Several changes were made to the structure of Boston University Student Government during the spring 2013 semester in an attempt to redefine and refresh its role on campus, SG officials said.
Officials revamped SG to ensure that more students were able to become involved, said Aditya Rudra, SG president and School of Management junior.
“Cabinet used to be mostly senators who are also asked to serve as a department, but this year we separated that so that senators have their own role,” Rudra said. “We were able to get a lot more students on the advocacy, the social affairs and outreach departments, and their sole jobs would be to work on those departments, so they weren’t also playing the role that senators play.”
Rudra said these internal changes to SG were crucial to success on various projects during the semester, including a spring break holiday bus service to Logan International Airport.
“Holiday buses, a $5 bus service to [Logan] airport, were offered spring [2013] semester for the first time since the 1970s and are a service Student Government is trying to bring back and expand for university students,” said Executive Vice President and SMG junior Lauren LaVelle.
Rudra said the holiday bus service required many hours of work and was only possible because of the expanded advocacy department, which was made about five times larger than it was in the 2012-13 academic year.
SG officials also attempted to change the image of the organization, Rudra said.
“Student Government, which used to be called Student Union, changed the name of the organization to reduce confusion as to what their role actually is and to give Student Government a new image,” he said.
The current e-board was elected in November to serve a special one-semester term for the spring semester. In May, the election cycle will revert to a timeline based on the academic year.
A proposal for further internal changes is currently being reviewed by the judicial commission, but officials do not yet know how that may change SG’s structure, said College of Arts and Sciences freshman and Vice President of Internal Affairs Jasmine Miller.
Miller said serving on the executive board for the spring 2013 semester has taught her leadership skills.
“From e-board, I learned a lot about how campus works, about administration, about student relations to administration, about student relations to students and it helped me establish a lot of connections on campus that I didn’t think existed,” she said.
LaVelle said SG’s limited time during the year would be better applied by using the resources available to make external, tangible changes for BU students.
“I would like to see less focus internally and more focus externally on the students,” she said. “It’s really frustrating only having a month in office and having to deal with the internal structure and not be able to serve the students of the university, which is why we are all in office, and that’s what we wanted to do.”
LaVelle said she believes the role of SG on campus must be redefined.
“The students who lead Student Government should be students, not trying to run the university,” she said. “We have a place and a role, and if we can utilize the resources that we do have to better student life on campus or help shape and change the culture on campus, I’d like to see that happen.”
Administrative interests and student interests are often not the same, Rudra said. Learning to align these interests is an important skill to be a successful member of SG.
LaVelle said she advises future e-board members to make use of their time as leaders.
“Definitely take advantage of the time that you have in office,” she said. “It’s short and it goes by quickly. We’re students first, so be a student and lead students and take advantage of the resources and opportunities you have in this position.”
