Associated Student Government members reintroduced a resolution Wednesday night to increase the Student Activities Fee by $7 per quarter after ASG’s Judicial Board decided Sunday that a campus-wide referendum on the issue would be unconstitutional.
Arguing that they were unaware of student opinion on the issue, senators voted against the resolution last week and hoped the Judicial Board would approve a referendum. Since the board ruled ASG could not poll students because of an existing referendum, ASG members will debate an increase of $33 to $40 per quarter in Senate for a second time.
“To gauge student opinion, the senators should go back to their constituents,” said ASG Financial Vice President Carson Kuo, an Education senior. “An extra $7 per quarter would not be a valid excuse (for voting against the proposal) because they hike our tuition up at least 5 percent every year.”
Also at the meeting, ASG President Jordan Heinz said he will meet Friday with University President Henry Bienen, Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Eugene Sunshine and Vice President for Student Affairs William Banis to discuss the lack of communication between students and administrators.
“The administrators’ responses to the students’ concerns are sketchy at best,” said Heinz, an Education senior. “I don’t think they’re understanding at all where students are coming from on this issue.”
ASG held an open forum Tuesday night with top-level administrators allowing students to express opinions about Lagoon construction.
“The students came out feeling more in favor of the project itself,” he said. “But the students came out of the forum with a greater divide between them and administrators.”
Senators unanimously passed a resolution introduced by Heinz showing student support for the Norris University Center expansion.
“This reiterates the fact that students prioritize Norris renovations (over the Lagoon construction),” Heinz said.
In other business, Tina Valkanoff, president of Northwestern’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, introduced a bill asking administrators to notify students after releasing information about them to law enforcement officials.
Administrators at NU and other universities throughout the country, have provided law enforcement officials with some students’ basic information in response to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Also at the meeting, Senate elected A&O Productions Sen. Neil Shah to serve on the committee that elects ASG’s financial vice president for the second year in a row.
Without much debate, senators passed four bills calling for:
_Ѣ transfer students to receive waiting list preference for on-campus housing
_Ѣ student priority in reserving and paying for Sports Pavilion and Aquatic Center tennis court use
_Ѣ more copy machines in dorms and other campus buildings
_Ѣ expansion of the freshmen and transfer student peer advising program and a new alumni mentoring program.
