ASG confirms four executive board positions, adds Senator for mental health groups

Rebecca Savransky, Assistant Campus Editor

Associated Student Government nominated and confirmed students to four executive board positions Wednesday at the last Senate meeting of Winter Quarter.

Chief of staff, vice president for student groups, financial vice president and vice president for student activities were all confirmed.

Three of the four nominated candidates were sworn into their new roles. Executive vice president Alex Van Atta, who will assume the position of vice president of student groups, will not officially begin until April 16 after his term as executive vice president is completed. In the interim, Van Atta will serve as executive vice president and act as vice president of student groups.

Van Atta said he hopes his vast experiences within ASG, including having already served on the student groups committee, will help him to excel within this position.

“I could really see somewhere where I could have the most impact in ASG and on this campus as student groups vice president because you work with over 100 student groups,” Van Atta said. “I think we need to really look at what kind of value we’re giving as ASG to these groups.”

Weinberg junior Serene Darwish was sworn in as vice president of student activities. In the position, Darwish said, she wants to facilitate campus storage for student groups, encourage potential collaboration between different organizations and give students a more direct way to lobby the administration.

Vice president of student activities is a new position and still needs “a lot of fleshing out,” Van Atta said. He said Darwish’s experiences both in and outside of ASG make her a good candidate to spearhead the role.

“She has connections across Northwestern that she can use the perspectives that she’s gained to really lend all of that to this new position that we’ve created,” Van Atta said.

Chief of staff will be assumed by Weinberg sophomore Rafael Henriquez. Henriquez said upon taking up the position, he wants to strengthen connections between those in ASG and create more feasible ways for students to assume leadership roles in different ASG departments.

Weinberg sophomore Mackenzie Schneider will assume the role of financial vice president. She said she hopes through this position she can facilitate better communication between groups and their account executives, whose responsibility is to assist their assigned organizations with funding and contracts.

The student groups caucus was also chosen. A senator will now represent both NU Active Minds and NU Listens.

Senate also granted funding from the Project Pool to For Members Only for the group’s spring concert and to Global Village, a collaborative event between Deering Days and AIESEC that will take place Spring Quarter.

Students requested Project Pool money to help fund a Northwestern “Hackathon” IT design competition a programming event held to improve NU’s current technology services, including CAESAR, Blackboard and Wildcat Connection. Those who asked for funding for the competition said NU’s current resources do not give students necessary information in the most concise or efficient manner.

The groups’ funding allocation was voted on immediately in order to allow for a marketing campaign to begin sooner, despite normal ASG protocol to wait a week before voting on legislation. Senate voted to grant the money.

ASG will hold elections for speaker and parliamentarian at the next Senate meeting, scheduled for April 2.

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