Associated Student Government senators voted Wednesday in favorof a bill asking administrators to reconsider phasing out theSchool of Music’s organ program and voted to overturn thederecognition status of two student groups.
At the three-hourlong meeting, Executive board members alsosubmitted next year’s ASG operational budget proposal forconsideration, welcomed the new financial vice president and passedcommittee guidelines for the Executive Board and Student ActivitiesFinance Board.
Senators also amended and passed election guidelines to exclude”no confidence” as a candidate in this spring’s elections, ameasure senators voted in favor of at last week’s meeting. DanBroadwell, a Foster-Walker Complex senator who proposed theamendment, said some senators wanted to reject “no confidence” as acandidate because of confusion surrounding last week’s votecount.
“We’re trying to provide the best compromise possible,” he said.”It still gives people the ability to use ‘no confidence’ if theyreally feel strongly that none of the candidates can fulfill theduties of the positions.”
Authors of the organ bill said administrators have not givensufficient reasons for discontinuing the program. Mark Kraemer, aWilmette resident who sang in the Alice Millar Chapel choir forseveral years, spoke out against administrators’ decision — sayingthe program benefits not only students but also the community as awhole.
“The organ program is a great asset to the community,” saidKraemer, whose wife is an organist in the Chicago area.”Congregations in both synagogues and churches know thatNorthwestern is a wonderful place because their organists areNorthwestern graduates.”
Senate also granted two groups, Campus Kitchens as well asSingaporeans and Friends, ASG recognition after they appealed theirderecognition status for not submitting annual review forms by theJan. 30 deadline.
The move comes a few weeks after ASG upheld the derecognitionstatus of the Interfraternity Council, an A-status group, on thesame grounds. But in these cases, senators said, the two groups hadsufficient explanations for missing the deadline and acted quicklyto amend mistakes.
James Koh, president of Singaporeans and Friends, said the groupfailed to turn in the annual review because of human error.
“I very much want the club to stay under the umbrella of ASG,”said Koh, a McCormick sophomore. “We are trying to expand anddiversify, and being derecognized would be a blow to us.”
Representatives of Campus Kitchens, a new group on campus, saidthey were misinformed about the process.
Still, some senators said ASG must enforce these guidelines ifit wants to uphold its credibility.
“We have rules and we must support them,” said Jay Schumacher,an Ayers College of Commerce and Industry senator and Communicationfreshman. “Let’s not fix the problem here. Let’s fix the problem onthe Executive Committee guidelines and work from there.”
Bryan Tolles, executive vice president, said four other B-statusand T-status groups were derecognized for the same reason and thathe expects others will appeal. A seventh group, Campus Greens, wasderecognized because Tolles said it has not held any publicizedall-campus events for a year.
ASG members also welcomed Zaid Pardesi, a McCormick junior, asthe new financial vice president, whose role is to lead StudentActivities Finance Board in funding delegations.
“He’s been a very strong member of ASG and he has an excellentgrasp of the guidelines,” said Broadwell, a Weinberg sophomore whoserved on the six-member committee that selected Pardesi. “He’salso viewed as an excellent public speaker, which is key becausehe’ll be up in front of Senate a lot.”
