Associated Student Government President and Weinberg junior Noah Star was sworn into office with executive vice president and McCormick junior Christina Kim during ASG's Wednesday night Senate session.
Outgoing executive vice president and Weinberg senior Erik Zorn expressed some goals he has for ASG under its new leadership.
"A year is not long enough accomplish as many things as you want, and we are often rushing to cram as much stuff as possible into that year to leave our mark on the university," Zorn said. "The purpose of ASG, and our lives in general, should not just be about the cramming in stuff. You shouldn't just find value in the experiences or in the projects that you've accomplished. You should find value in the people that you work with and the relationships that you form."
Zorn asked the senators present to listen effectively to each other and really consider what each representative says in the meetings. Following his speech, Star was sworn in by the slightly tearful Weinberg senior Julia Watson, former president of ASG.
"Be angry. Be upset. Be emotional," Watson said. "I can name only a few projects, therapy dogs being one, where everyone was happy at the end of the day. As a member of ASG you will never succeed if your ultimate goal is to please everyone. Redefine your success."
Business carried on after the brief ceremony. Senators listened to the preliminary report from ASG's Mental Health Working Group on a campus-wide study of stress across different backgrounds, including students who identified with Greek, low-income or minority identities.
Lack of information about available resources, relatively unhelpful CAPS sessions and inadequate academic advising emerged as common student concerns in the focus groups. The presenters will work to identify gaps in the demographics before proposing solutions to ASG Senate in a distributed report.
Senators approved legislation changing the requirements for serving on the A and B-Status Finance Committees. Vice President for B-Status Finance and Weinberg junior Kenneth Mok introduced a bill allowing any 12 Northwestern students to serve on the B-Status committee. Weinberg junior Mackenzie Schneider, Vice President for A-Status Finance, proposed an amendment to have the bill also apply to the A-Status Finance Committee. Both the amendment and the bill passed, after much deliberation.