The Associated Student Government kicked off its second meeting of the quarter Wednesday with committee elections and legislation workshops.
The meeting began with the Rules Committee election. The group had three available seats this year. Members of the Rules Committee are responsible for reviewing code and constitution, acting as the “Supreme Court” of ASG.
Members of ASG were allowed to nominate themselves or others to run for the open seats. Once everyone had a chance to pitch their nomination, nominees were asked to leave the room and the rest of the Senate voted for up to three candidates each. Four students ran, and Jamal Omoniyi, Norah D’Cruze and JJ Nabors-Moore were elected to the Rules Committee.
Medill sophomore John Sisco — a former Rules Committee member, current Student Activities Finance Committee Deputy co-Chair and former Daily staffer — said his advice for the new committee members is to be thorough when reviewing the ASG Constitution because it is “important work.”
“The students have put their faith in you that you will be an accurate arbiter of the information enclosed within it,” Sisco said. “And I understand it’s a big, boring document, but sometimes in life, you have to read big, boring documents and remember what’s in them. It’s called college.”
Nabors-Moore said he ran for the committee because of his interest in constitutional law. He hopes to become better acquainted with ASG codes and policies.
Nabors-Moore also said he wants to create greater transparency among senators so they are aware of the inner workings of the government they’re legislating for.
“Since there are so many new senators, not a lot of people know that much about our Constitution or our code, and things like that,” Nabors-Moore said. “So as someone in the Rules Committee, I just want to make sure that a lot of these processes are more well-known, so that we as a body can legislate more efficiently and more accurately.”
ASG also held its School Caucus whip election, where students followed the same nomination process to be a part of a committee that serves as heads of the Board of Financial Review and assists with writing legislation.
After SESP sophomore and Interim Deputy Speaker of the Senate Eliza Marcus read Weinberg junior Kaitlyn Salgado-Alvarez’s pitch for wanting to be reelected as whip, Salgado-Alvarez won the majority vote.
Salgado-Alvarez brought everyone in ASG their favorite boba order last year from what was referred to as “the best boba spot in Evanston,” which Omoniyi pointed to when he advocated for Salgado-Alvarez during voting.
The meeting finished off with students revisiting their legislation ideas from the last meeting and revising them with group members, as well as the reading of the executive board report. This week, parts of the report included greetings to the elected senators, a reminder for senators to sign up for committees, information on ASG’s upcoming Fall Cultural Summit and clinics where students can go for flu vaccinations.
D’Cruze is looking forward to working with students and senators more closely this year and attending to outdated aspects of the Constitution.
“I would love this year, being in this kind of leadership position in the Senate, to connect students with faculty and administration more,” D’Cruze said. “I think that’s something we could have done more last year and through our legislation, we have a lot of means to achieve that kind of connection and bring about change.”
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Twitter: @Janelle_Mella
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— ASG welcomes new senators in inaugural meeting of Fall Quarter
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