This past Sunday, the BSU hosted a forum with Deans Paula Burger and Susan Boswell to discuss the administration's decision to convert the BSU room in the basement of AMR II into a student lounge.
The previous Wednesday, the BSU announced that the forum would be closed to only the deans and BSU members.
The specifics of the ultimate plan, which the university describes as "Expanding access to the BSU Room and establishing administrative office for the BSU," has yet to be finalized, but the general outline was presented to the BSU executive board over last summer. The forum offered the BSU general body members the opportunity to discuss with the deans the specifics of the proposal.
The outline presented over the summer provides the BSU with priority for scheduling its meetings, while opening the room to reservations through the Office of Residential Life, in accordance with the general policy for access to rooms by student groups.
It also would convert the room to key card access, as with other lounges in the AMRs. The proposal also calls for renovations to the room, including a new sound system, furniture and tables. The murals in the BSU room would be preserved.
The outline also calls for the administrative office of the BSU to move to the Multicultural Center, where the BSU's archives would also be stored. The administration also offered to enlist the services of the university archivist to help maintain and catalogue the material.
"It is our hope that the BSU will also become a residential group at the Multicultural Center as we believe they play a key role in advancing dialogue about diversity on campus," Boswell wrote in an e-mail to the News-Letter.
Burger also stressed the importance of BSU involvement with the Multicultural Affairs Student Center.
"The university began the MASC in response to cultural groups and students, including black students, because we didn't have a strong enough community presence for cultural activities... we want to ensure that the BSU becomes involved in this effort," Burger said.
When asked to comment on the meeting, members who attended indicated that, as a closed forum, they felt it would be inappropriate to comment. The president of the BSU, Mwende Muindi, said that the BSU has no comment at this time, indicating only that any decisions by the BSU in response to Sunday's forum would be announced in an upcoming press release.
Burger said that she felt the meeting was constructive, but only the beginning of a further dialogue with the BSU.
"We agreed that we would continue to engage each other. We are very interested in hearing their concerns... the particulars of any agreement are unimportant as long as we come to terms," she said. "It was a very candid conversation."
Burger said that she understood the importance of the space to the BSU.
"There is a deep sense of attachment, sense of place associated with this room. It is a very powerful space, and we have tried to reflect that in our proposal."
Burger also noted that, while students raised questions about the content of the proposal, there was a more fundamental dynamic behind the BSU's concern over the space.
"The underlying issue is a question of feeling fully enfranchised," she said. "This is not new to Hopkins or anywhere else. It affects black, Hispanic, female and all groups that may not be a majority. As a university, we try to help them feel fully enfranchised."
