Student Union Elections Start Today – Go Vote

VOTE NOW: http://bu.edu/election

Interviews with the candidates

the Quad’s roundup of the slates

You don't even need a paper ballot, this election is online and takes 30 seconds.

Student Union elections start today, and regardless of what you think about the Student Union as a whole, I’m urging you to at least vote for someone – be it one of the two official slates BUnited or RenewBU, the unofficial Greek Slate, or some hilarious write in candidate (post them here!). Why does it matter that you vote? Because no matter what you think about the Union, no matter what you’ve read in campus publications or been lead to believe, everyone running is a student who cares about Boston University and wants to make it a better place for students, but they can only do that if they have the support of the entire student body.

The list of our Student Union’s accomplishments doesn’t read like Ted Kennedy’s (may he rest in peace), but part of the reason for this is that the rest of the student body hasn’t ever shown they care, with election turnout usually hovering around 15-20%. This, combined with the fact that the Union doesn’t have much formal power, means that when they go to the administration with a proposal they want to put in place, they can basically only say that 1,500 students out of 18,000 are behind them. Guess how effective that is?

Where the Union does get things done is in generating and advocating policy changes that garner student support and are implemented over time. Did you know that in 2006 you couldn’t be in dorms other than your own after 11pm, had to apply beforehand to the residence hall director to sign in an overnight guest, and needed a signature from an occupant of the opposite sex on your floor to sign someone of the opposite sex into a dorm? You can thank, in part (President Robert Brown played a role, too) the Student Union, which had for years railed against the old guest policy, generating widespread student support of the change.

That’s why Matt Seidel, last year’s SU President, spent the better part of 2008-09 collecting signatures in the GSU for his medical amnesty policy. He realized that he needed a large base of student support to persuade the administration to change, and through his action, was able to make some headway in changing the horrendous policy. Thanks to Seidel, medical amnesty gained widespread attention at BU, and continues to be a core issue for the slates running for positions in the 2010-11 Union.

Now imagine if 10,000 students had voted for Seidel. Instead of collecting signatures, he could have spent the year pressuring the administration to change the policy, leveraging the weight of more than half the student body behind him. How much farther along would we be? That’s what’s at stake in this years’ elections. If you care at all about the quality of these four years of your life (print quota, am I right people?), all it takes is 30 seconds of activism to make sure that there’s a strong, credible Union that can make real changes.

About Gabe Stein

Gabe Stein (CAS '11), was the founding CTO and Associate Publisher of the Quad.

View all posts by Gabe Stein →

3 Comments on “Student Union Elections Start Today – Go Vote”

  1. As the Brownstone Student Council Residence Hall Association President, I’ve been in position to see what Student Union can do – my RHA has two voting representatives, and many members of my residence community are involved in Union activities. I’ve been largely disappointed by the Union – though not by the individuals involved – as I’ve rarely seen what role it actually plays in the day-to-day operations of the university. I was very pleased to vote today, though, because I really think that the slates are dedicated to getting something done and changing the Union presence on campus. I have a strong preference, and I won’t hide that. I endorsed and voted for BUnited because I know and respect VP James Boggie and the slate’s overall commitment to working with other groups, particularly RHAs, rather than making us work for them. However, more generally, I’m excited by the potential positive effects of this election, no matter who wins. Enthusiasm is important, and a contentious clash between two talented slates is exactly what BU needs.

  2. Some of my write in candidates…
    Secretary: Hillary Clinton
    Treasurer: 50 Cent
    VP of Student Affairs: John Ensign
    VP of Internal Affairs: John Edwards
    VP of Financial Affairs: Mark Sanford

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