Before tackling campaign priorities like adding a 24-hour study lounge, cable television and bettering Boston University’s minority retention rate, BU Student Union officials said they will take the beginning of the spring semester to focus on restructuring of the inner workings of the Senate and Union as a whole.
According to both Union President Ethan Clay and Executive Vice-President Joe Rollin, the Union executive board will make reforming the constitution and updating the Union’s financial workings top priorities.
‘We are going to take a close look at our constitution and our financial allocations that different bodies of the Union receive and make sure the Union is able to better serve the student body in the future,’ Clay said.
Rollin said he believes the changes will help make the Union more cohesive.
The Union’s 24-hour study lounge committee will also be working more actively to form a proposal for a new lounge. Clay and Rollin said they expect changes as soon as Spring Break.
Clay said the committee already has a timeline in place and Rollin said, ‘all the kinks will be worked out and something will be done’ by March. The committee is comprised of administrators and members of several Senate committees, including Residence Life, Academic Affairs and Safety Services, according to Rollin.
Clay said the Union’s Multicultural Affairs committee will use the semester to work on a study of minority retention at BU.
‘We will be taking a closer look at minority retention and raising awareness about the issue,’ Clay said.
Though firm plans for the study have not yet solidified, Rollin said the retention survey will focus on many issues, including the number of minority students accepted and how many of those students actually attend.
Rollin said the study should be completed by March so the university can take steps to improve minority attraction at the university’s annual April open house.
‘It will be the first very broad type survey that BU has seen in that respect,’ Rollin said.
Clay said Union members are also working with BU’s Information Technology department to create an online survey asking students which campus issues they find most important. He said the survey, intended to aid next year’s Union in focusing their agenda for the year, should be online by the end of the semester.
As for the new changes with the guest policy, Rollin said he believes the implementation of the new policy will allow students to realize the true achievement the changes symbolize.
‘Once [the students] see [the new Guest Policy] working they’re going to appreciate what [the Student Union] has done and see it even more,’ he said. ‘They will appreciate the change a lot more than when the announcement was made.’
Rollin also said the Union could recommend further ‘small changes’ to the updated policy. He said another proposal on the policy could appear as early as a year from now.
‘I’m sure that we’re going to work up another proposal by this time next year maybe a few more changes that we would like to see,’ he said.
The Union will kick off the semester with two major events during the month of January.
The Union will host a pizza party in the 1019 Commonwealth Ave. ground level common room after BU’s hockey game against Boston College. Clay said he hopes the event will help students ‘get in the school spirit again.’
The Student Union Service Council will also host the Community Service Expo on Jan. 28 in Metcalf Hall from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. SUSC Chairman Mike Pereira said event planners hope to unite all campus community service organizations and help involve BU students more involved in campus community service programs.
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