The Associated Student Government Senate welcomed its new undergraduate school senators and trained them on writing legislation at its Wednesday meeting, the first of the academic year.
Weinberg junior and Speaker of the Senate Grace Houren swore in the 20 senators representing Northwestern’s six undergraduate schools.
“Having a lot of people who are new to the school and who have new ideas will really help create a great Senate,” Houren said.
ASG, which is composed of senators, committee members, its presidents and an Executive Board, passes legislation on behalf of the student body to present to the administration and allocates funds to student organizations.
Senate elections for this year’s school senators took place from Oct. 4 to Oct. 7. Due to a tie in the race for the Bienen School of Music’s Senate seat, election results were announced on Wednesday following a runoff election.
Compared to last year, voter participation was up 10.3% this election, with 643 students who voted.
The 2024-2025 school senators are as follows:
McCormick: Ryan Beam, Jack Doheny, Simon Kaminer and Patrick Eleazar
Medill: Aidan Klineman and Norah D’Cruze
Communication: Ryan Lien and Asha Navaratnasingam
SESP: JJ Nabors-Moore
Bienen: Calvin Simmers
Weinberg: Tulsi Patel, Nonso Onwaeze, Nur Yalinbas, Mia Rios, Kaitlyn Salgado-Alvarez, Jamal Omoniyi, Maddie Vartanian, James Baer, Rayan Lahlou-Nabil and Amber Flowers
Newly elected senator and Communication sophomore Asha Navaratnasingam said she is excited to learn from her more experienced colleagues in the Senate. She said she would like to pass legislation calling for increased funding for theatre groups.
During the school year, ASG’s Senate leadership will hold collaborative workshops during meetings where senators can write legislation and ask other ASG members questions.
Houren said she wants senators to connect more directly to students to craft legislation that better addresses concerns the student body is passionate about.
SESP sophomore and Interim Deputy Speaker of the Senate Eliza Marcus said she likes ASG because it creates tangible change on campus.
“The purse is a big power,” Marcus said. “I think it’s really valuable that you have a large student group that is democratically allocating funds, as opposed to just whatever comes from admin.”
Although ASG is reliant on the University administration to implement its policy recommendations, Marcus said ASG also has its own legitimacy in negotiations with University leadership because it represents the student body.
Applications for the ASG’s Executive Grant — which provides $23,000 per quarter to student groups — opened Friday. The Senate will elect its Rules Committee and Undergraduate Schools Caucus whip, as well as workshop legislation ideas at its next meeting on Oct. 16.
“I get really inspired by everyone I work with,” Houren said. “Obviously, it’s a hard job. There are a lot of late hours and a lot of logistical things. But whenever I go into meetings with the Executive Board and I hear what they’re working on, I’m like, ‘This is what it’s all for.’”
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