health and counseling resources.
Patrick Boese, a freshman Senator from the College of Communication, said he is glad the Senate is taking a firm position by passing this resolution, titled Resolution 001.
“I think it’s great that student Senate is showing leadership on this issue,” Boese said. “It’s an issue that’s important to a lot of people at BU and our ultimate resolution takes a firm stance and defines very clearly what we represent as student government.”
Several senators expressed concern that, although the email was signed by the executive board alone, BU students would interpret the message as coming from all of USG.
Junior Senator from Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Vincent D’Amato said it was unfair that the executive board sent out an email before Senate had finalized its discussion on Resolution 001.
“That email was passed without the acknowledgement of the Senate,” D’Amato said during the meeting. “We thought that if they were going to send any email they would’ve waited until after we had this discussion.”
Several members of the student body who were present at the meeting said that, had they not attended the meeting, they would have assumed the email included Senate’s position on the issue.
Senate passed a second resolution, proposed by College of Engineering Senator Aditya Jain, calling for the executive board to send out an additional email clarifying the Senate’s position and including the full text of Resolution 001.
Senator Carly Corcoran, a sophomore in the College of Communication, said both branches of government have the right to make their positions clear.
“I personally agree that the executive board does have the right to send an email with their own perspective on the issue,” Corcoran said, “but I do think that Senate can release a statement clarifying their own position.”
As the Senator who was the primary sponsor/co-sponsored both of the resolutions which passed today, I wanted to thank the many student groups and students who came to tell us their concerns, personal stories, and views. I take my duty to represent students to the administration seriously and try to advocate for students in all that I do. I believe that is what was achieved at today’s 2+ hour meeting. I wanted to thank you for helping Senate make the right decision today and pushing us to take a firm stance on the improper handling of the Ben Shapiro issue and stance of the Executive Board.
The full text of the two passed resolutions should be sent out within the next day.