Boston University Student Government heard Spring Festival updates, endorsed a partnership with the Queer Activist Collective on gender-neutral housing and listened to a BU negotiations update from Service Employees International Union Local 509 in a meeting Monday night.
StuGov has begun planning Spring-fest — a week-long event held from April 16 to April 24 in conjunction with Earth Day celebrations.
For Spring-fest, StuGov plans to host a CASino night in association with CAS StuGov, Spring Formal at the New England Aquarium, Spring Concert and a Service Sunday in partnership with the Community Service Center, said Executive Vice President Hessann Farooqi, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The April 23 Spring Concert will feature free food, student performers from around the Boston area and outdoor games, Farooqi highlighted, adding the concert will also include a farmer’s market with fresh fruits and vegetables.
“In keeping with the Earth Day theme of this event, we’re going to focus specifically on restaurants that feature vegan, vegetarian and plant-based options,” Farooqi said. “It’s going to be really a music festival vibe.”
Farooqi added plans for the upcoming festival were inspired by previous iterations of Senior Week — a pre-commencement week of activities for graduating students.
In previous years, Senior Week consisted of trips to Martha’s Vineyard, Six Flags and Royale Night Club. BU held virtual events in 2020, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and small games with free food and drinks on the BU Beach in 2021.
Another aspect of Spring-fest is Service Sunday on April 24 hosted with the Community Service Center.
StuGov Service Sunday is cosponsored by Muddy Water Initiative, which is an advocacy group for a series of brooks and ponds that run through the Boston area known as the Muddy River.
Farooqi sought Senate authorization for StuGov’s partnership with the Community Service Center. It passed with 37 votes in the affirmative.
StuGov then endorsed the establishment of the LGBTQIA+ BU Student Task-Force, created in collaboration with IMPACT and the Queer Activist Collective — also known as “Q” — and the implementation of “inclusive and accessible” BU gender-neutral housing.
“I could elaborate on the pain of being outed to my mom by the Housing department. Or the pain of being charged $5,000 more simply because I needed safe, gender-neutral housing,” one testimonial read.
“Q” and IMPACT’s research found ten barriers to transgender and gender non-conforming housing. These listed financial inaccessibility, limited housing availability and lack of freshmen accessibility to gender-neutral housing, among others.
“Q” presented solutions such as waiving extra housing costs for students who demonstrate financial need or safety concerns, creating accessible gender-neutral housing for students with disabilities and for the BU StarRez Housing system — an online portal through which students reserve on-campus housing — to allow students to change their name and add pronouns by Sept. 2022, among others.
The task force would survey LGBTQ students to discover the needs of the student population, compare BU’s resources to similar universities and propose actions based on data collected.
StuGov endorsed a bill to create the task force with 34 votes in the affirmative.
StuGov endorsed a resolution in Nov. 2021 supporting the Salaried Lecturer’s Union Local 509 in its campaign for better job security, a more equitable campus, necessary technology and a standardized courseload requirement for a full-time contract.
StuGov sent an open letter to the administration in support of SEIU L509 and its campaign events, according to its presentation.
Senator Alex Brumfield, a CAS sophomore, updated StuGov on SEIU L509’s progress with its campaign after it reached a contract with BU.
SEIU L509 saw a $2,000 increase to its minimum salary, a $50,000 supplemental technology fund and a guaranteed raise every July, Brumfield said.
The contract also increased job security and set down protections against shorter appointments and non-reappointments for faculty.
Not all of SEIU L509’s demands were met. There is still no formal definition for a “full-time” lecturer, and its demands for more gender-neutral restrooms and addressing racial and economic inequity were not met, Brumfield said.
“Now that the contract has been negotiated, it’s going to be a while before there’s another push,” Brumfield said, adding that the next campaign would likely take place during the next contract renegotiation in 2025.
“When that time comes to make another push, we need to hold the line,” he added.
