By Elise Foley and Paul TakahashiThe Daily Northwestern
ASG senators elected key leaders during Wednesday’s Senate meeting and passed a resolution supporting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Former Clerk of the Senate Jesse Garfinkel beat former Parliamentarian Eric Parker to win the speaker of the Senate position.
Garfinkel, a Weinberg freshman and a senator from Allison Hall, said his “vision is for (Associated Student Government) to be no longer written off by students.”
The speaker of the Senate is responsible for managing Senate meetings and ensuring that the Executive Board enforces the “will of the Senate.”
Weinberg sophomore Jack Eichorst beat out two other candidates to win the parliamentarian position. The former senator from Willard Residential College ran on a platform to increase substantive debate in the Senate about resolutions and bills and to decrease debate about the rules.
The parliamentarian heads the Rules Committee and ensures the constitutionality of bills before they are addressed in the Senate.
Nick Briggs, a Weinberg freshman, ran unopposed for the clerk of the Senate position. Briggs was a Residential College Board senator. Senators motioned to elect him without debate. The Clerk of the Senate takes down the minutes at the meeting and compiles past legislation.
Senators also elected Weinberg freshman Kolin Pound as treasurer. Pound ran on a platform of increased transparency in ASG spending.
Weinberg freshman Patrick Hartnett was elected to the ASG Judicial Board, the group that is responsible for declaring the constitutionality of ASG actions.
Hartnett ran unopposed for the three-person board after two other nominees were unable to run based on stipulations in the ASG Constitution. Movements to amend the ASG Code of Conduct to allow these individuals to run were unsuccessful.
At the meeting, senators also approved revisions to the Student Activities Finance Board guidelines, including a mandate for A-status student groups to be registered on NU Link and to post their events on the calendar.
Senators unanimously passed a resolution supporting the Safe Space Program, an initiative by the LGBT Support Network to train students and faculty to interact better with the LGBT community at Northwestern.
“I think this program should be more publicized during New Student Week, because that’s so formative for your time at Northwestern,” said Aaron Goldberg, a former Rainbow Alliance senator and Weinberg senior.
The authors of the resolution said they hope to support the efforts of the Center for Student Involvement and the LGBT Resource Center to expand the Safe Space Program.
Reach Elise Foley at [email protected] and Paul Takahashi at [email protected].
