Associated Student Government

The official blog of Northwestern's Associated Student Government. Go 'Cats!

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Interested in composting?

Composting is nature's process of recycling decomposed organic materials into a rich soil known as compost. It reduces waste dramatically, and is great for the environment. Sodexo, Northwestern's food service provider, composts all of the food students leave on their plates in the dining halls.

But what about off-campus students? For the second year in a row, the ASG Sustainability Committee is facilitating a composting collection service for off-campus students! We are working with Collective Resource, a composting collection provider. If you’re an off campus student interested in composting, please fill out our survey and we'll forward your information to Collective Resource. 

 This quarter, our sub-committee is working on expanding composting services. We are looking into bringing composting into Greek houses, and maybe even dorms in the future.

 Feel free to let us know if you have any questions!

-Lindsey Jones, ASG Sustainability Committee, Off-Campus Composting Project Lead

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Interested in volunteering?

Happy 2015 and cheers to above freezing temperatures this week! Ever wonder where can I find all the volunteering opportunities in Evanston? Or how can I get more civically engaged in my communities?! Well luckily for you ASG Services has got your back. We’re (almost) done working on creating a website to help you find all the volunteering opportunities and organizations your heart desires! You can find individual and group activities, perfect for just you or your entire student group. Looking for events that only focus on education? You got it! Discover the best events for you based on event type, length, and location.

Look forward to seeing this site soon. Getting involved and invested in your community is important and cool! 

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The Student Activities Resource Committee has been busy planning the Winter Activities Fair, and today it happened! ASG subsidized ice skate rentals for the duration of the fair, and Norris provided hot chocolate. There were over 60 ice skaters, over 80 organizations and over 300 attendees. It was definitely the hot chocolate...

In conjunction with the Fair, we launched the Money Map, which is an instructional portrayal of how ASG funds are allocated to groups on campus, and A-Status Advice, a guide for A-status groups (a category of ASG-funded groups). It should clarify some things! These, among other resources, are available on the ASG website in the “For Groups” section. SARC’s main goals are to provide resources to student groups and cater to their needs; let us know what we can do for you!

 The Start-Up Guide will be coming out later this quarter, as a comprehensive resource for anyone looking to start a student organization. We’re also working on G4G, a compilation of groups on campus that provide services to other groups, because we know SARC’s not the only one!

 The Wild Ideas Committee continues to fund new and exciting initiatives, and the Camera Lend Program has been a huge hit. We’re looking to partner with Norris so that the ASG Camera can be checked out along the same way as other equipment. In the meantime, e-mail [email protected] if you’re part of an ASG-funded organization and would like to borrow the camera.

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You hear the word diversity

everywhere on campus. We’re told that more diversity is a good thing and that all that is required is just an increase in numbers here and there and done. Diversity. Poof.  But what is truly valuable about diversity? To me, diversity is only valuable when everyone feels included and all campus resources (I would venture to even say experience) is accessible to all. Despite the name change, the Accessibility and Inclusion committee is figuring out how we can promote this sense of value as we’ve defined. The committee doesn’t work to boost numbers and increase diversity. We look at what policies, what campus groups, and what experiences need to change in order to embrace this sense of inclusivity and accessibility.

             This quarter, we are hoping to pilot what we hope to be a quarterly program through which we will invite students to engage in learning and discussion around inclusion practices and accessibility. We want to take leaders and students on campus out of their comfort zones, put them in the shoes of another, and lead them through the thinking we need people to have in leadership positions. This is not completely like Sustained Dialogue; while we want participants to engage in dialogue, what we want is for them to take timely and actionable learnings away from the program, learning outcomes if you will. So hopefully you’re just as excited for the idea as we are! Let us know if you have anything you’d like to add or discuss with us!

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Hi all! I'm Gina and I'm

part of ASG’s Academic Committee and its Director of Research!

 My number one priority as the Director of Research is to make sure that every student here on campus has access to information about all of the incredible research opportunities that Northwestern has to offer. Whether you want to participate, have thought about participating or have never thought about research in your life; whether you are a chemistry major, a dance major, a history major, or an anything major, it is a possibility for you. One of the biggest reasons that people do not get involved with research is that they don’t know their options. The students here have tons of untapped ideas and interests just waiting to be explored.

 The great news is that there is an incredible resource on campus for undergraduates looking to explore research—the Office of Undergraduate Research. OUR does amazing work helping hundreds of undergraduates every year find projects that interest them. Every year, a multitude of students from a variety of fields receive Undergraduate Research Grants (URGs) to complete these projects. These students work very closely with OUR throughout the process, making sure that everything is done correctly and things run smoothly.

 Like me, the Office of Undergraduate Research wants each and every one of you to find what you’re looking for in a research experience. They recently created a new website, http://undergradresearch.northwestern.edu, which includes some really awesome resources, like a guided search option for those just starting to think about research, directions to apply for URGs, and even a directory with contact information for reaching chairs of departments. They are also working in tandem with my committee to create a peer mentoring program so people just getting started in research can reach out to other students to hear about their experiences. Finally, OUR has recently created an Advisory Board to help brainstorm new ideas and offer feedback on their current ideas and initiatives.

 If you think you might be at all interested in research, please, please, please do not hesitate to check out OUR’s website. There is research out there for everyone! 

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From January 16-18,

Northwestern University will host The Association of Big Ten Students Winter Conference for the first time in seven years. The event is an annual conference that provides an opportunity for Big Ten student government leaders to collaborate, share ideas, and work together on joint lobbying initiatives. The 90 students in attendance will have the opportunity to learn from our speakers and bring back helpful strategies and techniques to their own university communities.

Over the course of two days, ASG hopes to have a discussion about the most pressing issues that are relevant to college campuses today as well as discus ways the student government can work to make a difference by addressing the issues.

This winter, ASG decided to have three overarching breakout sessions, each covering a variety of topics. The first is related to student government recruitment and retention, student group support, and student-administrator relations. The second track involves discussing community relations, the divide between academics and residential life, and sexual assault. The last breakout session will discuss financial accessibility on campuses, mental health, and lobbying for higher education. Each break out session will consist of a speaker as well as a Q & A or panel discussion. ASG recruited speakers from the Northwestern, Evanston, and Chicago communities to bring a diverse array of speakers.

In addition to the breakout sessions, ASG has included numerous "Idea Shares" throughout the conference--loosely structured discussions on questions the students have for each other, providing student governments a platform on which they can receive advice from all of their peers.

After months of planning, the week of the conference has finally arrived, and the 'cats couldn't be more excited to host the Big Ten!

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In need of some study abroad information?

Services Committee has got your back with its recently released online Unofficial Study Abroad Guide. Providing information on everything from academics to night life, this guide is for those who are looking to go abroad and are currently abroad. All of its content comes from interviews and focus groups with Northwestern abroad returnees, and is being added to the website in real time. The current guide has information on London, Buenos Aires and Paris; and, Services Committee is rapidly adding more. Check the site out here. Please email [email protected] with questions, comments, and content ideas. Thanks!

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With so many different groups, Northwestern students have a lot of events.

One of the most popular ways to advertise these events is taping flyers to the ground. If you had to count how many flyers are on ground on a given day, how many do you think there would be? 500? 1000 even? Well, earlier in the quarter, the ASG Sustainability Committee’s Flyering team did just that; we counted every single flyer taped to the ground in Northwestern’s designated flyering zones.

There were 4,180, nearly two thirds of which were weathered past the point of legibility.

Just think of how much paper, ink, energy, and money went into printing all of those. Think of how much time went into taping them all down and how much time and money Facilities Management contractors will have to spend to clean them up. All of this for an advertising medium that many students don’t even look at, that gets ruined as soon as it rains.

In a step towards becoming more responsible and sustainable, the ASG exec board has decided to ban ground flyering for all ASG events. Members of the Sustainability Committee applaud this decision, and hopefully, with the resolution we’re presenting tonight, we’ll discover that senate supports it too!

With bulletin boards, social media, TV screens in campus buildings, listservs, painting the rock, and more, there are a variety of other ways we can use to advertise our events. Along with the PR committee and other groups, we’re looking to even more alternatives for flyering. So if you have any suggestions, comments, questions, or concerns, shoot us an email at [email protected]!

Peace, love, and not flyering,

Lindsey Jones, ASG Sustainability Committee, Flyering Ban Project Lead

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A few weeks back ASG hosted its annual fall Light and Safety walk. Representatives from the City of Evanston (including two aldermen), the NU Police Department, the Evanston Police Department, NU Facilities, the Off Campus Life Office, and a handful of students all attended the event. Aimed to help identify places in off-campus neighborhoods where lighting could be improved or other safety changes are needed, the event has previously led to the addition of new blue lights, streetlights, and even traffic signs. This year we covered ground from Sheridan to Pratt and Garrett to Emerson and once again identified a long list of issues. Last week we got confirmation that all of the quick fixes such as burnt out lights and overgrown trees/bushes had been inspected and addressed. Meanwhile we continue to work with Northwestern administrators and city staff to implement more long term upgrades that involve thorough planning and considerable investments. For example, we're hoping in the coming months the university will upgrade the porch lights on NU buildings along the west side of Sheridan Rd. This sidewalk remains one of the darkest corridors near campus as it's solely dependent on the tall street lights that point in the opposite direction of the path and are blocked by bushy trees. But with brighter porch/flood lights attached to adjacent offices and fencing, visibility and safety would be drastically improved. Additionally, we're continue to work with the city to increase alleyway lighting and improve dark spots in select off-campus areas such as Hinman ave. and Philbrick Park. Finally, we also recently partnered with Evanston on one other lighting initiative. Working with the city, we helped organize the Pedal Bright event held on October 30. Within an hour, over 250 bike lights were distributed at NU's Arch for free to students and community members. Additionally, 212 individuals registered their bike with the Evanston Police Department for the first time. We'd like to thank the City of Evanston and Wheel and Sprocket for their support and we look forward to hopefully helping bring back the event to NU's campus in future years.

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Isn’t it so easy for student groups to find the various [and possibly decentralized] sources of funding and support on our campus?

Anyone who has been in a club at Northwestern can probably recount an experience where money was the main barrier depriving the larger Northwestern community from great programming. As a Group Resource Analyst in the Student Activities Resource Committee , I’m always baffled by the variety of places student groups can go to request funding and make any Wild Idea they have a possibility. Seriously, there is so much money just sitting around like:

SARC wants to remedy this problem by creating a comprehensive funding map (Northwestern branded name coming soon!) that details the multitude of student groups, administrative divisions, academic departments, and ASG initiatives that can help fund things your student group is working on. With this funding map, you can quickly and efficiently find out where you are eligible to apply for funding, the process for doing so, and even learn more about other people who have utilized those funding methods. We hope groups can use this map in conjunction with fundraising to both better take advantages of the resources provided to us as students, but also eliminate insufficient funding as a reason for not pursuing an event or initiative.

  As an ASG group dedicated to student group related issues, SARC is always looking for ways to reaffirm our commitment to assisting anyone that wants to support and benefit all of us here at Northwestern. What better way than to make it rain on y’all?

So please, use our funding map, put that multibillion dollar endowment to use, and get that money.

  Until next time,

Macs Vinson

Group Resource Analyst (GRA), Student Activities Resource Committee

Associated Student Government

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For the second year in a row, ASG and Wildside have hosted a student tailgate (affectionately called ‘Fitzerland’)

in the back of Wildcat Alley near Ryan Field. The purpose of Fitzerland is two fold:

To provide a safe, welcoming environment for undergraduate students of any age to celebrate and participate in tailgate festivities.

To encourage students to attend the home football games after tailgating.

I’ll just be pretty blunt and admit that student tailgates have historically almost always involved alcohol. Alcohol is part of the tailgating culture, and ASG, Wildside, and NU’s administration recognize just that. Realizing that alcohol is embedded in NU’s student culture has meant adapting policies that focus more on risk-mitigation than full-out prohibition.

We’ve talked to many students, student group leaders, and fraternity and sorority presidents about what they think the policies are at Fitzerland. For many, it’s something like this: “Ohh, didn’t someone get cited for alcohol earlier this year? I hear they’re really strict.”

This couldn’t be farther from the truth! You’re far less likely to be cited for an alcohol violation at Fitzerland than you are at an off-campus tailgate. And here's why:

Students must be 21+ to bring alcohol into Fitzerland

Once inside, the area is patrolled by ‘student monitors’ mostly from ASG and Wildside -- not NUPD -- who ensure everyone is tailgating safely. Our main concern is the safety of students, not Illinois law.

Unless something very serious were to occur, NUPD and NU Administration has agreed to let the student monitors solely oversee the tailgating area.

If you’re reading between the lines, this means you have almost no chance of getting in trouble for participating in any of the Fitzerland festivities

Fitzerland has the potential to be a thing of pride and joy for Northwestern. After all, almost all of our Big 10 rivals have massive, centralized, all-student tailgates endorsed by their Universities. We can do the same, it will just require changing the misconceptions about the rules and having just a bit of trust.

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With winter quarter registration right around the corner,

CourseDJ has launched! Services hopes that CourseDJ will make scheduling EZ n FUN.  

It uses the Course Data API to pull data from Caesar. CourseDJ started off as an idea in ASG's spring hackathon, RedesigNU and now has grown up into a ASG Service. 

So what can you do with CourseDJ? You can add up to as many classes as you want. Each class can be set as a optional, preferred, and mandatory class. Then you click remix and try to find the best mash-up of classes. We're still making changes and rolling out new features to make course scheduling even easier. Email us with any feedback or ideas of a ASG Service you want to see at [email protected]

Happy remixing!

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What does the diversity and inclusion committee do?

If you asked a couple random people walking down Sheridan Rd., I am sure they would have no idea. Ask the ASG executive board, and I’m sure you’d get several different answers. Right off the bat, my committee and I recognized that as a problem and for the past few weeks, we have looked to rectify it. Our first question that we asked ourselves was, “Why does the committee exist?” Surely, there are several groups on campus that are working to make the campus more diverse, inclusive, and welcoming to all students; however, what separates us from the rest and what value do we bring to ASG and the entire campus?

 From these tough questions, we developed our mission and vision statement. In short, we look to work with administrators, student groups, faculty, and any stakeholder within the university. We aren’t here to put on events and “culture weeks” where we reserve a space and all gather to share our ethnic foods and cultures. That’s not what we do because this isn’t effective in creating the necessary sustainable and deep-rooted change that this campus needs. As a committee, we have three core goals. We work to change policy and draft legislation to change the ways that ASG and student groups operate as well as to change the way the university functions. We work with student groups to brainstorm and implement ways that they can be more accessible to students of all backgrounds and situations. Lastly, we educate and advocate. We serve as the conduit for student organizations to learn about diversity and inclusion. Advocacy/education, policy and legislation, and accessibility are the core goals that each of our projects embraces. 

 Come meet us. Come work with us. Bring your ideas about making ASG, your student group, or even the entire campus more inclusive. Help us focus our passions into productive change. 

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Last year ASG's Community Relations committee

created an event called 'Cats Come to Dinner to develop relationships between Northwestern students and permanent Evanston residents. Even Oprah was excited!

Once a quarter, a number of generous Evanston families open their doors to a handful of Northwestern students and cook them a delicious free meal, causing widespread happiness on campus! 

This has become a perfect way for students to get to know some of their neighbors and learn more about Evanston and Chicago from long-time residents. Follow-up surveys of both students and hosts have provided rave reviews with dozens of students not only complementing the home-cooked meals but meeting new people they otherwise wouldn't have been exposed to. "I most enjoyed being able to share a home-cooked meal with such intellectual and interesting people," one student told us last spring. "If I could, I would sign up for 'Cats Come to Dinner again and love to be paired with the same family." Hosts have offered similar feedback, raving about students polite manners and insightful contributions to their family dinners - one resident was even pleased to call her student guests roll models for her daughters. "I'm not aware of any opportunities for Evanston residents to interact with students, other than this," one host commented. It's a party for everyone! 

We are continuing to expand 'Cats Come to Dinner this year and already have a record number of signups (of both hosts and students) for the weekend of November 14-16. If you're a student interested in a real dinner not in a dining hall or restaurant, or just want to meet some fellow Evanston residents, check out this link to sign up now! Hopefully, we all are as lucky as Kirby!

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Northwestern's first (and hopefully not last) Environmental Day of Service will take place on November 15th from 8:30am to 12:30pm.

 Students will meet at Norris and receive a catered breakfast and free t-shirt and then board buses to one of the seven locations we are offering. Students will be sent across campus and throughout Evanston to work with local organizations on environmental service projects, including Prairie Project (SEED), Evanston Treekeepers, the Evanston Environmental Association, Talking Farm, Endless Greens, the Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse and a litter clean-up around Northwestern campus. The actual volunteering will take from for 3 hours and start with a short presentation on the organization they are helping out with. Prairie Project, Talking Farm, Endless Greens and Evanston Treekeepers will include planting, mulching, preparing plants for winter, and removing invasive species, while the Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse and Evanston Environmental Association will help with rebuilding and repurposing used and/or leftover wood and furniture. EcoReps will also host their own litter clean-up for those who are interested in helping clean around Northwestern's beautiful campus. This will be a very fun and rewarding event and will also give you points for Green Cup!! Sign up at bit.ly/EnvironmentalDayofService

YAY SUSTAINABILITY. WE LOVE YOU EARTH!

And if you are anything like Honey Boo Boo [see below lol], don't worry...you will!!!

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Easy Money for NU Ideas...

Firstly, a hearty welcome to SARC’s latest: Sam Douglas, Rosalie Gambrah, Ariel Huang, Chandra Muthiah, Elayna Shanker, Christie Sui!

And now, a drum roll please…

The Wild Ideas Fund has launched! So far, we’ve approved funds toward Kaibigan-APAC collaboration and NAISA’s Native American Heritage Month initiatives, and we’ve supported an array of ideas in other ways (money really isn’t everything, my friends).

Born from ASG’s former Project Pool and 10k Initiative, there is nothing else like the Wild Ideas Committee on this campus. We’re here to help make your ideas happen, whether by financing them, working for them on your behalf, or pointing you in the right direction.

The turnaround is unprecedented: you can hear back within one week!  Propose today, or e-mail the WIC at [email protected] with any questions.

The Wild Ideas Committee is at the intersection of the Student Activities Resource Committee’s goals: improving access to resources across student groups, increasing resources available for student groups, and promoting collaboration among student groups.

Stay tuned for our other initiatives: A-Status Advice, the Start-Up Guide, the Funding Map, and a Dictionary of Acronyms (Basics of Student Involvement) to name a few. Additionally, if you want to borrow the ASG camera to photograph an event, do let me know! It’s a beauty.

E-mail me any time at [email protected], or visit me in the ASG office on Tuesdays 12:30-2:00 PM. Other times, I can be found in the SOURCE (you should hang out there too).

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Hi, I'm Riko, a member of the Academic Committee and the Director of Advising!

While our committee is constantly working on various important projects, our current~*hot*~project, if I may say so myself, is the Pre-med Peer Mentoring Program.

Here's how the project got started: I realized that even though there are 500+ premeds/class their freshman year, somehow a lot less than half stay premed until the end. Sure, maybe some of it is because people come in thinking they have their future planned out when they actually don't. But as a premed myself I kept thinking, "why does it seem like I'm having to pave my own path when I know there are literally hundreds of others who've done or currently is doing the same thing?" "Sure we have advising resources available now, but can we come up with resources that are more prominent and approachable for all students?" And then the idea of a ~*peer mentoring program*~ was born.

Our committee did our research for months. We looked into various other schools for what they have available for premeds. We looked at currently existing resources on campus. We looked at past peer mentoring programs too and really thought about why past programs didn't make the cut to stay prominent. Apparently learning from your past mistakes is a thing.

We got together with prominent premed groups on campus Phi Delta Epsilon and One Step Before. After collaborating with some of the most capable people I've ever met, meeting countless times and working hard together over the summer and into the school year, we're now finally launching the program. I hate to pull a Kanye level of confidence here, but honestly our mentors are the most accomplished and caring group of individuals looking to better the premed experience on campus. If you're a freshman premed reading this and you don't at least check out the program you are majorly missing out on an opportunity to make your life easier and get ahead. And why would you want to do that, right???

Email us for applications! check out our website!!

[email protected]

nuppmp.weebly.com