UGBC Senate Elects Leadership

The Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) elected Harvey Simmons, A&S '11, and Michael Joyce, A&S '12, to the positions of Senate president and vice president, respectively, on Monday night.

Simmons will be entering his second year as UGBC Senate president, while Joyce will replace Scott Jelinek, A&S '10, as vice president.

Simmons said that his continued role as Senate president will help the Senate tackle long-term initiatives. The four-year limit of a senator's time at BC can pose an issue in enacting change in the UGBC, Simmons said. "That's the thing about the Senate," he said. "The work you do today might not be seen for another three or four years."

When asked what the agenda will be for the next year, both Simmons and Joyce said that medical amnesty and the "No More Than Four" off-campus housing policy will be addressed thoroughly. "It is something that needs to be worked on in both the short and long term," Joyce said in reference to the housing policy. Additionally, Simmons said that the Senate will continue to meet with administrators and University health officials to discuss an appropriate amnesty policy.

The dynamic between the UGBC and the student body will be one of the largest issues for the Senate to address this year, Simmons said. One of the ways the UGBC has fostered a connection between the student body and the Senate in the past has been through Senate lunches. These lunches have featured class senators making themselves available to students in dining halls, and Simmons said he hopes to build on those interactions.

"The dialogue thus far has been really good," Simmons said. "We want to find out how to get students excited about issues on campus."

Joyce said that by creating more opportunities to speak with BC students, he hopes to sustain the energy created by UGBC campaigns.

"Most senators get elected because they go door to door," Joyce said. "In my view, we should continue to do that after the election, feel what they're working on and keep those students checked into what they are doing. Often times we get questions from students questioning what we even do. That is a product of the lack of communication between the students and what we represent."

The Senate will be hosting the annual Boston Intercollegiate Conference this fall – an event which Simmons said he hopes will bring ideas from other schools together. "It's amazing to speak to these other students and see how much overlap there is between schools," he said. "It's not just us who are dealing with these issues."

The Senate will also be working to advance a plan by Senator Courtney Finkel, CSOM '12, that calls for a bus route that would run from BC to downtown Boston. Simmons said he hopes this will also act to unite students. "Most of the students I've spoken to who lived on Newton Campus said some of the best relationships they had were formed riding the Newton bus back and forth," he said. "This will be similar."

Jelinek, who, with others, founded the student organization BC Students for Sexual Health, said that sexual health still remains a concern for students this year – an issue he hopes the UGBC Senate will address during this next year. "I think the great thing is to have Harvey working as president. It will be really great continuity with that," Jelinek said. "A lot of things can get dropped in transition. I feel confident that he will be able to fight for it next year."

Simmons' and Joyce's elections coincided with the election of Micaela Mabida, CSOM '11, and Patrick Raab, A&S '11, to president and vice president of the UGBC for 2010-11, respectively. Jelinek said that Raab's previous experience in the Senate could prove to an asset to the UGBC, similar to his experience working with current UGBC President Al Dea, former Senate president and CSOM '10.

"We all work on checks and balances," Jelinek said. "I think the new Senate will be able to work closely with Pat and Micaela. With Al Dea as a former senator, we were able to work closely together with the Cabinet and the Senate. Using Pat's experience with the Senate will be similar."