Our Founding:
The Student Congress was established in the 1930’s as Boston University’s undergraduate student government, and was a council comprised of students, faculty and administration. In the spring of 1969, the Student Congress was replaced by the Student Union, a student-only body. The executive board, referred as the Joint Council of the Student Union, consisted of a president, vice-president, five secretaries (Cultural Affairs, Student Life, Community Affairs, Academic Affairs, and Financial Affairs) and the presidents of all the college governments. With the constitution ratified, the first election was held between two slates, with more than 5,000 students voting.
An Exciting First Full Year:
The Student Union set out with the goal of providing services. At the beginning of the year, the Union asked for an increase in the Student Activity Fee (what is now referred to as the Undergraduate Student Fee) from $2.50 to $11.00. The increase passed by a large majority and the Union budget grew to $146,000 dollars (estimated to be about $700,000 by today’s standards). With the extra money, the Student Union funded many projects and publications (The News and The Daily Free Press for example). The Student Union started course evaluations, housing evaluations, distributed birth control booklets, and gave $35,000 to the Social Council (now known as the Programming Council). With the money, the Social Council hosted three major concerts by the end of the first semester. The Student Union also opened a steakhouse that offered $1.89 steak dinner plates. The Steak House turned in a coffee house/nightclub called the Backstreet on the weekends where local musicians played regularly.
A Turbulent Second Semester:
The Student Union focused on administrative changes during the second semester. However, after a riot broke out between police and protesters in November, twenty students found themselves in jail. The Union organized a campus-wide strike to free the students and rehire a popular professor that had been fired, among other demands. When the date of the one-day strike arrived, nearly 7,000 students participated. As a result, the original protestors were released on parole with no other demands met. The semester came to a close with failed attempts to abolish the grading system and degree requirements.
Highlights
- 1971-1972: President Silber removed the Student Activity Fee from the Student Union budget, leaving it with no funds. After a referendum, the student body asked that the Student Union control the Student Activity Fee. President Silber did not agree but suggested the voluntary collection of the student activity fee.
- 1977-1978: The Student Union became a “student group” through the Student Activities Office, and evolved into the form it would maintain until 2004 (3 branches and 2 special bodies).
- 1989-1990: The Union organized a protest in Marsh Plaza against the guest policy, which allowed no guests after 11pm and no study extensions. Sadly, the protest failed to remove the guest policy. Instead, the policy was revised to give students more freedom.
- 1990-1991: Over the summer, an administrative task force decided to remove the Residence Hall Governments from the Union. The Senate Crime and Safety Committee successfully received approval for the installation of the blue-light system around campus, dramatically improving campus safety.
- 1993-94: Project 100 (later to become SU Service Council, and now a part of Programming Council) is founded as a program to get 100 volunteers to get involved with the Union.
- 2003: At the beginning of the year, the Union experienced a decrease in effectiveness due to internal conflicts. The new Dean of Students, Kenneth Elmore, created a committee of students, administrators, and faculty to put a stop to the problem. As a result of this committee, the General Assembly was created. This assembly would be run by an Executive Board and would be separate from Programming Council and Allocations Board.
- 2004: The newly elected Executive Board and General Assembly wrote the Constitution and it was approved by the Student Body. The Union focused entirely on student advocacy and left programming and the allocation of funds to its sister groups, the Programming Council and Allocations Board.