Associated Student Government’s Technology Director said he would begin monitoring posts on the group’s Online Restaurant Guide at ASG’s first Senate meeting Wednesday.
Evanston aldermen heavily criticized the guide earlier this week during debates over the city’s liquor regulations, citing the use of profanity and references to underage drinking in online posts.
Technology Director Mike Jurewitz said he and Web site administrator David Wei, Weinberg ’03, will concentrate on removing current posts that discuss illegal activity or use profanity for now. They also are looking at ways to screen posts in the future, Jurewitz said.
Currently, they are considering having posts e-mailed to moderators. Moderators would screen the posts and notify the Web site administrators if they saw something controversial. While the posts waited for screening, they would still be visible, he said.
Jurewitz, a Weinberg senior, said he does not want ASG to be a police force.
“We are still focusing on making the restaurant guide an open forum,” he said.
A smaller number of senators attended Associated Student Government’s first Senate meeting after a rules change last spring reduced the number of senators from 83 to 49.
“For me it was weird because I’m not used to seeing that number of empty seats,” said Dan Broadwell, speaker of the Senate.
Broadwell, a Communication senior, said he was correct when he predicted that the noise level in meetings would be lower with the new Senate composition.
“Even when everybody is talking, it’s still not nearly as loud as it would have been last year,” he said.
The biggest cuts in senator numbers came from dormitory representation. Dorms held 42 Senate spots last year, and residents directly elected their senators. This year, residents chose nominees, who were then narrowed down by Residence Hall Association and Residential College Board for a total of 15 dorm senators.
In one of their first actions of the year, senators unanimously passed a resolution welcoming students visiting from Gulf Coast colleges.
Treasurer Ivy LeTourneau, a Weinberg sophomore, also reported ASG’s summer financial transactions to senators. When the redesigned ASG Web site is put up in the next few weeks, LeTourneau hopes to have her own Web blog-like page where she will report financial transactions for students who do not attend Senate meetings, she said. She will also hold office hours from 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays at the ASG office on Norris University Center’s third floor.
Reach Diana Samuels at [email protected].
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ASG plans to censor restaurant guide posts
