Wednesday’s Associated Student Government Senate meeting was as much about Northwestern students as it was about Senate when both Senate reconstruction and LGBT issues were addressed.
For Senate reconstruction, legislation proposed by the Rules Committee was passed, creating a task force of one chairperson, four senators (one from each caucus) and two non-Senators. According to ASG Parliamentarian and SESP junior Jill Grewe , this committee will be required to submit legislation to the Rules Committee by May 10, and the Senate can amend the task force’s proposals if it sees fit.
Although the proposal was finally accepted, its potential for transparency was questioned by ASG Senator and Weinberg sophomore Isaac Hasson .
After Hasson’s proposals to add more senators and to make the committee meetings open were denied, the Senate finally decided to allow ASG Clerk and SESP freshman Elena Westbrook to sit in on the meetings and record minutes, which will be posted for the entire student body to see.
“I’m still confident that the people on it are qualified and will do a good job,” Hasson said. “If something bad comes out of that committee, (the Senate) will change it.”
Speaker of the Senate and Weinberg junior Wilson Funkhouser was elected chairperson, and after some deliberation, each caucus elected its own representative. The results: SESP freshman David Harris for Residential College Board/Residence Hall Association, Communication sophomore Steven Monacelli for Off-Campus, Weinberg junior Francis Brooke for Student Groups and Weinberg sophomore Elana Jablon for Greek life. The two non-Senators, ASG Executive Vice President Ash Jaidev and Financial Vice President Jeremy Yablon were elected by the Senate.
Grewe said that having a smaller number of representatives in the task force will also increase its efficiency.
“It just makes collaboration more effective,” Grewe said. “It makes it easier for everyone to agree.”
Grewe added that even though there will be one representative for each caucus, more than one voice will be heard because caucuses should speak through their representative.
The night’s meeting was also dedicated to LGBT resources. The first piece of legislation called for the creation of a full-time coordinator position for the LGBT resource center in Norris University Center. According to the submitted legislation, training requests by the graduate community and growth in responsibilities such as staff and student training, free HIV testing and improving LGBTstudent involvement and quality of life on campus create the need for a full-time coordinator.
“We have to have a position that is stable,” said Medill junior Christopher Garcia, the Rainbow Alliance Student Outreach and Guidance Peer Solutions Chair. “You need someone that can deal exclusively with the issues of sexual orientation and gender identity because we can do more. We should do more.”
After this piece of legislation was passed, the second piece geared to LGBT issues was presented by Monacelli.
The legislation concerned the collaboration between SPECTRUM Theatre Company and In-Technicolor, a new campus social-justice group, on the student theater production titled “Where the Grass Isn’t Greener.”
In the bill, Monacelli asked Senate for $200 from the Senate project pool to order more of the production’s “I Am So Much More Than Who I F**K” shirts. After selling these shirts, Monacelli said, they will donate the proceeds to the NU LGBT resource center and other local charities. This bill was also passed.
While the shirts promote a universal message, they also give a voice to one of the core issues LGBT youth face, Monacelli said.
