The Associated Student Government will fill open spaces for senators and non-senators on the Student Activities Finance Board and the Executive Committee at its meeting tonight.
SAFB, the committee that controls funding for A-status student groups, will fill two senatorial positions and one non-senatorial position, said Carson Kuo, ASG financial vice president. Any past or present senator is eligible for the senatorial spaces, he said. Any Northwestern student not affiliated with ASG can apply for a non-senatorial position.
Each of SAFB’s 10 members, called account executives, oversees four or five student groups for the year. Account executives make sure their groups sponsor quality programming and adhere to the policies of NU, SAFB and the Student Organization Finance Office, Kuo said.
The Executive Committee, which oversees ASG student groups, will elect three senators and two non-senators tonight. Each of the committee members oversees eight to 10 student groups, serving as a liaison between the groups and ASG and helping the groups through spring funding negotiations.
Srikanth Reddy, ASG executive vice president and head of the Executive Committee, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
SAFB’s first order of business this quarter will be supplemental funding, said Kuo, an Education senior. Student group recommendations for funding are due Thursday, and SAFB will discuss the recommendations Sunday, he said. Supplemental funding allows student groups to apply for money in addition to the funds granted during spring funding.
“The new (committee members) will get right into it,” Kuo said.
Although disputes caused spring funding negotiations to last four weeks, Kuo said he expects no problems with supplemental funding.
“With all the experienced senators that are coming back, and the retreat went so well — I’m not worried that it will be a repeat of spring (funding),” Kuo said. “It won’t be.”
He said he expects to have five students running for the senatorial positions and three running for the non-senatorial positions.
“Even though a lot of interest hasn’t been expressed, there’s always a lot of people running,” he said.
At Wednesday’s meeting, ASG leaders will also present the Senate Mentoring System, a program that pairs new senators with returning senators and Executive Board members, said Bassel Korkor, speaker of the Senate. The program fosters a better understanding of NU and ASG resources for new senators, Korkor said.
The program, started in Fall Quarter 2000 by Korkor and then-Speaker of the Senate Richard Caldarone, Music and Weinberg ’01, worked well with last year’s new senators, he said.
“It was somebody who was an immediate resource for all the new members,” said Korkor, a Weinberg junior.
With this year’s “high quality” of senators, the program should have an even stronger impact, Korkor said.
“I think it may be less necessary than last year but also more effective than last year,” he said.
