Boston University Student Government held a debate on Wednesday night, the second event in the 2018–2019 election process.
BuildBU and BUnited, the two slates campaigning to be the next executive board representing the student body, debated and spoke about initiatives they plan to implement if elected.
BuildBU presidential nominee Devin Harvin, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said he wants students to feel comfortable bringing issues to the attention of SG.
“We want to make Student Government the thing that you think about when you have concerns,” Harvin said.
Harvin said BuildBU’s platform is centered around three pillars: classroom, culture and communication. Some of their initiatives include keeping Mugar Memorial Library open for 24 hours outside of finals period, creating open hours to play with Legos in the Student Government office and holding spring concerts.
“We want to take initiative so people feel a greater community here at BU,” Harvin said.
On the opposing side is BUnited, a campaign focused on making the university more accessible for students of all backgrounds. The slate itself is made up of three transfer students and one international student.
“We want to promote unity with the entire campus,” BUnited presidential nominee and CAS junior Kenneth Delatorre said. “We want to promote unity between the administration, the entire Student Government and the entirety of the study body.”
BUnited plans to promote unity by engaging with students on the streets and by holding monthly forums where students can voice their concerns, Delatorre said.
“When they come to us with concerns we can act on them,” Delatorre said. “We know what the students want directly.”
Both campaigns spoke about the importance of improving communication between SG and the student body, and how they plan to do that.
BuildBU members said they plan to create a more active communications director position, and BUnited members said they want to increase a social media presence.
CAS sophomore Hafzat Akanni, BuildBU’s executive vice-presidential nominee, said SG needs to improve its presence on campus.
“We can’t just be selfish and hope that people come to our events … We need to show up to their events as well,” Akanni said.
BUnited executive vice-presidential nominee Alexander Diaz said his slate would also like to improve intra-university relations.
“In the real world, we know the guy from COM is probably going to be working next to the guy from Questrom,” Diaz said. “So why not have COM kids and engineering kids and CAS kids also have the resources and accessibility that the Questrom [and] Engineering [students] do?”
The debate is just one event in the election process, which is run by the Student Election Commission, said SEC Co-Chair Ria Wang before the debate.
“We keep all the slates intact to make sure … they’re going about everything correctly,” said Wang, who is a freshman in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. “We do everything to make sure the election runs smoothly.”
SAR freshman Vincent D’Amato, the other SEC co-chair, said beforehand that debates present candidates with the opportunity to express their ideas and give students the chance to determine which they agree more with.
“Students can learn what policies these slates are going to be running on …” D’Amato said. “You can get to see the strong or weak points of some slates’ [policies].”
CAS freshman Jessica Jordan, a committee member of the SEC, said she believes the debate could help students see how a debate works close to home.
“When you see a presidential debate you’re just thinking, ‘This barely affects me because I’m one citizen out of millions,’” Jordan said. “But something like this … is for students — specifically for you.”
Bejeana Breneville, a junior in the College of Communication, said the debate helped her decide who to vote for based on the slates’ platforms.
“I’m voting because of a mission, or their plans, or what they actually want to do,” Breneville said.
The election process will continue with a press conference on Thursday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the George Sherman Union Back Court. Polls will open on March 19 at 9 a.m. and will close on March 26 at noon. The winners will be announced during a dinner on March 27.
