Noticeable changes for this week's meeting

Associated Student Government Senate Speaker Jesse Garfinkel is back behind the lectern. He was missing last week. He said it might have been a cold, it might have been scurvy. Who knows?

Behind the desk next to the lectern, James D'Angelo is sporting a new look. ASG has a balder, shinier clerk.


—ALICE TRUONG

No motions to cut in first round

First round of funding starts with cuts made to recommendations.

With the exception of a question about Significant Others' recommendation being larger than what the group requested, no student leader or senator has requested any group's funding to be reduced.

ASG Speaker Jesse Garfinkel asked why Significant Others' recommendation of $315 exceeded its requested $300. The group requested $50 for publicity, and the executive committee recommended $65 because of a standardized rate for publicity funds.


—ALICE TRUONG

B-Status Funding meeting begins

Ten minutes past 7 p.m., the Associated Student Government Speaker Jesse Garfinkel calls the ASG senate meeting to order through the screechy mic. Executive Committee's funding of about 42 B-status student groups will dominate much of the meeting, and it shows in the incredible number of student group leaders and senators crammed in the meeting room at Norris tonight.

The second annual B-Status group funding is organized by the Executive Committee, headed by Executive Vice President, Matt Bogusz. This funding cycle, which always occurs during the Winter Quarter, will fund groups that are less established or can carry their activities without much help from ASG.

-Paul Takahashi

Tracking ASG for Winter Quarter

The Daily is working to create an ASG tracker project, in essence noting every proposal for Winter Quarter and every time there's an update to it.  Hopefully, the Northwestern community will be able to easily access information in an easy-to-consume format.

For the time being, there is a simple list.  In due time, this will turn into something more comprehensive.

ASG meeting 1: Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008

• ASG President Jon Webber's executive board obligations.  There will be three responsibilities for each of the 12 executive board members for the quarter.  (The progress for this will probably be tracked separately.)
  
• ASG Clerk James D'Angelo working for "political freedom" on campus, as Senate Speaker Jesse Garfinkel described it at the meeting.  The Communication junior has been working with the Internal Revenue System and the General Counsel to try to allow students and student groups to assemble and endorse political candidates using university resources.
  
• Neal Sales-Griffin and senator reliability.  The SESP junior wants to increase communication between senators and their constituents.
  
• Steve Eilers and the external relations committee pushing to create a Web site for off-campus housing reviews.
  
• RHA wanting to sponsor more community-oriented events, such as firesides.
  
• External relations committee working to create a weekend Chicago shuttle to deter excessive drinking as a result of lack of entertainment options.
  

ASG meeting 2: Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008

• (Update 1 on Shuttles) The external relations committee was going to present a bill to Senate to put up a poll on NU Link to gauge student interest for the shuttle.  Because of scheduling conflicts, which senators later learned to be caused by sorority rush, the external relations committee didn't meet before the Senate meeting.  Thus, there was no bill to present at the meeting.  External relations committee Chairwoman Kate Pascale said a bill isn't needed for polls, and it was only done in the past as an extension of senatorial courtesy. Pascale also told The Daily that evening the poll would be posted the following day, Thursday, Jan. 17, but as of now, the only thing resembling a poll on NU Link's home page is a dated survey about student satisfaction with university services.
  

The above also provides a nice synopsis of the previous two meetings.  There was no Daily story that ran last Thursday detailing the meeting because editors didn't feel it would fill 10 inches (which is about 500 words).  From here on after, ASG reporting will focus more on blogging, but stories will still run when Senate does something particularly noteworthy. 

In addition to tracking bills/ideas presented during Senate meetings, The Daily hopes to track senator attendance and Webber's executive board goals.  Keep checking this blog for updates on all these different ASG trackers.

—ALICE TRUONG