Associated Student Government Senate passed emergency legislation Wednesday calling for expanded support and more academic flexibility for students feeling unsafe after the election.

“This is to address hate, and this is to address the response and emotions from that hate,” said Weinberg sophomore Justine Kim, one of the bill’s authors.

The resolution was penned to help soothe Northwestern students’ fears after Donald Trump won Tuesday’s presidential election. It calls for greater access to counseling for students who are “fearful for their identities,” especially through the Center for Awareness, Response, and Education, which the resolution says is currently understaffed.

It also emphasized the need for increased opportunities — particularly for undocumented, international, first generation and ESL students — to learn about civil liberties and legal protections.

Some senators expressed concern that passing emergency legislation would circumvent the usual process through which legislation is introduced. But Weinberg junior Lars Benson, another one of the bill’s authors, disagreed.

“Emergency legislation exists for a reason. We are facing an emergency,” Benson said. “It’s imperative that this is passed now. We need to be reactive when dealing with the needs of our constituents.”

While giving the authorship speech for the bill, Kim said the bill needed to be passed immediately. She also said the election featured “hate” from both political parties.

“This was not meant to be divisive in any way,” she said. “In fact, it was written to actually bring campus together. It was meant to ensure that students feel safe on this campus.”

Senators contested many of the clauses in the resolution, including whether or not president-elect Donald Trump should be named in the bill. They also debated whether the bill, which Kim described as apolitical, is actually so.

Senate voted to amend the original bill, adding a clause to clarify that the legislation is non-partisan.

Weinberg sophomore Mike Seethaler — who said he did not find the bill apolitical — introduced an amendment to drop the word “undocumented” from multiple spots in the legislation, describing the term as inherently partisan.

His suggestions were criticized by several senators.

“If we want to continue with it being non-partisan,” Seethaler said, “when something directly goes against the Republican platform, we should either acknowledge this isn’t apolitical, or we should strike language that is in opposition of one of the two major parties in America.”

The Senate voted down Seethaler’s proposed amendment, and shortly thereafter voted to pass the legislation with only one vote of opposition.

The legislation also calls on professors to meet with students to better meet their academic needs through measures such as granting extensions and allowing absences. It also asks the University to pass policies that would ban exams from being held on Election Day or the following day.

Senate also unanimously voted create a Mental Health Ad Hoc committee. The committee will start with only ASG members, but Vice President Macs Vinson said eventually the committee will be open to all students.

Senate also approved $2,900 in Wild Ideas funding for Students for Sensible Drug Policy for an event featuring comedian Tommy Chong.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated Lars Benson’s year. Benson is a junior. The Daily regrets the error.

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