Despite disagreement among members, Speaker of the Senate Tyris Jones canceled Wednesday’s Associated Student Government Senate meeting.
Jones, a Weinberg junior, said because the agenda lacked “pressing” issues, he did not see the point in forcing senators to meet for only 20 to 30 minutes. If he had called for Senate to meet, Jones said senators would be forced to immediately vote on “emergency legislation” regarding Senate elections for dorm representatives. Instead, he said he wanted the senators to be able to think about their decisions before making them.
“I’m a big proponent of not wasting people’s time,” Jones said. “Some of your best ideas come after you’ve thought about it and sat on it. You want to give them time to mull it over.”
But many members, including the organization’s president, SESP senior Claire Lew, said they believe Senate should have been held despite the small agenda.
“As an organization, we shouldn’t settle for doing nothing instead of trying to do at least something,” she said. “It’s the only representative forum for students to have a voice week to week.”
In an e-mail, Jones asked the senators to spend the extra time thinking about how they wanted to improve NU.
“Is there a special project that you feel can be accomplished through ASG? Or a friend who complains in passing about an issue that they are currently having?” he wrote. “Take the time to hold a forum with your constituents and ask them what more do they need from ASG.”
Although Senate was canceled, the ASG Executive Board met to talk about issues including transparency and the ASG meeting schedule.
One topic on the board’s agenda was moving ASG caucus meetings, normally held before Senate meetings, to an alternate time. Some executives thought this would be a detrimental move because it would increase ASG senators’ time commitment.
However, if ASG moved the caucus meetings, executive board members would be able to attend them. Currently, caucus meetings occur during times when board members have their own meetings.
“Execs can help generate ideas and support for some of (the executive board’s) initiatives,” said Emma Kerr, the ASG financial vice president and a Weinberg senior.
Another topic up for discussion was Lew’s suggestion that ASG committees post minutes of their meetings online.
“I’m totally in support of having more transparency, (but) I don’t feel comfortable putting everything on the website,” said Gabby Daniels, the ASG academic vice president and a Weinberg junior.
Besides wanting to protect the confidentiality of their discussions, some ASG executive board members worry about how posting the minutes will affect their interactions with the administration.
The board is also debating whether or not the student body should know when their initiatives fail.
“How will the administration’s behavior change with us if they know that what they say will be published?” Kerr said.
ASG Senate will resume next Wednesday.
