Associated Student Government senators and officers will enjoy a little more elbow room during Fall Quarter since the Norris Center Advisory Board allocated ASG an additional office adjoining its current space.
ASG leaders said they plan to turn the new office into a resource room for student groups that do not have their own space. The four groups currently occupying ASG’s new office will be moved to other offices.
“It’ll be like a Jewel Osco for student groups because it’s going to be there whenever Norris is open and you can get everything to make your student group run,” said Kawika Pierson, a McCormick sophomore and speaker of the Senate.
ASG plans to request funds to stock the resource room with computers, copiers, fax machines and other tools for groups’ use.
Many other groups will change offices as part of a plan to better utilize Norris’ limited space and have similar groups to share offices, said Jeremy Wingerter, assistant director of Campus Activities. Groups learned of their fates on Wednesday.
“This year there’s going to be a lot of moving, but we think it’s going to be better,” Wingerter said.
Rainbow Alliance, which currently has its own office, will move to a smaller office to make room for three other groups in its current space. Rainbow Alliance Co-President Sharon Roberson said the group’s executive board expressed mixed reactions to the news.
“Some of the older people were sad because this is the office we’ve had since they’ve been here,” said Roberson, a McCormick freshman. “But we’re happy that we still have an office, even though it’s smaller and doesn’t have a window.”
Northwestern’s Greek organizations – Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Association and National Pan-Hellenic Council – will be grouped together in one office at their request.
In addition, Dance Marathon will move to a larger office with Oasis and Special Olympics, both community service groups.
Theater groups will not share offices because of confidentiality concerns, Wingerter said.
“In the ideal world, it would be nice if they could have their own offices,” he said.
All groups that met deadlines for applications or appeals received office or storage space. Wingerter said groups deserve more space, which could be supplied by Norris renovations that administrators have not yet raised enough money to start.
“We still have some groups that do get space but want more,” he said. “I think, justifiably, they deserve more.”
Currently, groups with access to office space elsewhere, such as at the Multicultural Center, cannot apply for space at Norris.
Two groups that had space this year did not re-apply. One group, Exigent Theater Company, now unofficially called The Ensemble, missed the deadline unintentionally, the group’s president said. But Exigent did not appeal because leaders felt the group did not really need the space.
“We never really used it to begin with, and, frankly, with (the group’s production, ‘100 Minutes’) going up, I just forgot about it,” said Edward Dunn, Exigent’s president and a Speech junior.
