Senators gave an additional $2,000 to Mayfest at Wednesday’s Associated Student Government Senate meeting, after a subtraction error left them with the extra funds.
Senators thought they had distributed the entire $193,340 supplemental funding pool at the Nov. 9 Senate but found out about the mistake later that week.
In what might be the last Senate meeting of the quarter, Residence Hall Association Sen. Ben Parr motioned to give Mayfest the money because he thought it should go to the group instead of being held over until spring funding. Many students had encouraged him to give the money to Mayfest, the Weinberg sophomore said.
“I strongly believe that it was the student will to give this money to Mayfest,” Parr said.
Senate also passed a bill that calls for ASG members to look into raising the Student Activities Fee, a $120 fee that each student pays with their tuition.
The money is used to fund student groups. The fee has been stagnant for four years and needs to be adjusted, said Communication junior Jay Schumacher, ASG’s executive vice president and an author of the bill.
“Even to maintain (student groups’) current level of programming becomes impossible with rising costs,” Schumacher said.
The bill also urges ASG to investigate ways of providing funding to B- and T-status groups, which currently do not receive funding from the fee.
To research how much additional funding would be appropriate, the Student Activities Finance Board and the executive committee have initiated discussions with groups about their needs, Schumacher said. The SAFB oversees student group funding cycles.
A 1 percent annual increase, or another similar set adjustment in the fee, might account for inflation without bringing the issue before the Senate each year, Schumacher said.
Several other bills also were passed at Wednesday’s meeting. The bills included a proposal to encourage Facilities Management to rearrange left-handed desks in Harris 107 or put in additional desks.
Another bill Senate passed asks Norris Bookstore to provide low-cost plastic sleeves to hold WildCARDs. The sleeve has a hole at the edge so it can be attached to a keychain. Communication freshman Brittney Bahlman, a student services committee member and author of the bill, said she would eventually like to see Northwestern give all incoming students free ID card holders.
Senate approved resolutions honoring the life of McCormick senior Caleb Jordan and recognizing Josh Miller, an IT systems engineer, for his help in repairing the ASG server. Another resolution encouraged the university to provide a technical expert who can work with ASG to maintain technological devices such as the server.
Five SAFB members were elected during Wednesday’s meeting. Communication junior Sara Ittelson, Weinberg sophomore Cassie Witten, Weinberg junior Todd Lewis and Medill freshman Jade Stanfield were re-elected. Senate also placed Weinberg sophomore Daniel Lawner on the board.
A bill to put a link to online book exchange nuonlinebooks.com on HereAndNow was tabled until legal issues surrounding the site could be cleared. The Web site allows students to see textbooks required for NU classes, provides links to Amazon.com and hosts a book exchange where students can directly buy and sell books from each other.
Reach Diana Samuels at [email protected].
