The ASG Senate voted to impose misconduct violations on three campus groups at Wednesday's meeting.
NU College Feminists, African American Theatre Ensemble (AATE) and the National Pan-Hellenic Council each received sanctions for violating the Student Activities Finance Committee rules.
News of NU College Feminists' spring Sex Week speaker leaked in The Daily Northwestern article last year, violating the SAFC policy that speakers cannot be announced until a formal contract is signed. Per ASG vote, the Sex Week co-chairs must attend audits twice per quarter, in addition to the standard requirements of the president and treasurer, and create a planning timeline to ensure that "everyone is on the same page," according to Girish Pendse, ASG's financial vice president.
"These aren't punishments to screw the organization over," Pendse said. "It's to make sure something like this doesn't happen again."
Pendse said AATE violated SAFC rules last fall when the group's scheduled "Café Noir" event did not run as planned due to lack of manpower, despite already receiving ASG funding. As a result, the group must hold the event for one year without ASG funding before reapplying for funds and members of the executive board must read SAFC guidelines and will be tested to ensure understanding of the rules.
After an ASG investigation, the National Pan-Hellenic Council was found to not be using appropriated funds for the previous two fall NPHC Mixers. As a consequence, NPHC must use funds given to them by the end of the quarter or return them to ASG for other use. The NPHC president, treasurer and adviser must attend bi-quarterly meetings with their SAFC account executive. ASG-funded groups can normally hold onto money for a quarter or more as they gather receipts, but NPHC's sanction forces a faster turnover for funds.
Wednesday's meeting also saw the introduction of an amendment to eliminate the treasurer position in ASG due to limited responsibilities and elevate the caucus whip positions to the parliamentary body. If the amendment is successful, current treasury duties would be rolled into the executive vice president's duties, in addition to the promotion of caucus whips' status.
Additionally, ASG voted to support to the Brady Scholars "hoop house" project, which would create space for produce to be grown on Northwestern's Evanston campus and would partner with New Leaf Urban Gardens. The project is still in the works, with possible sites and an agreement with Sodexo to buy future produce being finalized.
Editor's note, Feb. 14 at 1:32 a.m.: The quotes in this article were originally attributed to Senate Speaker Ani Ajith instead of Girish Pendse.