ASG finished distributing supplementary funding for Winter Quarter and launched this year’s 10K Initiative in Wednesday’s session, the last before Thanksgiving.
ASG Vice President Alex Van Atta announced the launch of this year’s 10K Initiative. Students submit and then select one proposal for campus improvement to receive $10,000. This year’s initiative differs slightly from last year, because all of the $10,000 comes from ASG's budget.
This fixes some of the issues inherent in last year’s model, in which $5,000 from ASG were matched by $5,000 from Student Affairs. That model led to some hiccups when Student Affairs refused to contribute its $5,000 if certain proposals were chosen, leading to complaints that ASG was willing to spend $10,000 on a Willie the Wildcat statue, but not on campus sustainability. The deadline for student proposals in this year's initative is the end of fall quarter. Voting on the proposals will occur late winter quarter, and the winner will be announced the first week of spring.
This week also marked the end of doling out supplementary funding for next quarter, as A-level groups went through the funding process. ASG spent only $700 of its $13,265 pool to increase funding levels for certain groups. The College Feminists sought and received $200 more for a production of The Vagina Monologues, while CaribNation received $500 to increase their honorarium for a performer for their CaribFest event.
Northwestern College Republicans sought an increase in funding in order to pay the travel expenses for their Winter Speaker. The motion failed, largely due to opposition centering on NUCR’s lack of demonstrated financial need and the relatively young age of the Winter Speaker event. NUCR also receives separate funding from the Young America’s Foundation, a private organization with an endowment that Senator Isaac Hasson, a Weinberg senior, noted is in the millions of dollars. ASG Senate has historically tried to avoid providing supplementary funding for groups that don't demonstrate financial need or are holding relatively new events.
ASG also voted to enact legislation creating a working group to investigate how student groups spend money they receive from the Student Activities Fund. Weinberg senior Amrit Kanesa-Thesan and McCormick junior Jason Arnold will serve as representatives for the Student Activities Finance Committee in the working group, while Danielle Lay and Adelina Pak, both Weinberg sophomores, will represent the Student Groups Committee. Tori Zuzelo, a Weinberg senior, and Justin Connolly, a junior in the School of Communications, were elected Wednesday as at-large members.
Earlier in the meeting, ASG President Ani Ajith announced the launch of the Free Your Mind campaign, ASG’s year-long mental health initative.
Senators also handled legislation regarding therapy dogs and Northwestern Crew Team. ASG approved $150 in funding for Finals Week therapy dogs (these are the “extra fluffy wuffly” dogs promised last week), with the proceeds from the event to go to Relay For Life. Keep an eye out for the dogs on the Sunday between Reading Week and Finals Week.
Northwestern Crew Team requested $2,500 from the Senate Project Pool toward the purchase of a new vote. ASG will vote on the measure during Reading Week.