In their last meeting of the school year, Associated StudentGovernment senators passed a bill Wednesday night to create anonline discussion board Wednesday night.
Senate refrained from voting on the bill last week, after somesenators said it needed more research and a clearer distinctionfrom ASG’s existing Weblog.
At Wednesday’s meeting, ASG Technology Director Adam Forsythaddressed senators’ concerns, saying the existing Weblog focuses onfostering dialogue between ASG leaders and students.
ASG’s bill calls for a set of forums where Northwestern studentscan discuss issues ranging from academics to Greek life to Evanstonpolitics. Forsyth said the discussion board is for students tocommunicate among themselves.
“The point of this isn’t to talk between students and ASG,” saidForsyth, a Weinberg junior. “We’re really hoping this is everyonetalking together.”
Forsyth added that the current Weblog potentially could mergeinto the discussion board. The forums probably will be accessiblefrom both HereAndNow and the ASG website, he said.
But some senators questioned the need for such a discussionboard. Hillel Cultural Life Sen. Jill Sager said the sheer volumeof posts to the board would distract students from noticing otherlinks on HereAndNow.
“One of the greatest resources of HereAndNow is it’s a way forstudents to see what student groups are doing,” said Sager, aWeinberg sophomore. “The focus should really be on studentgroups.”
Forsyth said he will work on the discussion board during thesummer and the board will launch in the fall.
Senate also elected McCormick freshman Matthew Pavlak as ajustice to the ASG Judicial Board, which reviews theconstitutionality of Senate decisions. Seven justices serve on theJudicial Board.
In other ASG news, the Executive Committee and StudentsActivities Finance Board jointly approved Tuesday one student groupto be promoted to A-status. The Persian American Representatives ofStudents — an organization that educates students about Persianculture, customs and history — received the new status because ofseveral factors, ASG Executive Vice President Howie Buffettsaid.
Buffett said PARS proved to have a clearly-defined structure,group stability and financial responsibility.
“They had illustrated each of these criteria and we feel thatthe student group shows great promise,” said Buffett, aCommunication sophomore.
PARS President Majid Boroujerdi said he believes the groupreceived A-status because of a successful year with two events andseveral speakers.Boroujerdi, a McCormick junior, also pointed tothe number of underclassmen members as a strength, as well as thefact that no other A-status cultural groups represent the MiddleEast.
