UBPC recruits help of ASG committees

In tomorrow's Daily, you'll find in out a lot about how the Undergraduate Budget Priorities Committee will present its recommendations to some senior university administrators this Friday. Though results will not be disclosed until UBPC meets with the university budget committee, with members including President Henry Bienen, Vice President for Student Affairs Bill Banis and Vice President for Business and Finance Eugene Sunshine, the recommendations will help UBPC rank the recommedations.

UBPC, made up of six members, will present four recommendations: wireless Internet on campus, 24-hour study spaces, downtown Chicago Saturday shuttle and renovations to the ground floor of Norris University Center. These issues were gathered from an open December poll in which students listed services they would like to have at Northwestern. A more recent poll posted in early February asked students to rate what the four recommendations.

Several of the recommendations on the priorities list are issues that members of Associated Student Government have been working on themselves. For example, Kate Pascale's external relations committee has been working with university services to create a weekend downtown Chicago shuttle. The committee also put up a poll recently, asking students about what their usage of such a proposed shuttle would be like. UBPC chairwoman Jessica Wash said that she has been collaborating research with Pascale and the external relations committee, and the committee poll results were shared with UBPC.

ASG Academic Vice President Anna Xu's academic committee's wireless subcommittee has been working with Northwestern University Information Technology to see the feasibility of wireless. The results of a recent meeting with NUIT seem good, said Anna Xu who said it is her goal to have wireless in all the dorms by this upcoming Fall Quarter. The academic subcommittee has also worked with UBPC with its research. It has found that 58 percent, or 11, of 19 comparable (in terms of size and status) Consortium on Financing Higher Education institutions have wireless Internet in their dorm. NU falls in line with the eight universities that don't have wireless Internet in their dorms.

Wireless Internet has been a reoccurring UBPC recommendation since 2001, Wash said. Since then, the university has made certain steps toward a wireless campus with its first Virtual Private Network set up in 2002. Last year, students ranked wireless Internet first in the 2007 UBPC poll. Because wireless Internet was packaged with improving cell phone coverage, the university focused on the latter to increase communication options in wake of the Virginia Tech shooting in April.

The other two options include less involvement on the part of ASG members, although it should be noted that the ASG president is an honorary member in the committee, and the recently retired ASG financial vice president Aneesa Arshad is part of the committee as well.

Some interesting points to be made about the other two recommendations:

• In her report about Norris renovations, Arshad said the suggestion to change the ground floor can be traced back to the ASG president from 1984. A quote from last year stated that completely overhauling Norris with new furniture and a new kitchen area would cost $6 million to $8 million. To renovate the ground floor area that doesn't include the kitchen would cost about $2 million less. However, these numbers are a year old and vary with contractors, Arshad said.
• Of US News and World Report's list of national institutions, 18 of the top 20 universities have 24-hour spaces. NU is one of two that doesn't have such a space. A note to keep in mind is that during the Fall Quarter, library hours were extended after UBPC proposed the change last year. At the beginning of Winter Quarter, university and dining officials were thinking of scaling back the University Library's Plaza Cafe hours because not enough students were using them.

—ALICE TRUONG

Still confused about SAFB?

As one of Aneesa Arshad's — now accomplished — goals, the Student Activities Finance Board has its Web site up and running.  In its frequently asked questions section, among other sections, it explains the intricate processes of SAFB.

The Web site can be found linked from the Associated Student Government Web site.  Its URL is http://groups.northwestern.edu/safb/.

—ALICE TRUONG

The arm of ASG some hope to change

Aneesa Arshad held one of the most – if not the most – powerful student positions on campus.

As the former Associated Student Government financial vice president, the SESP senior oversaw a board that doled out about $1.2 million to student groups last spring.

Last Wednesday, her reign came to an end.

“I’ve learned a lot,” she said to the Senate as the outgoing financial vice president. “It’s sad to go, but change is good.”

Yet questions loom as to what change will come in Arshad’s place.

The change starts with her successor, Weinberg junior Seva Rodnyansky who is making sure the Student Activities Finance Board will be ready for spring funding. 

Right now, Rodnyansky is working on transitioning to the position. Despite having been part of the board since Fall Quarter during his freshman year, he said “there’s always more to learn because it’s a constantly evolving process.”

And if ASG President Jon Webber has his way, the funding process could change more than anyone in SAFB would expect.

Weeks before B-status group funding took place Feb. 13, the Weinberg senior was already thinking of ways to change spring funding for A-status groups which in a time-honored tradition has kept tired senators and student group leaders in a cramped Norris room for many hours.

The board oversees funding for A-status groups, on-campus groups that are typically more established and require more funding. It prepares for the largest event of the year with a set of recommendations in a 60-hour auditing and interviewing process. During the process and throughout the year, the board follows a strict protocol of monthly audits, weekly petition and numerous applications. Some see this process as too rigid, but SAFB members say this is crucial for student group accountability. The board is responsible for the $44 student activities fee every student pays each quarter.

“At the end of the day, this is students’ money,” Arshad said. “And if there weren’t so many rules and procedures, I think people would feel nervous that every cent isn’t being held accountable.”

Webber has yet to announce the funding changes, pending further discussion with Rodnyansky, who has held the office of financial vice president for less than a week now. Webber has talked to over 20 A-status groups’ leaders and compiled pages upon pages of notes in a Word document. He said there are emerging themes from these complaints and suggestions that could potentially alter, or even encourage a major overhaul of, the process, the protocol and the institution. 

With an arm of ASG that is potentially more powerful than the body itself, compiled of six senators and six non-senators, there is a sense of division and friction. Members of the board go into Senate meetings, dressed like career-oriented men and women, occupying a corner of the room and focused on their laptops. But the greatest tension stems from who has the final say at the end of funding.

Senators, who act as a check to the board by debating the funding recommendations, have an amendment pool of about $20,000 during spring funding that they can allocate to the student groups. But most the time, senators pass almost all of the recommendations.

“This is one of the most important things that Senate does,” Arshad said. “And there’s a little bit of tension because (funding) is something that’s supposed to be  ultimately up to the senators, but because we put so much time and have so much knowledge (having audited these groups), we actually – I think a lot of people would agree – have more power in the process.”

Even within the board, with members who might be friends, debates are heated.

“At committee, we go at each other 10 times more than people go at each other in Senate,” Arshad said. “We tear each other apart.”

But there are no hard feelings – such debate is crucial to the board’s effectiveness, Arshad said.

“If we’re not debating, and we don’t really disagree, then we’re not doing our job,” she said.

This is all before they make their recommendations. These internal divisions don't make a difference when recommendations are finalized. When the board presents the funding recommendations, it presents them as one board.

Relations between the board and student groups most obviously become strained during the funding process because “there’s never enough money to go around,” Arshad said.

Unhappy groups can mobilize and bring a number of members to the Senate meeting to debate funding. While a group might try to get the largest slice from the senate’s discretionary pie, Arshad said outsiders’ presence sometimes signals student group disapproval of the board.

As the newest financial vice president, Rodnyansky is face of SAFB. Even though he has his own set of goals to bring in change, he, like Arshad did, will face difficulties – not from outsiders, but from the position itself. It’s a difficulty that Webber, in his quest to change the board, will have to deal with as well.

“Each financial vice president has goals … But it’s just so overwhelming the things you have to do day to day,” Arshad said. “There are things I wanted to do that I couldn’t.”

—ALICE TRUONG

New FVP sworn in

Weinberg junior Seva Rodnyansky has been confirmed as the new Associated Student Government financial vice president.

In an impromptu ceremony in a filled ASG meeting of senators and student group members, Senate Speaker Jesse Garfinkel swore in the new financial vice president over the B-status funding recommendations packet.

"I want to thank Senate, ASG exec, my board for making this a pleasurable experience," current Financial Vice President Aneesa Arshad said. "I've learned a lot. It's sad to go, but change is good."

Today's meeting is the last session the SESP senior will act as financial vice president.


—ALICE TRUONG

Two applications for financial vice president

According to current SESP senior Aneesa Arshad, Associated Government financial vice president, she has received two applications for the FVP position.  Arshad will chair the selection committee as a nonvoting member (except in the event of a tie).  

There are six voting members in the committee: ASG president, speaker of senate, Student Activities Finance Board advisor, most veteran senator member of SAFB, most veteran non-senator member of SAFB and a senator elected from the Senate.

—ALICE TRUONG

Preview for Feb. 6 ASG meeting

Tomorrow is the start of B-status group funding. The Daily will be live-blogging the event, so check out the latest news as it breaks tomorrow, starting at 7 p.m.

In addition to funding, two bills introduced at last week’s meeting will go to floor.

• Protecting Gender at NU aims to change the university’s non-discrimination policy.
  
• Group Executive Accountability aims to conduct quarterly evaluations of group executives that work with B- and T- status groups.
  

Associated Student Government financial vice president applications are due tomorrow to current FVP Aneesa Arshad. As of late morning today, the SESP senior said. Check out The Daily's print version for more information to come soon.


—ALICE TRUONG

Financial vice president application due Wednesday

The deadline for the financial vice president application is fast approaching.  All those interested should e-mail their applications by Wednesday, Feb. 6 to current Financial Vice President Aneesa Arshad, who will be the chairwoman of the selection committee.

SESP junior Neal Sales-Griffin was recently elected to the selection committee as a member of the Senate on Wednesday's meeting, saying he was looking for someone passionate best for the job.

As of Wednesday evening, Arshad said she has not received any applications for the position, which was in charge of funding more than $900,000 to 44 A-status student groups this past Spring Quarter.  Arshad said she expects a minimum of two applications based on the inquiries she has received.

More to come on The Daily print edition soon.

—ALICE TRUONG

Financial misconducts for FMO, College Feminists

The Student Activities Finance Board found For Members Only and College Feminists guilty of financial misconduct. According to SAFB, all events, programs and publications funded by the board have to take place or be distributed before and during the reading period. FMO's publication, Blackboard, and College Feminists' publication, Juice, were distributed after the reading period. Blackboard was released during finals last quarter, and Juice was released this quarter.

As a result of the financial misconduct, SAFB have released a set of guidelines for both of the publications, including automatic removal of Blackboard's spring funding if the winter issue is released past the reading period. College Feminists is not subjected to the same recommendation because it does not have a spring issue.

"Them not appealing shows they understand and agree with the recommendations," Financial Vice President Aneesa Arshad, a SESP junior.

This is the first time College Feminists has been investigated for financial misconducts, according to Arshad. FMO, however, has have had other financial misconducts in the past.


—ALICE TRUONG