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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2024
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THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY
YEAR LV. VOLUME A. ISSUE II
New BU president pushes for unity, progress ahead of inauguration Viewers
tune into presidential debate at watch parties across Boston
BY CRYSTAL YORMICK Campus Co-Editor AND KAYLA BALTAZAR Campus Co-Editor
Melissa Gilliam is prioritizing communication, collaboration and community as she begins her time as Boston University’s 11th president. She officially began her tenure on July 1. Gilliam enters her position during a tumultuous time at the University, as the BU Graduate Workers Union remains on strike and the ResLife Union continues to negotiate for a fair contract. She said she is approaching these on-campus labor disputes by “listening [to] and hearing” their perspectives. Student Body President Akwasi Antwi said he was “thrilled” when Gilliam was appointed president of BU. Antwi said Gilliam, the University’s first Black and first female president, represents a lot of students. “Having meetings with her, in which students can actively attend and ask questions … is pretty much at the top of my priority list,” Antwi said. Gilliam said she plans to meet regularly with BU student leaders throughout the semester. In addition to student groups, Gilliam has been meeting with leaders at other Bostonarea universities. Despite the assumption that BU is competing with other institutions, Gilliam finds there is a “generosity of spirit” among local universities. “We have a lot of opportunities
BY LAUREN ALBANO City Co- Editor AND CHARLIE JOHNSON Associate City Editor
to partner on projects [and] borrow and share ideas but also to think about how you can create regional hubs,” Gilliam said. Gilliam is also assuming presidency in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action, a ruling that prohibits colleges from considering race in admissions. The Class of 2028 is the first class to be admitted since the ruling, and Black student admissions at BU have dropped
from 9% to 3%. The University is focused on building “infrastructure, processes and programs” to combat the Supreme Court decision and promote diversity on campus, Gilliam said. This includes examining students’ academic success and staying connected with alumni. “I believe in taking complex and challenging situations and trying to say, ‘How do we use these moments to get even
better?’” Gilliam said. BU is in the fourth year of its 10-year “Strategic Plan,” which prioritizes research, diversity, equity, community and global engagement. Gilliam said she hopes to move the institution forward by identifying the gaps among these values and supporting existing initiatives through strategy, operations and culture.
Bars, restaurants and college classrooms filled up across Boston to put on watch parties during the presidential debate on Tuesday night. As Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican nominee former President Donald Trump took the debate stage, several institutions across Boston also took to hosting fellow members of their communities to watch the debate. Zach Zinman, president of Tufts University Democrats, hosted a debate watch party at the Joyce Cummings Center on Tufts’s campus to provide a place for students to watch the event as a community and encourage more political participation. “It’s the only election year of our college years,” Zinman said. “This election will shape the rest of our lives.”
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in the student body, according to Gilliam’s statement. As a result of the June 2023 Supreme Court decision, colleges are now banned from considering race in admissions. The decision was controversial and provoked disapproving statements from BU admissions. BU Spokesperson Colin Riley
deferred comment to Gilliam’s statement. BU Student Body President Akwasi Antwi said he was not surprised by the enrollment decline, and he plans to address it soon. “This decision would have affected students like me,” Antwi, who is Black, said. “I think what
the University should be judged on is the validity of the steps that it takes to at least mitigate the effect that this problem has.” Antwi said he plans to advocate for a Black student resource center as well as for BU to hire more Black professors in an effort to encourage more Black students to apply to the
University. Oluwatofẹ Akinyanmi, a sophomore and co-host of the WTBU radio show “Melanin Matters,” was shocked by the news. “I don’t want to lose the resources or the spaces that we created,” Akinyanmi said. “I feel like without people to maintain those spaces, it will be harder to maintain them overall.” 42% of the Class of 2028 are students of color, down from 44% last year, according to data from the University. The population of Asian-American students increased to 21% from last year’s 18%, and Hispanic students decreased to 12% from last year’s 13%. The enrollment of white students stayed at 29%. “Getting more Black students to apply through University programs and highlighting that, despite the fact that this decision is out, there are still Black students here,” Antwi said. “If the University doesn’t do that, it’s failed in its mission.”
ZACH SCHWARTZ | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
Boston University’s 11th president, Melissa Gilliam. Gilliam has stated it is important for her to work with student leaders on campus, including those from the BU Graduate Workers Union and ResLife Union.
BU’s Black first-year student enrollment falls to 3% BY MARA MELLITS Editor-in-Chief
Boston University is one of the latest schools to report trends of decreasing diversity in its firstyear class following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to overturn affirmative action. The University reported that enrollment of Black students in the Class of 2028, the first class admitted following the decision, declined to 3% from last year’s 9%. With this decline, BU joins other New England schools affected by the ruling, including Harvard University, Brown University, Tufts University and Amherst College. “This is a really big change, and it’s very hard for a university to adjust to an admissions process that quickly,” BU President Melissa Gilliam said about the ruling during an interview on Sept. 9. Gilliam, who replaced Interim President Kenneth Freeman on July 1, is BU’s first Black president. She plans to set up a task force to maintain diversity
KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
Boston University Admissions Office. Boston University reported a 6% decrease in the Black student population for the Class of 2028.
Campus Co-Editors Kayla Baltazar and Crystal Yormick contributed reporting.