“Better BU” Will Do Just That, Again

This fall, Boston University students exercised their right to vote, many for the very first time, in the presidential election. They tuned into televised presidential debates and engaged in productive and passionate political discussions with friends and classmates. They took into account how the national vote would affect their personal futures, mostly in the realms of student debt, the prospective employment climate, marriage equality, birth control laws, and tuition prices. They voted with absentee ballots from their home states and reacted with disappointment or satisfaction as Barack Obama was elected to his second term as the President of the United States.

A quick poll over social media proved that few students regarded the Boston University student government election with quite nearly as much care. As one BU student tweeted, “There were elections already?”

Your choice for the President of the United States may affect your mounting student debt, yes, but your choice for the Student Body President of your university will affect you in smaller, albeit much more immediate ways–whether or not you have someplace to go study at 3 a.m. or can live with a member of the opposite sex in on-campus housing.

As President Obama was making the final push in his campaign to maintain his seat in the Oval Office, Boston University’s Better BU party campaigned to maintain their seats in student government.

It was a much shorter campaign season for Better BU. The campaigning period began on Monday, November 5 at midnight. Polls opened on Monday, November 12 and closed at noon on November 19. Better BU candidates were officially awarded their seats in the spring of 2013 student government cabinet at an announcement dinner the evening of the 19th. They are Student Body President Aditya Rudra, Executive Vice President Lauren Lavelle, Vice President of Internal Affairs Jasmine Miller, and Vice President of Finance Justin Jones.

The good news, however, came as no surprise. Better BU ran unopposed in the elections. President Rudra attributed this to a number of potential causes. “Perhaps it was because these elections were in the middle of the academic year instead of the traditional spring semester elections,” he said.

“Perhaps because it is only a one semester term, or because I already serve as Student Body VP and therefore arguably am most qualified to continue the mantle of leadership from last semester, potential slates were discouraged from running. Perhaps confusion over the election timelines made unorganized slates drop or miss deadlines.”

VP of Finance Jones said Better BU still fought just as hard for student body favor as they would have in a two-party race.

“The toughest part about the campaign process was running unopposed, ironically enough,” Jones said. “Bringing this up when we asked for votes made it that much tougher to motivate the student body to vote since there was nothing at stake. However, my team campaigned just as hard as we would have if there were opposition.[…]It felt good to be up-front with the student body; hopefully, it let them know that we never have anything to hide.”

Regardless of its predictability, the Boston University student body should be pleased with the outcome of this election. Better BU is the same student government party that successfully fought for the new on-campus 24/7 study space in Shelton Hall’s former dining area. They drafted a proposal that both met student desires and administrative budgetary needs.

Even more notably, last academic year, our student government got university administration to approve a proposal gender neutral housing at BU, a controversial change. While the university has not introduced this new housing option yet, student government and administration are in talks about the logistics and have drafted a 5-year plan.

High off these successes, Better BU hopes to tackle three issues this spring semester: tuition stability, on and off-campus safety, and holiday busing to South Station and Logan Airport.

Several universities around the nation have begun to implement a policy of tuition stability, by which students pay the same tuition they did freshman year for all four years of college. This is Better BU’s ultimate vision for a more manageable tuition plan at Boston University. Though they are aware this would be a large-scale change, they remain realistic about their aspirations.

“We know we will not be able to change tuition structure at BU in one administration, but as a slate we decided that as the largest university in Massachusetts, BU has a lot of power to start conversation within the state and within the nation on the issue,” Rudra said.

The Better BU plan to improve students’ sense of safety on and off campus includes “establishing a relationship between Student Government and BUPD” and “increasing lighting and availability of blue light security boxes in high-risk areas,” as detailed on the party’s website, BetterBU.com.

The group also hopes to develop a BU-only bussing service that would take students from their dormitory to South Station or Logan Airport before major school vacations, namely Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks. This service–a “carpool” of sorts–would save students the hassle and money of lugging themselves and their luggage via cab and train.

In addition to these specific areas of interest, Better BU has one overarching goal: to represent the student body and be a mouthpiece for our needs.

“Over the years, student government’s role at the university has changed and adapted many times over. That will be one of our goals as the new Executive Board…to define what student government’s present role is at the University and use that to represent the entire student body to the best of our ability,” Lauren Lavelle said.

Their dedication to representing their peers is no minor commitment. Rudra equates participating in student government to taking eight credits worth of courses. Most of the heavy lifting of the job is done behind-the-scenes, which makes it easy for BU students to dismiss the student body government as “useless” or merely figureheads with little actual power.

One BU senior, when asked if he had voted in the student government elections, said they had “zero impact on his life whatsoever.” The work Better BU has completed and the goals the group of student leaders hopes to accomplish are, on the contrary, very impactful on the day-to-day lives of BU students.

“For those who say student government is useless, I would simply say, ‘let’s see,’” President Rudra said. “Hopefully our work this semester will speak for itself.”

About Ingrid Adamow

Ingrid Adamow (COM '14) is Editor-in-Chief and also a writer for The Quad. Ingrid is an advertising major and enjoys reading, writing, good music, fashion, coffee, and adventures around the city of Boston. But mostly coffee.

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