The long-anticipated debates on student group funding will have to wait another week.
Wednesday’s Associated Student Government meeting was cancelled, along with evening classes on Northwestern’s Evanston and Chicago campuses, due to inclement weather.
“We wanted to maximize the number of student group leaders able to attend,” ASG President Jon Webber said. “Canceling the meeting for this week was the right thing to do.”
The planned business for the meeting, including B-status funding for student groups, will be postponed to next Wednesday, according to the Weinberg senior.
Other items on the agenda included two bills, one concerning Northwestern’s non-discrimination policy and the other about group executive accountability.
The B-status funding recommendations were available to senators at last Wednesday’s ASG meeting. The 42 B-status groups requested more than $98,000 – with amounts ranging from $120 to $31,000. The executive committee’s recommendations totaled $21,420.80 – ranging from no funding for four groups to $2,000 for Dance Marathon.
ASG categorizes student groups into three categories: A-status, B-status and T-status. B- and T-status groups are typically smaller in size or newer to campus. A-status funding is determined during Spring Quarter, with recommendations made by the Student Activities Finance Board.
The ASG financial vice president chairs SAFB, which is in charge of about $1.2 million dollars for A-status groups. Applications for the position were due Wednesday.
Last year, when B-status group funding was made available for the first time, ASG allocated $19,514 for 36 B-status groups.
Funding was available only for A-status groups – such as Alternative Student Breaks – before last year.
Webber said he has talked to more than 20 A-status group leaders over the last two weeks for feedback about the funding process.
“Funding’s the most important thing ASG does,” he said.
He added that the increased importance of student group funding made it necessary to gather feedback within the last two weeks from people outside of ASG who are affected by spring funding.
Webber said he wants to create a funding study group to review the funding process at NU and compare its process to those at other institutions.
“The project is not investigating any wrongdoing of SAFB or attacking the board in any way,” he said. “It’s saying we as a community need to take a step back and ask the question of, ‘Are we doing things in the best way or not?'”
He will announce specific funding areas to focus on and possible proposals in next week’s senate meeting, when he will have synthesized the information from the different student group leaders.
For more up-to-date coverage about Associated Student Government, check out The Daily’s ASG blog at www.dailynorthwestern.com.
