The newly elected Associated Student Government president, vice president, academic vice president and student life vice president were sworn into their new offices at Wednesday night’s ASG Senate meeting.
The new officers placed their right hands on a copy of “Robert’s Rules of Order” as they were sworn into office by the member of the outgoing executive board they replaced.
Incoming and outgoing officers made short speeches about their experiences with and aspirations for ASG.
Incoming SLVP Katie Bradford said she is “very excited to take things to the next level” by finishing projects such as dining and mail room reforms that were launched by her predecessor, Medill sophomore Matt Bellassai, as well as “to create a structure for a strong start next year.”
Gabby Daniels, a Weinberg sophomore and the new AVP, said she was “excited that she won” the election. Muhammad Safdari, the outgoing AVP, spoke about some of the things his committee accomplished in the last year.
“Thank you for not impeaching me,” the Weinberg senior said to the Senate, referring to the controversy surrounding last year’s ASG elections. “We worked on a lot of things, so it is good that you did not impeach me.”
Incoming Vice President Hiro Kawashima spoke to senators about the importance of “empowerment” within student government and outgoing Vice President Tommy Smithburg reiterated this aspect of Kawashima’s speech.
“What Hiro said is right,” the Weinberg senior said. “It is about empowerment.”
ASG President Mike McGee, a Communication senior, passed on his position to SESP junior Claire Lew. McGee spoke to senators about the “current and future ASG.”
“Students have power, so use it,” he said.
In her speech, Lew thanked her campaign committee and ASG and recognized McGee’s contributions to Northwestern during his term as president.
“Mike, the contributions you have made to this school will stand the test of time,” she said.During the meeting, senators passed several pieces of legislation.
Senators unanimously passed “WildCARD 2.0,” which will enable the Student Life Committee to investigate the “cost and feasibility of overhauling the WildCARD” to create one with new and better features.
Senator Naveen Nallappa spoke as the author of the bill. He said he was motivated to write the legislation after visiting Duke University and seeing the features of the DukeCard, which among other features allows students to electronically load money onto their cards rather than manually through a cash-to-card machine. Nallappa, a Weinberg freshman, said he has spoken with the WildCARD office and they are open to investigating changes. Some form of a new card will be launched this fall with a few students and phased in over the course of the year, he said.
“I stumbled across a DukeCard and saw how much improvement there was for the WildCARD,” Nallappa said.
In the night’s last order of business, the senators passed a bill to place a permanent table with chairs at the Rock for students who are guarding the Rock before painting it. Bill author Amalia Namath said the feasibility and placement of the table would be determined by the Classroom Committee and a “designated Northwestern landscaper.” Namath, a Weinberg freshman, said the committee would “act upon the findings” of these meetings, and if the idea is approved by the committee, the table will likely be in place by Fall Quarter next year.
