The Student Activities Finance Board will announce the results of its financial misconduct hearing against Associated Student Government at tonight’s meeting.
SAFB met with ASG officers Tuesday night for a closed-door hearing after a full investigation of the organization’s expenditures for its Chicago Weekend Shuttle.
If SAFB finds fault with the executive board’s actions and decides to punish ASG, senators must approve the recommendations at tonight’s meeting.
SAFB initiated the investigation after several students raised concerns about how ASG handled the $30,500 allocated for the shuttle. ASG was last investigated for financial misconduct in 1995, when it was considered an A-status student group.
In late January, the Chicago Weekend Shuttle was shut down after running without a contract and without ASG’s knowledge.
The shuttle was supposed to start running Fall Quarter, but contract negotiations with the shuttle provider Royal American were not completed until last week. Shuttle service began again last weekend.
Senators also will vote tonight on the new ASG election guidelines that the rules committee presented last Wednesday. These guidelines call for an extension of the campaigning deadline, an end to paper campaigning and unlimited electronic campaigning.
Rules chairwoman Noreen Khalid said she expects much discussion about the guidelines.
“I think they’re going to be heavily debated because they’re so drastically different,” said Khalid, a Communication senior. “How much they’re going to be amended I don’t know. I’m honestly not sure how people feel about the idea of a paperless campaign. It does have its pros and cons.”
Candidates now are required to remove their fliers two days before the election. But candidates often forget where they post fliers and then fail to remove them, potentially resulting in fines. The new election guidelines would end the two-day period and allow campaigning to continue throughout the election.
The proposed ban on paper campaigning is meant to increase personal interaction between candidates and their constituents, Khalid said.
“I feel fairly confident about the guidelines we’ve presented,” she said. “Candidates will have to do so much more face-to-face campaigning. This approach will improve the quality.”
In addition, Financial Vice President
Le’Jamiel Goodall and Executive Vice President Nicole Mash will announce the results of last weekend’s annual review of ASG-recognized student groups. Goodall and Mash will recommend maintaining, demoting or derecognizing each A- and B-status group.
Three bills also will be presented at tonight’s meeting.
One bill asks Northwestern to create a major program in Middle Eastern studies and to expand its course offerings in the area of study, especially the Turkish and Farsi languages. It also asks the university to promptly replace departing faculty members who specialize in Middle Eastern studies.
Another bill calls upon the university to inform freshmen about the availability of Counseling and Psychological Services during New Student Week by asking the CAPS staff to attend mandatory freshmen programs.
The third bill would expand the current WildCARD advantage program so that more students know where to go for discounts.
