Student Union President Zachary Coseglia will discuss the joint Union-BU Free Guest Visitation Policy Report with Boston University President Jon Westling today after two months of compiling surveys and research on the topic, Coseglia said yesterday.
Union officials released the report to Westling’s office yesterday morning, Coseglia said.
Meeting with Westling to present the report has been the Guest Policy committee’s priority since the outset of the project, Coseglia said, representing a break from past Union administrations’ treatment of similar proposals.
“It’s been a long time since a Union president has sat down with the University president like this,” Coseglia said. “Usually they’ll write a proposal and put it in the mail, but we don’t want to do that. We want to talk about it; that’s the mature and professional thing to do.”
Coseglia said he will make sure Westling knows the Guest Policy is a top priority of the BU student body and will emphasize the need to address the issue. He said he is confident Westling will look seriously at the proposal because it is a professional effort that took many perspectives into account.
“President Westling can ignore it, but I don’t think he will because I think this proposal is especially persuasive,” Coseglia said. “The project builds a coalition. It doesn’t just focus on students — it brings in parents and guards as well.
BU Free President Ethan Clay said Westling should take the proposal seriously because of the substantial discontent with the current policy many students expressed.
“Alumni support here at BU is very low in comparison to other colleges,” Clay said. “Even if he just cares about his career and BU’s financial backing, he has to realize that a lot of the people who are discontented with the policy leave and don’t give money.
“I wouldn’t want to make a threat, but if he ignores our proposal, it would really hurt the campus even more,” Clay continued. “Some of the sentiments students hold about the administration would be confirmed. There would be widespread upset, and who knows where that would lead.”
Coseglia and Clay both said the next step in the process will depend on Westling’s response.
Coseglia emphasized that the committee will continue to add to the report, which will remain a work in progress.
“We’re going to continue to do more research and get more surveys,” Coseglia said. “We’re going to continue to make the report as good and accurate as it can be.”
Coseglia said the Faculty-Student Life Task Force will meet Monday to decide whether to officially support the Guest Policy reform effort.