Northwestern’s Model United Nations petitioned Associated Student Government’s Judicial Board on Tuesday evening to let Senate directly vote on the student group’s application for upgraded status.
Outgoing Model U.N. President Mary Bridget Gurry said the Executive Committee’s failure to meet deadlines was the main reason for petitioning the board.
Model U.N. asked Executive Committee, which works with non-funded ASG student groups, to upgrade its status from T- to B-status on Feb. 20. The committee did not meet with the group’s leaders to discuss the petition within two weeks, as required by the student group guidelines.
The two-week process of Annual Review kept the committee from addressing the application until after Spring Break, Executive President Srikanth Reddy said.
Gurry said regardless of the delay, Model U.N.’s priority is to resolve the issue professionally.
“It’s not a matter of being mad at Srikanth,” said Gurry, a Weinberg junior. “We are just going through the proper channels to make sure all this is taken care of.”
But Reddy said he would have been happy to grant the group B-status had he been able to set up a meeting with the group’s president before she filed the petition.
Senate does not have the authority to change groups’ status unilaterally, he said, adding that he wasn’t sure why the group chose to approach the Judicial Board.
“I don’t really know,” said Reddy, who serves as executive vice president until Nicole Mash is inducted at tonight’s Senate meeting. “They probably feel as though I harbored some kind of animosity toward the group … which is definitely not the case.”
An upgrade to B-status would help Model U.N. reach its main goals, which according to Gurry include becoming a major student group, being competitive with programs at other top universities and reaching A-status.
“(We want) to get enough money to send our members to competitions in different parts of the world,” said Aalia Thobani, incoming Model U.N. president.
Gurry said the funding A-status groups receive from ASG is necessary for NU’s Model U.N. program to reach the caliber of other top universities.
“B-status is a doorway to A-status,” Gurry said.
Model U.N. members pay for their own plane tickets and expenses to attend conferences, but Gurry said this is becoming impractical.
“There is going to be a point where we have to turn down conferences,” she said.
Reddy said the group likely would never receive A-status anyway, because of the precedent set this year that groups based on academic competition should not receive funding from the Student Activities Fee.
Gurry also said it was important to have ASG support for the Model U.N. high school conference the group is planning for Spring Quarter 2004. Even if they do not achieve A-status and receive funding by that point, Model U.N. still will hold the conference, Gurry said.
