The Undergraduate Budget Priorities Committee began its fall brainstorming process boldly last week, handing the student body a blank check.
In the survey it currently has online at www.nucampusbrainstorm.com, UBPC poses one question, which reads: “If you had unlimited funds, what is the one thing that you would change at Northwestern?”
The UBPC’s project is called NU Campus Brainstorm. It’s one of two surveys the group sends out every year to collect student suggestions for its end of the year recommendations to the University administration. This year, however, the student-run committee is taking the issue of funding out of the question.
For an organization whose core purpose is to deal with the reality of limited resources, it might seem like an interesting move to make, said UBPC chair Anil Wadhwani.
He said the intent of framing the survey the way they did was to encourage students to submit all of their concerns and ideas, no matter the cost.
“We don’t want to limit ideas at all at this stage in the game,” the Weinberg senior said. “We will look into costs and priorities later on in the year.”
Committee members welcome even the most outrageous ideas at this point, said Weinberg senior Naveen Nallappa, who, along with fellow UBPC member, Weinberg junior Janna Kaplan, began revamping the fall quarter survey last spring.
Nallappa said the goal was to take what UBPC had done in the past and reproduce it on a much larger scale.
The two created a website and a Facebook campaign to advertise the survey to more students and decreased the number of questions from around four to one.
Since the website’s launch last Sunday, Nallappa said they’ve received between 200 and 300 responses, ranging from suggestions on facilities to student life improvements.
Although he said UBPC isn’t setting a price range for students’ ideas now, it is important that the problems they bring up can be solved with money.
“We can’t change the atmosphere on campus,” Nallappa said. “It’s just the tangible things you can do with money.”
Past UBPC proposals have included improvements to the Norris University Center ground floor, moving A&O’s Fall Blowout concert to Welsh-Ryan Arena, the addition of more late night dining options and the “Chicago Express,” the Saturday shuttle to downtown Chicago.
The committee consists of eight undergraduate student members, including the current Associated Student Government president.
The brainstorming process will run through this quarter, after UBPC holds an open forum in November to collect any final ideas students have, Wadhwani said. From there, committee members will begin researching potential proposals by looking at costs, peer institutions and the history of similar initiatives.
In the winter, UBPC will return with a shortened list of funding priorities for students to select from, before presenting to University President Morton Schapiro, Provost Dan Linzer and the rest of the Budget Planning Committee.
Whether or not an idea survives the entire process does not necessarily eliminate it from future consideration, Wadhwani said. He cited the case of improving cell phone reception in Norris, which started as a UBPC proposal.
“It’s important for us to keep these things that don’t get funded on our radar,” Wadhwani said.
