SESP junior Nur Yalinbas was elected speaker of the Senate at the Associated Student Government’s Wednesday meeting.

The speaker of the Senate presides over and creates agendas for Senate meetings, represents the Senate to the Executive Board and enforces Executive Board legislation, among other responsibilities.

Yalinbas has served as a Weinberg senator and Muslim-cultural Students Association senator. She ran for ASG co-president with McCormick sophomore Nicholas Johnson in February but placed third, losing to Weinberg junior Gauri Adarsh and Medill junior John Sisco.

“After I lost, it was a little disappointing. I was like, ‘Wow, my time is up. I’m done with the one thing I really love doing,’” Yalinbas told The Daily. “But I was like, ‘Hey, I could always run for Senate.’ And a lot of people really encouraged me.”

Yalinbas won the speaker of the Senate position last year but declined the role in order to keep her spot as McSA senator.

Yalinbas beat out Weinberg sophomore and Senator Ivani Phillips, SESP first-year and Senator Jonathan Curbelo and Weinberg first-year and Senator Xander Hampton for the position for the upcoming term.

In her speech to the senators, Yalinbas said that as a first-year student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, she joined student government to improve the school’s disability accommodations process. She said this experience inspired her to participate in the ASG Senate when she transferred into NU.

Yalinbas helped pass ASG legislation in Fall 2024 to create a halal food station for Muslim students. She said implementing the legislation was one of her most “meaningful” actions as a senator.

“For a lot of students, halal dining was not just about preference,” Yalinbas said. “It was about being able to participate fully in campus life.”

During the deliberation period, during which candidates for the position stepped out, Johnson said Yalinbas was “great to work with” during their campaign. 

Johnson added that Yalinbas’ experience working at an immigration law firm would help her in the role.

“She works with real legislation, real cases, every single day, so she knows how to make things structured in a way that is efficient and easy to get done,” Johnson said.

Hampton was sworn in as ASG parliamentarian after beating Phillips in the election.

Hampton joined the Rules Committee in January when Communication senior Ryan Lien left the committee to serve as interim parliamentarian.

As parliamentarian, Hampton will preside over the Rules Committee, update the ASG code and meet with senators and executive board members.

“I want to change the structure of Senate so it is actually more conducive to producing work and not just absorbing information and sitting there,” Hampton told The Daily.

During the closed-door portion of the meeting, Sisco said he has been “impressed” with Hampton’s work for ASG.

He also said he wants to see the Senate become more involved in the NU student body beyond ASG in the coming year.

“I think there’s a lot of untapped potential that this organization has the potential to harness, and Xander seems like a very promising underclassman leader in that department,” Sisco said.

Email: [email protected] 

Email: [email protected]