Written by: Andy Zhong

After a year of much reform and progress, Tyler Williams, president of Association of Bentley Activities (ABA), is pleased with how the organization has worked to improve the student experience at Bentley. Because Williams is graduating next fall, he was unable to run for reelection, since the ABA constitution clearly states that the presidential position requires service of one full year.

This past academic year, ABA worked on some major projects, such as the Club Sport Moratorium, in addition to creating changes to its constitution in an attempt to improve the efficiency and communication of Cluster Representatives to student organizations.

“I think overall, ABA was very functional this year,” said Williams, who assumed the role of presidency early last semester when his predecessor, Jacob Graham, left a vacancy in the highly influential student organization.

Perhaps the most notable policy created by ABA this year was the introduction of the Active Organization Policy. The Active Organization Policy “will be used to identify struggling organizations and give [ABA] an opportunity to help them out,” explained Williams. With over 100 student organizations on campus, it becomes difficult for ABA to address each and every organization’s needs. The Active Organization Policy looks to tackle this issue.

Although Williams is pleased with ABA’s progress, there is still much room for improvement. Williams stated, “The one thing I think we still need to work on is external awareness. We still need students and student organizations to understand who we are and what we do.”

The club-recognition process is a lengthy one and requires a lot of dedication. “We look at each organization holistically and try to look at the student organization community as a whole,” said Williams. “As each of our Cluster Representatives represents the organization community as a whole, we try to pull viewpoints from every angle in order to make a decision. It’s never easy to deny an organization, but we give everyone an opportunity to appeal and still become recognized,” he continued.

Throughout this past year, many Bentley students have stepped up in terms of creating their own clubs on campus. Some of the organizations approved this year included Bentley African Association, Bentley Student Artists, and, according to Williams, “close to 20 other potential organizations currently moving through the recognition process.”
When asked whether Williams believes that ABA has achieved many of its goals it set out to do at the beginning of the year, Williams responded, “I would say we did.”

He went on to say, “We revised the constitution and went through some necessary internal restructuring to make us more efficient in our decision making and productivity. I think it shows in the amount we accomplished this semester and moving forward you will see more ABA publicity and awareness. Overall, I am very happy with this semester and this year as a whole,” concluded Williams.

With all these new changes, Williams expects communication and knowledge between the organizations and ABA to improve over the next year.

“I just really want to thank the Cluster Representatives for all the hard work they’ve put in this semester,” he said. “It has been a pleasure working with them and I hope they enjoyed their time on the board.”