Senators at Wednesday’s Associated Student Government meeting unanimously passed a constitutional amendment, swore in a new academic vice president and approved two other officers’ appointments.
The constitutional amendment will change ASG’s election rules. Previously, senators annually elected students to four Executive Board positions. However, if an unexpected vacancy arose, the Executive Board nominated a replacement.
The amendment changed the rules so senators could elect students to those positions under any circumstances.
Senate also swore in Communication junior Jordan Fox to replace Weinberg senior Jason Downs as academic vice president. Fox, who won the AVP runoff election last Thursday, thanked Downs and told Senate about her committee’s upcoming projects in a brief acceptance speech.
In his farewell speech, Downs thanked all the candidates in last week’s AVP election for their spirited campaigns. He had confidence in Fox’s ability to be AVP, he said.
“I’ve known Jordan for three years as a member of my committee,” Downs said. “I’m excited about what will happen with her in charge.”
Downs also urged Senate to undo reforms made last spring that changed how students were represented in ASG. Before last spring, every dorm on campus had a representative in ASG, but now student representation is divided into fewer groups. Proponents of the reforms said it made ASG smaller and more efficient.
The ASG members who made those reforms “hijacked” the student government and made it less democratic, Downs said. As a result, ASG resembled an organization that belonged in the former Soviet Union rather than in the United States, he said.
“Students constantly complain about how ASG seems irrelevant or disconnected from students,” he said.
Undoing last spring’s reforms would help change students’ conceptions, he said.
Senate also heard the confirmations of Weinberg junior Kevin Palms as technology director and Medill junior Robby Stein as campus public relations chairman.
President Jay Schumacher, a Communication junior, presented the two appointees to Senate. He cited Palms’ experience as creator of the new NULink online calendar and Stein’s experience as a Newsweek intern and a Daily staffer. Those experiences will be helpful, he said.
Senate approved the confirmations unanimously.
Outgoing Technology Director Mike Jurewitz, a Weinberg senior, and Campus Public Relations Committee Chairwoman Jenn McQuiston, a Medill senior, both gave farewell speeches.
McQuiston thanked individual ASG members for their guidance over the years, and she encouraged senators to embrace criticism.
Students have already forgotten ASG’s victories of eliminating Saturday final exams and creating a P/N option for classes, she said. Soon, they will forget ASG’s efforts this year to create a Latino Studies program, summer internship grants and funding for more student groups.
“And you know what? That’s OK with me,” McQuiston told senators. “Even if students forget their past, I know ASG, and you are their future.”
Reach Nitesh Srivastava at [email protected].
