Associated Student Government senators will discuss three bills — one in response to Evanston’s new bicycle ordinance and another to Advanced Placement credits — tonight at what might be the final Senate meeting of the year.
Although all three proposals are new to the Senate, ASG Secretary/Parliamentarian Zach Benjamin, a Communication junior, said the Senate typically chooses to grant emergency status to such legislation, allowing them to vote on remaining bills at the meeting.
At tonight’s meeting, senators will consider a bill about an Evanston ordinance restricting bicycle usage in some residential areas.
The bill calls on city officials to communicate with students about the process of prohibiting bike traffic and to conduct more research on how students can comply with the ordinance, including construction of bike paths, said off-campus Sen. Meredith Kesner, who co-authored the bill.
Kesner, a Medill senior, said students need more information about how residents’ complaints become city ordinances.
“We don’t even know how the signs (prohibiting bike usage) went up,” Kesner said.
Senators also will discuss a bill concerning AP credits in Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.
A plan presented to Weinberg faculty on May 2 proposed limiting the number of AP and International Baccalaureate credits to make NU’s policies coincide with its peer institutions.
ASG Academic Vice President Prajwal Ciryam, a Weinberg sophomore, said the bill asks Weinberg to maintain the number of credits accepted at 12. The bill also asks that the limit be eight credits instead of the proposed four if the number of credits must be reduced.
The bill further calls for keeping the number of AP credits that count toward Weinberg distribution requirements at six instead of the proposal’s suggested limit to four credits.
In other business, senators will hear a bill calling for an online discussion board. This discussion board is different from the ASG Weblog, which began operating online two weeks ago.
While the ASG blog caters to communication between students and ASG senators, the online forum would aim to foster dialogue among NU students, said Technology Director Adam Forsyth, who co-authored the bill.
“The purpose of the forums is for students to share ideas and communicate between each other,” said Forsyth, a Weinberg junior. He added the online message board is another way ASG can receive student feedback.
Forsyth said the Web site would be built during the summer, and he expects it would premiere at the beginning of Fall Quarter.
At last week’s meeting, A&O Productions leaders appealed for a Senate seat. The entertainment group failed to receive approval from the Executive Committee to hold one of 22 student group spots in Senate, and A&O members unsuccessfully lobbied last week to regain their representative. But the group won’t return to Senate tonight to appeal the decision again.
“We were delivered a pretty clear message last week that ASG doesn’t value A&O,” said A&O Chairman Brian Bockrath, a McCormick junior.
