North by Northwestern

A fresh student-designed shuttle tracker was dramatically revealed at Wednesday’s ASG Senate session. Ethan Romba, ASG’s emphatic Tech Vice President, unveiled the app in a particularly theatric demonstration before senators and visiting administrators.

A team of student developers called NUX created the app, the McCormick junior announced. The app mimics the features of the university’s official shuttle tracker with a friendlier user interface. “This is so much better,” one senator shouted.

“There are several people in the administration that actually want to see our team crash and burn,” Romba joked. But “NUX was formed to perpetuate students preparing apps for students,” he said. The group will next focus on creating an app to document cell dead zones.

At the same meeting, husband and wife administrator duo Julie Payne-Kirchmeier, Assistant VP of Student Auxiliary Services, and Tony Kirchmeier, Director of Off-Campus Life, spoke on recent Greek shakeups, the new student center and the three-unrelated ordinance, among other topics.

Payne-Kirchmeier wouldn’t address Tuesday’s Chi Psi closing directly, but said Student Affairs is “still figuring out what we’re going to do.” She and others in Student Affairs will work with Chi Psi and Greek groups moving from one house to another to ensure an easy process.

“It’s never fun to move,” Payne-Kirchmeier, who recently moved with her husband from Carbondale, Illinois, said. “Trust me, I just did it, I know.”

A decision on the future of Norris and a new student center will likely come within a year and a half, Payne-Kirchmeier said. VP of Student Affairs Patricia Telles-Irvin, one of Morty’s main deputies, has indicated support for a new center. Both Payne-Kirchmeier and Telles-Irvin have received and read copies of the ASG-produced New Student Center proposal. The university will work with firms specializing in facilities assessment to evaluate Norris, much like the university’s 2006 comprehensive needs assessment of Norris.

Tony Kirchmeier spoke after his wife on the three-unrelated ordinance. Students have recently reported receiving letters from landlords warning of a July 1 enforcement date of the city’s infamous “brothel law,” according to ASG Community Relations VP Steven Monacelli. Kirchmeier will work with Monacelli, Weinberg junior Niabi Schmaltz and Assistant Dean of Students Betsi Burns, all recently appointed to the City of Evanston’s Landlord Licensing Committee to review the law.

Senate also funded $300 to Applause for a Cause, a philanthropic film group, for a Steadicam, a camera-stabilizing device, and expressed its support for World Free Rice Week.

Senate did, however, quickly reject one senator’s attempt to commend and encourage the burgeoning Northwestern Memes Facebook page. An overwhelming number of senators, tired after the Kirchmeiers’ long chat, shot down the resolution. One does not simply pass resolutions in Senate.

NBN offers the full text of the introduced legislation below. It also welcomes Matt Bellassai, former ASG Presidential candidate and Public Relations Vice President, as Special ASG Correspondent this quarter. Please see our note on his coverage.