The Associated Student Government gathered Wednesday night to kick off the first meeting of Winter Quarter. They proposed an Indigenous Peoples’ Day recognition, announced voucher exemptions so student groups can access funding and introduced the next senators to the Election Commission.
The meeting took place at Swift Hall and began with SESP sophomore JJ Nabors-Moore announcing his resignation as the ASG parliamentarian for the Winter Quarter. He said he decided to resign for personal reasons.
Weinberg senior and Executive Officer of Justice and Inclusion Zenobia Jordan also announced that the Justice and Inclusion Committee will introduce an Indigenous Peoples’ Day recognition.
“We’re trying to make Indigenous Peoples’ Day by getting formal recognition through the University,” she said. “We’re hosting a lot of cultural summits at Norris, hopefully, this quarter.”
Medill junior and Student Activities Finance Council board member John Sisco announced that they are working on a system to allow clubs to access funding allocated to them last year.
He said many students faced difficulties last quarter getting their funding vouchers approved because the terminology did not exactly match the words used in their allocations.
“We’ve been getting a lot of concerns about that over the past quarter, justifiably so, so expect a long-term solution to that within the next two weeks,” Sisco said.
Following the agenda, McCormick and Bienen senior and ASG Co-President James La Fayette Jr. called for the repeal of clause nine of the Election Guidelines in the Rules Committee, which allows senators to create and edit the election rules and was passed last quarter.
La Fayette Jr. supported repealing clause nine. He said it had the potential to cause a “conflict of interest” where, during elections, a senator who does not like a rule could “change it any time.” The amendment passed with 12 votes.
The governing body voted unanimously to elect six members to serve on the Election Commission for the ASG presidential election: McCormick senior Ryan Beam, Weinberg junior Eliza Marcus, Weinberg freshman Diana Oliver, SESP and Medill freshman Monica Riley and Weinberg freshmen Chloe Zhu and Jordan.
In her closing remarks, Weinberg senior and Speaker of the Senate Kaitlyn Salgado-Alvarez discussed the Nov. 28 deal with the Trump administration to restore federal funding.
“I know that during the break, when this went out, people were very concerned about certain things, like how this would affect campus,” Salgado-Alvarez said. “As senators, it is your responsibility to know the contract and then share it with the constituents.”
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