ASG passes legislation supporting gun control, divestment from fossil fuels
Susan Du/Daily Senior Staffer
Steven Monacelli, Associated Student Government's vice president for community relations, speaks in support of passing the resolution, "Students Support Gun Control," at Wednesday's Senate meeting. The resolution, which encourages Congress and President Barack Obama to work together on legislation to reduce gun violence, passed shortly after.
January 30, 2013
After a nearly four-hour long meeting with much debate, Associated Student Government passed a resolution to recommend divesting from the coal industry and another to support improved gun regulations.
Senators passed the resolution "Establishing Northwestern as a Global Leader in Environmental and Financial Sustainability" with less debate than last week's meeting and an overwhelming majority. The resolution recommends to Northwestern administrators a complete divestment from the coal industry, a decrease in future investments in fossil fuels and more investments in clean technology and renewable energy.
ASG's associate vice president for sustainability Mark Silberg, a Weinberg junior and one of the resolution's authors, said the number of sponsors increased from 55 to about 70 in the past week.
Senators also passed a resolution urging Congress and President Barack Obama to work together on legislation to reduce gun violence. It also states that the NU student body supports improved gun regulations. Senators passed an amendment that changed the legislation from supporting the "President's executive orders regarding improved gun legislation" to its current form, which supports only improved gun regulation. This amendment was made to temper the partisan nature of the resolution, said senator Jane Gilmore, a Weinberg junior.
Senator Evan Frohman, a Weinberg freshman, proposed another amendment that replaced "Northwestern student body" with "Associated Student Government." ASG Vice President Brad Stewart supported the amendment, but other senators opposed it, stating that ASG's role was to speak for its constituents.
"Northwestern student body and ASG equal each other," said senator Chris Harlow, a SESP freshman. The amendment failed with a vote of 12 to 16 and seven abstentions.
Debate over the resolution continued as some senators were concerned with the resolution's legitimacy in advising the U.S. government. ASG President Victor Shao intervened with a statement supporting the cause.
"We do lobby Congress in this kind of sense in the context of things like the fiscal cliff," the Weinberg senior said. "Other colleges have pursued such a thing."
The bill titled "Ad-hoc Committee on Gun Control" was also passed. This will create an ad-hoc committee of five ASG members, who will be elected Wednesday, to write an open letter to Congress pressuring them to make a bipartisan movement on gun control.
Another proposed resolution, "Political and Partisan Issues," which stated that ASG should remain silent on national and political issues that do not explicitly relate to students, did not pass.
The second bill addressed at the meeting, "Student Groups Vice President & Financial Vice President Selection Committees," did pass. It lists logistics for appointing the next vice president for the Student Groups committee and the next financial vice president.
At the end of the meeting, senator Jesse Seitz, a Weinberg junior, proposed creation of a legislation that would not allow Senate to extend past three hours. The legislation may be introduced next week.
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Well - after divesting from "fossil fuels" - you've now let others make money that you could have made. Hope you're proud of yourselves.
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You don't understand finance, do you? Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 10:31 am
http://chronicle.com/blogs/bottomline/divesting-in-fossil-fuels-shouldnt-harm-endowments-report-finds/
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Next time you use your car, try doing it without fossil fuels.
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David Snydacker Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 12:00 pm
Great idea! The 2013 Nissan Leaf now starts at $18,800 in California and fuel costs are $1/gal-equivalent!
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Glad to know that ASG is representing the whole student body when it comes to guns, especially those of us who feel differently than they do.
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Anon Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 10:14 am
Seeing as how representative bodies are not guaranteed to satisfied the opinions of all those they represent, I'm glad they did too.
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Anon Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 9:47 pm
ASG is not elected on a political platform. Why should they "represent" "my voice" on a political subject?
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Joan Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 10:15 pm
I agree. Also, it's kind of a joke to say these people represent the students even in a general sense. Hardly anyone votes in the elections. Didn't the Daily run a story earlier this year about a guy who wound up an ASG senator as the result of a joke? And people like this are the ones making these claims that are supposed to represent Northwestern students' beliefs? Like I said, I am so not happy about this.
Joan Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 10:12 pm
I know. I was really not happy about this. I haven't had contact with my ASG senator all year (I don't even know his name), but I was trying to figure out who he was so I could contact him and tell him that I absolutely did NOT support this. I guess I didn't find out in time, though.
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Brad Stewart Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 9:21 am
Hi Joan,
If you let me know where you live, I can let you know who your Senator is. Feel free to shoot me an email at asg-vp@u.northwestern.edu.
Thanks,
Brad
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Great! That's just the car I want to drive! I think I"ll trade in my Mercedes S-Class and pick one of those puppies up tomorrow!
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David Snydacker Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 7:54 pm
Nice car! The Mercedes S600 sells for $160,000, does 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds, and gets 16 mpg. You should consider the Tesla Model S, which won 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year. The Model S performance edition sells for $87,000, does 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds, gets 89 mpg-equivalent, and can charge from solar panels on your roof.
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Steven Monacelli Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at 8:11 pm
I love these responses. They are so informatively clever.
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Daily should stop removing relevant comments that are neither more offensive nor libelous than a typical comment. I bet they'll remove this comment just because I called them substandard. Hope your feelings aren't too hurt!
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the daily trolls NU Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 5:30 am
The Daily likes to remove comments that don't fit within their ideological frame. If you consider the demographic of higher-ups in the Daily with their obvious preferences in topics and censorship, it becomes clear that they have a pretty obvious bias.
Which is why the Daily is sickening and hardly any more representative of the student body's news/priorities than, say, a hyperactive squirrel would be.
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Steven Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 10:54 am
I haven't ever heard of them doing something like that unless someone is blatantly vulgar. Any example of the comments they removed? Otherwise, this seems just like another unsubstantiated anonymous swipe at an organization you don't like.
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For anybody who feels like ASG is not relevant, I would encourage you to submit ideas to Campus Voice (http://campusvoice.northwestern.edu) that you would like to see us work on. We can only be relevant to you, if we communicate with each other to know what projects are priorities for you.
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