The Undergraduate Government of Boston College unanimously voted to pass a resolution to its constitution that converts two of its pre-existing seats into seats for international and transfer students on Tuesday.
After elections in the spring and fall of 2018, one Special Interest seat and the Honors Societies seat remained vacant, as no students were interested in running for them. As a result, the resolution by John Gehman, Intersections Committee chair and MCAS ’21, sought to convert those two existing seats into a Full-Time International Student seat and a Full-Time Transfer Student seat.
This resolution was born out of an acknowledged need to open UGBC to every underrepresented group at BC. According to the Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS), full-time international students make up about 8 percent of the total BC population, while the Transfer Ambassador Program (TAP) states that 7 percent of the BC population is made up of transfer students.
“Regardless of first institution or home countries, [international and transfer] students are no less Boston College students and deserve representation,” the resolution states, in reference to the motivation for creating these seats.
The resolution was debated for over 30 minutes, with some objections being being raised regarding one requirement of the Full-Time International Student seat. The original draft of the resolution stated that “the Full-Time International Student senator will be integrated as an executive board member of the International Club.”
Many senators pointed out that the majority of members of the International Club are not international students—thus, assigning this senator to the executive club of the board would be counterproductive. Ultimately, Aneeb Sheikh, Academic Affairs Committee chair and MCAS ’20, proposed an amendment to eliminate the executive board requirement for the International Student seat.
The Full-Time International Student seat will serve as a liaison to OISS, while the Full-Time Transfer Student senator will serve on the executive board of TAP, while also being the UGBC liaison to the Student Admission Program transfer coordinator. Both seats will be up for special election in the spring.
Correction (11/7/18, 4:19 p.m.): Ignacio Fletcher, UGBC executive vice president and MCAS ’20, was incorrectly credited as the author of the resolution. Gehman was originally cited as MCAS ’20. Both of those inaccuracies have been corrected.
Featured Image by Katie Genirs / Heights Editor
