Associated Student Government’s 81 senators will be especially busy at their first meeting tonight in the Northwestern Room of Norris University Center.
Not only will the group hear from William Banis, NU’s vice president for student affairs, but they’ll also hear three new bills from ASG’s External Relations Committee and will examine a resolution commemorating Medill sophomore Jonah Richman, who died in August.
“This is uncharacteristically a lot of work for the first meeting,” said Kawika Pierson, ASG speaker of the senate. “We have a wonderful group of senators that is working at a much faster pace that last year.”
According to ASG President Mike Fong, Banis will speak to senators about their relationship with NU administrators before opening up the floor to questions.
Pierson said meeting with Banis will help senators work more effectively with administrators for the rest of the year.
“If they don’t know the people who are making the decisions that affect their lives, then it will be difficult for them to work with those people,” said Pierson, a Communication senior.
After Banis’ appearance, senators will move on to the resolution and External Relations bills.
A resolution commemorating the life of Richman will be introduced. Authored by Rainbow Alliance senator and former Daily Forum Editor John Hughes, the resolution honors the Medill student who died in a drowning accident Aug. 14.
Pierson said such a resolution is customary when a member of the NU community dies. A copy of the resolution will be sent to Richman’s family, Pierson said.
The External Relations Committee will introduce three bills, all dealing with student involvement in politics.
One calls for student involvement in the Evanston redistricting process, an effort to voice NU students’ concerns to the City Council led by Hughes and ASG External Relations Chairwoman Jane Lee.
Student involvement in the process will show city officials that the NU community cares about city issues, Lee said.
“We’ve done what we could to really protect students’ interests,” she said. “Now it’s a matter of students coming together.”
Another deals with the process of “deputizing” students. Deputization prepares an ASG senator to register his or her constituents to vote in Evanston. The registration has as much validity as it would if a student were to register at the city civic center.
“We want to make sure the voting process is as student friendly as possible,” said Lee, a Weinberg junior. “I want to tailor this to the students.”
Lee said ASG will first test-run the process on senators and then hold additional sessions for all NU students, depending on student interest. The process can begin as early as next week if the bill passes, Lee said.
The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the Northwestern Room at Norris and is open to the public.
