After a feedback forum last week, members of the Undergraduate Budget Priorities Committee hope students will continue to be involved in the budget recommendation process representing their interests come spring.
“Without student feedback, we can’t really function,” said Weinberg sophomore Naveen Nallappa, a member of the committee.
The meeting was the conclusion of a Fall Quarter effort to solicit opinions from a broad segment of the undergraduate student body. UBPC is composed of eight members, including Associated Student Government President Claire Lew. The committee’s recommendations are intended to represent the top priorities of the student body in a bid to have undergraduate interests represented in the University’s annual budget.
The UBPC circulated a general survey this fall titled “Campus Brainstorm” in which respondents answered a simple question: “If you had unlimited funds, what is the one thing that you would change at Northwestern?” The committee also visited Elder Hall and the North and South Mid-Quads to directly gather feedback. Some freshmen in Elder said a priority for them was obtaining better lighting on the west side of Sheridan Road, Nallappa said.
Other complaints included Deering Library’s locked doors, high prices on vending machines and the hassle of the laundry system, he said.
Friday’s forum, held in the Rock Room in Norris University Center, began with an explanation of the UBPC’s role on campus, according to Weinberg senior Anil Wadhwani, the UBPC chair.
The next step in the process will be to combine the feedback and generate a more specific survey to members of the student body, according to members of the UBPC. The same survey from the 2009-10 academic year gathered about 2,200 responses, Nallappa said.
Finally, the committee will take the responses and generate a list of priorities. The list will be considered in NU’s budget for next year.
“We’re an independent voice for the student body,” Nallappa said. “We try to get as much feedback from students as we can.”