Boston University Student Government heard from Dining Services about George Sherman Union renovations, heard a proposal to provide free textbooks and the Senate rejected the Executive Board’s name change proposal in Monday’s Senate meeting.
Director of Dining Services Joseph LaChance presented plans for renovations to the GSU to Senate and the Executive Board. LaChance said the plans are intended to speed up service and open up the space so that more students are able to grab meals quickly in between classes.
“The plan is based on the premise that the university can’t function without the GSU,” LaChance said. “We serve about 33,000 meals a week.”
The renovations include changes to the seating arrangements and overall layout of the GSU that will allow for less crowding and more available seating for students at busy meal times. The renovations will also implement a new payment system allowing students to order and pay on tablets located at each vendor to speed up service.
Senator Sam Shafique, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said he is looking forward to the renovations.
“It seems like it’s going to be really exciting and it’s going to bring a fresh glance to the GSU, which has kind of remained more or less the same for the past couple years,” Shafique said. “It seems like they have the right ideas for keeping people moving through the space, so I’m happy for it.”
Savannah Majarwitz, a sophomore senator in CAS, said she also looks forward to the GSU’s new format.
“I think it will definitely liven up the atmosphere of the GSU because it’s one of the main places on campus that everyone goes to,” Majarwitz said. “I think this will really liven up the mood.”
Senate also heard updates from cabinet directors, including Director of Academic Affairs Ethan Wong. Wong, a sophomore senator in CAS, spoke about a textbook initiative spearheaded by the Department of Academic Affairs in partnership with Mugar Library. The initiative aims to supply of textbooks for 100- and 200-level courses, as well as textbooks written by BU professors, through Mugar Memorial Library for students to use.
“[The initiative] helps alleviate some of the costs that students are facing when they’re purchasing materials for their classes,” Wong said. “It’s just an additional way that students are able to gain access to the educational resources that they need.”
The textbooks would be held on reserve for student use as an alternative to buying or renting textbooks. The initiative hopes to acquire textbooks for the library via donations from students and professors.
Senate also voted on a proposal presented by the Executive Board in November to officially change the name of BU Student Government to BU Undergraduate Student Government.
The name change was intended to provide clarity to undergraduate students about the role of BU Student Government and differentiate the overall governing body from individual college student governments. Senate voted against the proposal.
Student Body President Hafzat Akanni had requested that The Daily Free Press refer to the body as the Undergraduate Student Government in September.
“I don’t see the purpose of it,” said senator Evan Teplensky, a freshman in CAS. “If we want to have students know how we help them and how we represent them we should be focusing more on a campaign for that issue.”
Has anyone looked into the layoffs of employees that’s happening to the GSU now? I know an employee that is being relocated and they told me a lot others are getting moved out of the gsu. Is this because of renovations? Or are they just downsizing?