To address student concerns about sexual assault and misconduct, Associated Student Government Senate proposed a code change Wednesday to mandate sexual assault, misconduct and harassment training for ASG-funded student groups.

ASG President Nehaarika Mulukutla and Chief of Staff Lars Benson presented the Student Group CARE Training Mandate, which requires two leaders from each ASG-funded group to attend one of 10 Center for Awareness, Response and Education training sessions on issues ranging from consent to sex positivity.

ASG will hold a full debate on the mandate at next week’s Senate.

Mulukutla said the mandate is the first of future initiatives in which ASG will look to use its funding authority to influence campus.

“The purpose of this mandate is basically that we have some authority in being able to nurture our campus culture,” the Weinberg senior said. “It’s frankly ridiculous that in order to manage a student group you need to know how to do finances but you do not need to know how to treat a human being like a human being.”

Mulukutla told The Daily that the president of each ASG-funded student group, as well as another member who plans on holding a leadership position in the group, must register for training. She added that CARE training will help group leaders understand how to work toward an assault-free organization and campus.

Because ASG funds about 400 of the 500 student groups at Northwestern, this mandate has the potential to directly foster a more positive culture regarding sexual assault on campus, Mulukutla said.

“Ultimately our student groups are not the entirety, but are a large part of what makes up our campus culture,” Mulukutla said. “So, if we can start with a few people who then ultimately go on to shape the future generations of Wildcats, then eventually we can just shape what a Wildcat is.”

CARE will hold the training sessions throughout Spring Quarter, and additional sessions will be scheduled on an “ad hoc basis” next fall for group leaders who cannot attend the ones in the spring, Benson said.

He added that when groups apply for A-status or B-status funding in the spring, the finance committees will check that two members have completed the training.

Vice president for A-status finances Daniel Wu said the two rounds of training will help prevent groups from losing funding for “no reason.”

“The A-status committee is aware of this,” the Weinberg senior said, “and the code change will be codified by guideline changes later this quarter or early next quarter that talk to more specifics as to how this policy is going to be implemented and maintained by the funding committees.”

ASG also approved about $275,000 in funding to A-status student groups in supplementary funds, allocating about $145,000 to Mayfest and $44,000 to A&O Productions.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @sn_handler