Be Unleashed, a slate for the spring 2012 Boston University Student Union election, hopes to give a voice to students and implement changes on campus, slate members said.
“Our goal is to include all student voices,” said Sophia Woyda, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore. “With four people, we can’t come up with every single idea that will make Boston University an amazing place that makes student life the best it can be.”
The Be Unleashed slate includes College of Fine Arts sophomore Dexter McCoy as president, School of Management sophomore Aditya Rudra as executive vice president, Woyda as vice president of internal affairs and SMG freshman D.A. Whatley as vice president of financial affairs.
The slate’s platform includes gender-neutral housing, increased student input on tuition allocation, a 24-7 study space, a holiday bus system and changes in Union structure.
“I think the biggest challenge [in the campaign] is definitely reaching out to as many BU students as possible,” Rudra said.
Be Unleashed is campaigning within communities such as Greek Life and multicultural organizations, as well as student activist groups.
“There’s a lot of us and there’s a lot of students and it can be a difficult task [to bring student groups together] but it’s an enjoyable one,” Rudra said.
Three students on the slate have experience in Union, but Rudra, who is involved with SMG student government, the Howard Thurman Center and several activist groups on campus, hopes to bring a more activist, social perspective to the group, he said.
Rudra started working with Laurie Pohl, vice president for Enrollment & Student Affairs, to increase student input on tuition allocation, he said.
“We really talked about trying to find a way to have the student voice in tuition allocation,” Rudra said. “I think having that opportunity for students – to have their voices heard for tuition as well – will create a process. . . . The dialogue needs to be open sooner rather than later.”
Whatley, current chairman of the Advocacy Committee, has worked on the gender-neutral housing issue since he joined Union and Warren Towers Residence Hall Association at the start of his freshman year.
“I knew it was going to be difficult because this had been [proposed] before and didn’t go through,” Whatley said, “but I wanted a challenge because I knew students wanted gender-neutral housing.”
Study spaces open 24-7 are important for students so they have somewhere to go at all times, Whatley said.
“BU is a very tough academic environment,” he said. “We should have somewhere to go 24 hours a day, seven days a week outside of the dorms, where all students can have access to it.”
Environmental groups on campus noted the holiday bus idea would be a great initiative, Rudra said.
“We want to create a bus service for students before major breaks, going to New York City, Philadelphia, maybe New Jersey,” Rudra said. “This way parents don’t have to come pick up their students and take them back.”
Despite rumors of a write-in contender, Rudra said the members of Be Unleashed are not taking the unverified write-in slate “Be United” seriously.
“I don’t think any of us on Be Unleashed are really paying much attention to it at all,” he said. “We’re focusing on campaigning as much as we can and focusing on bringing student issues to the forefront.”
Woyda said the slate could not imagine all the problems students face and finds talking with students inspiring.
“It’s a platform to get Union known as a tool, as a place to go, as a resource for student leadership on campus,” she said. “It’s through personal relationship building, outreach and energy that we get people excited.”
The slate is looking to provide on-campus accommodations for international students during short breaks and continue talks with Dining Services to update dining options, Woyda said.
Be Unleashed has campaigned in person and through social media, with a Twitter, Facebook and website, despite considering themselves unopposed, Rudra said.
“We’re doing everything we possibly can to be transparent and to put our platform out there,” Rudra said. “We can reach students through their personal social networks well and maybe reach others that we can’t meet physically.”
Emily Overholt contributed to the reporting of this article.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
