The Emerson College Students’ Union held its third general meeting on Sunday, Sept. 18 to detail its upcoming voting meeting and provide insight into the progress of its goals for Emerson’s student body.
Preparing to host the Union’s first voting meeting next Tuesday, ECSU chairman of digital output, deputy chairman of grassroots output, and media organizer Dylan Young outlined the organization’s propositions regarding how the meeting will function.
“Ideally, we select our host, notetaker, and mediator,” he explained. “The host is going to perceive propositions from people ahead of time and decide who on each side is going to present a bill. A bill for a proposition and a bill against the proposition will be presented. Different people will present those, and then it will be up to the group to discuss, and a vote will take place via Google forums.”
Young highlighted the importance of communication throughout the meeting, stating that it is useful for the meeting host to be made aware of the attendees’ views surrounding certain issues. However, students also have the option to submit suggestions, comments, and issues anonymously, to be read aloud during the meeting.
ECSU also discussed and launched its community support program on Sunday. The Union designed a “peer-to-peer” therapy community support program that gathers people to talk about their problems at Emerson. At the meeting, the Union addressed the need to practice the support program prior to opening it to the student body and scheduled a practice session for Saturday afternoon.
Mutual Aid, an ECSU caucus designed to assist students in acquiring the equipment they need for their visual arts projects, was reviewed for its functions and essentials at the meeting. Eitan Ehrlich, ECSU’s deputy chairman of mutual aid and media organizer, talked about his thoughts about Mutual Aid.
“The format of Mutual Aid should be between as hands-on as possible, but also trying to be hands-off to establish relationships between students and less advantaged students who don’t have credit,” Ehrlich said. In his perspective, the Mutual Aid Caucus acts as a “figurative middleman” that creates a binding agreement between clients and providers.
ECSU’s town hall is also in planning. According to Young, the most vital thing for the town hall is the turnout.
“We would have to have a good turnout and actually feel like we are hearing and acting like a good representation of the students,” he said.
To act as a firm representative for Emerson’s students, ECSU revised its logo after Union members shared concerns and ideas for revision. ECSU selected the notetaker, Emma Cudahy, and mediator, Jonathon Balboni, for next week’s general meeting.
The Union handed out over 600 leaflets at Emerson’s organization fair on Sept. 9 and garnered 100 signatures and increased its membership by 100 students. Union members considered it a satisfactory step in gaining students’ support to represent the student body.
“We have to start changing the culture,” Ehrlich said. “Rather than doing it through mass, super catchy things, you change somebody’s mind one by one.”
ECSU accumulated 125 signatures for its union drive, a document that allows ECSU to stand as a representative of Emerson students, which requires 30% of student support. At the meeting, the union members plan to deliver its leaflets to students walking on Boylston Street on Monday morning.
