Associated Student Government senators passed a bill Wednesday to improve mail room services in all dorms and debated a bill that would expand Northwestern’s Asian American Studies Program.
Senate amended a bill that would have increased communication among students and the Allison Hall mail room, voting to extend the measures to all campus mail rooms. The legislation called for a posting of accurate mail room hours and student notification of interruptions in services. The amended version passed but not before objections were made.
Off-campus Sen. Meredith Kesner said more dorm and mail room staff input was necessary because mail room situations may differ from dorm to dorm.
“If we want to be a responsible Senate … we should make an effort to work with them and not send out a mandate to enforce,” said Kesner, a Medill senior.
But Hillel Cultural Life Sen. Jill Sager, who authored the legislation, said she received support from an Undergraduate Residential Life official and residents of Public Affairs Residential College.
“I spoke with Virginia Koch who oversees the mail room services through Res Life,” said Sager, a PARC resident and Weinberg sophomore. “I feel like criticism (about receiving input) wasn’t well-founded.”
Sager said she plans to work with Koch, Student Services Vice President Alex Lurie and students to put the bill into effect.
In addition to passing the mail room bill, Senate debated a proposed bill to augment the Asian American Studies program. The bill focuses on increasing faculty who specialize in Asian American Studies as well as offering more related courses in departments like theatre and history. The bill also would ensure at least four courses connected to Asian American Studies are offered per quarter.
Some senators questioned the student demand for the program’s increase. But Foster-Walker Complex Sen. Audrey Chen, author of the bill, said the student demand is present.
“I really hope there isn’t too much opposition next week,” said Chen, a Weinberg freshman. “We need to have a strong ethnic studies program and this would hopefully set a precedent for that.”
Speaker of the Senate Matt Hall also swore in Communication sophomore Howie Buffett as executive vice president.
Applications for three unfilled executive board posts — campus public relations chair, external relations chair and tech chair — are due by 5 p.m. Friday in the ASG office. All students, even those unaffiliated with ASG, are encouraged to apply, said ASG President Jane Lee. Positions will be confirmed at next week’s meeting.
