Associated Student Government passed three resolutions at Wednesday evening’s meeting, urging Northwestern to create lost and found bins, offering students more transparency and equity in housing and improving equipment access at Blomquist Recreation Center.
During the meeting, ASG also broke out into groups to prepare for next Wednesday’s funding senate, where it will distribute $15,000 to campus organizations. Organizations will have two minutes to present and four minutes to respond to questions from ASG.
The resolutions follow three pieces of legislation passed last week.
‘Resolution to Increase Transparency and Equity in Undergraduate Housing Assignments’
SESP first-year and Senator Jonathan Curbelo authored the resolution, which aims to raise awareness of the different pricing rates for University housing.
One goal of the legislation is to ensure all students, especially first-generation and/or lower-income students, have the opportunity to limit their building options to those with standard price rates, according to the resolution.
If implemented, Curbelo said this policy would take away extra unexpected fees that students may face if assigned to a dorm that costs more than the standard double rate, such as Allison Hall or Schapiro Hall.
“I’ve seen how other FGLI and QuestBridge students can be affected by the burden of an unexpected housing cost, so I think it was really important to get this legislation passed,” Curbelo said.
Curbelo said he plans to work with residential services and administration to revise the housing contract in order to implement the legislation.
‘Resolution to Improve Equipment Equity and Access at Blomquist Recreation Center’
Medill sophomore and Senator Amani Yousuf authored the legislation that asks NU to add at least one stair-climbing machine at Blomquist. The legislation additionally asks for NU Recreation to evaluate “equipment usage data and student demand” across campus facilities.
Yousuf pointed out that Henry Crown Sports Pavilion on North Campus has multiple stair-climbing machines as well as significantly more equipment than Blomquist on South Campus.
“It’s a great idea to have a wider range of exercise equipment across campus,” Weinberg senior and Speaker of the Senate Kaitlyn Salgado-Alvarez said. “I understand that SPAC is our state-of-the-art gym, but also for people who live off-campus, for people who are South Campus, that is so far, so inaccessible, and it doesn’t make sense to me to invest a lot of money in something that not all students can easily access.”
‘Resolution to Establish Dedicated Lost and Found Bins In North and South Campus’
This resolution asks the University to create lost and found bins at Kresge Centennial Hall and Technological Institute. The legislation also asks for the creation of an online platform to track lost items, allow for student submissions of lost items and enable University Police and Norris University Center desk workers to guide students to their belongings.
Weinberg first-years and Senators Diana Oliver and Carridee Raymundo authored the resolution, which said lost and found inside buildings can be “difficult for students to navigate.”
“It’s incredibly necessary,” said Hunter Gracey, a Weinberg junior and Northwestern University College Republicans senator. “As someone who works in one of the buildings, I actually deal with lost and found items sometimes … the goal behind this was to centralize a lot of the storage for lost and found, which makes it easier on everyone.”
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