Minutes of the
STUDENT ASSOCIATION SENATE
OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
28 October 2012
CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The meeting was called to order by Speaker Austin M. D. Quick at 6:00 p.m. in the Clara Sperling
Skyroom of the Holmes Student Center. Senate Clerk Chad Harris conducted a roll call of Senators. All
members were present except; Senator(s). Also present were Executive Directors and Senators At Large
to be, Bob Pritchard, Clay Campbell, Elliot Echols, Bill Nichlas, and members of the Northern Star, with a
quorum present, the meeting proceeded. President Pro Tempore Brian Troutman asked Senator
Goldman to lead in the Pledge of Allegiance.
MEETING AND AGENDA APPROVAL
Speaker Quick motions to amend the agenda and move items A, B, C, D, and consider it read as old
business. Motion Adopted.
SPEAKER’S REPORT
First and foremost, before we leave tonight I would ask that all the districts stay back and get together
with your district and elect your caucus chairman. That is something that we have not done yet, so when
we do adjourn tonight stay back. Then whoever is elected from your district please come to the Rules
and Procedures meeting following this meeting this evening in Campus Life. A couple other things I
would like to talk about; First and foremost, we all remember that I talked last week about the plus
minus and the situation currently with the approval of it in the University Council. It is going to be
coming back on the agenda in those committees in the next couple of weeks. I asked you last time to
come up with some input regarding constituents and what they felt towards the plus minus system. I
would ask you to see either Senator Theodore or Kyle Bak the Director of Academic Affairs, he is in the
back right now at the end of this meeting regarding any input that you have about plus minus. It is
important that we continue to make efforts regarding what it is students want to see with this. I was in a
meeting the other day and a professor said to me -and this correlates well with the Grievance Policy and
how we are pushing forward and I must thank Senator Theodore for his leadership in this- but the
grievance policy and the plus minus system are overlapping more in how they affect students. One of
the things that was said to me the other day by a professor in a meeting was when we were talking
about the grievance policy and plus minus he sat back in his chair and he said “This isn’t Walmart, you
don’t have the same rights. You are not a customer.” And of course, I sat back in my seat a little further
and I said “Well we are, we are customers in a way at this university.” The university with the Vision 2020, one of the goals is to increase enrollment and part of that is treating the students, the customer,
with respect in all ways. And that is where the grievance policy comes in. The plus minus system also
correlates with that well because one of the arguments is how this will affect students; again, the
customer. So it is important that we keep pushing these issues. If students are in favor of the plus minus
system after seeing all of the facts, then yes, we will be in favor of the plus minus system. But we have
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to understand where students sit on this situation because it will affect them. For those of you who are
seniors in this room, well no, it will not affect you at all. However, for those of you who are freshmen
coming in, freshmen currently, or anyone who is going to be here the next couple of years, it will affect
you either positively or negatively. I do want to make sure that we have a grasp of what students feel in
this situation. I am not saying that we are going to be able to overrule it again, if it comes back to
University Council another time, we will not be able to overrule it again and send it back again. It takes a
two thirds majority to send it back again and there is no way we would be able to have the votes for
that, so we are very lucky to have this time that we have. I want to make sure that we spend it wisely so
that when it comes time to come to University Council we will have done some things that will allow us
to articulate where we stand as far as student impact. As we have talked a lot over the last few weeks
regarding safety at our University and specifically the perception of safety at our university and whether
or not it is a reality, it is hard to imagine that once again we have seen things come up very close to our
campus this past week. The incident at University Village Bookstore, excuse me the VCB, it is very scary
to think that that happens so close to Residence halls and everything else. I want to continue to work
very closely with The City and various law enforcement agencies. This evening, I have invited the State’s
Attorney Clay Campbell to speak on this issue and that brings me into the next issue and this is
accountability at this university. We have talked at length over the last year and a half regarding
university employees and administration upholding their end of the bargain. I think it is very important
to show our concern when we are asked every year to pay more and more to attend this University at a
time when we see there is a lot of waste and in some instances there has been alleged fraud. I think it is
something important for students to speak out against. If you are going to ask us to pay more, show us
why we need to pay more. Show us why it is needed and show us what is going to improve. Just like if
had a car and I wanted a nicer car. I am going to pay more for a nicer car, but you have to have
something to show why the fees are increasing. At a time when we see now the curtain has been lifted
in the situation with the Coffee Fund and other allegations of misconduct. There were a lot of
opportunities when the University could have said, “No, enough is enough. We are letting you go..” But
we are not seeing that. I am not accusing anyone or taking a stance either way, but I think that is
important as students of this university to demand better and to demand to know what happened and
why this was allowed to happen. This is not a good thing for our university when we are trying to
increase enrollment and planning to bring in a new president, we are getting ready to bring in a new
Vice President for Student Affairs and numerous other administrative positions that are going to open
up due to the President’s departure. To have anyone be able to type into Google search and come up
with who knows how many news reports about two things: Safety, and corruption. It just should not
happen. So it is important for the 40 members in this room right now as well as the general public and
students at this university to demand better and to demand answers. One of the things that I think is
very important is that we do not become complacent and think that the status quo is what reality should
be. If we do not feel that it is moving in the direction that is important for students-and at the end of the
day that is what we are here for, to educate students and to enrich them- then we need to demand
better from the university. One of the things I am going to be asking, and I will bring up in the next week
or so is that we get to appoint one member to the President’s Search Committee. That is an important
position, so if you think that is something you would be interested in please keep it in the back of your
mind and we will talk about it next week. In looking at what we are going to expect from the next
president it is going to be important to bring these things up. I don’t think we should put our head in the
sand and pretend like nothing happened and just hope for the best. When we have hoped for the best
and wanted the best, we have been shown now through the circumstances with the recent arrests and
allegations of misconduct that the best interests of students and of the university have not been in
mind. I think that at a time when we see, with other universities out East with allegations of misconduct
and abuses, sitting back and pretending like it is not happening and for people to act like there was no
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wrong doing is not the answer. It is time for the university to stand up and say that there were mistakes
made and that we are going to correct them and we are going to do better. Because as customer and a
citizen of this campus it is disheartening to sit here and look at all of the fraud, waste and abuse that we
have to look at from the university perspective when they are asking us to pay more, to do more. I have
brought it up before when we have spoken about the crackdown on paper usage. You only get 300
sheets of paper, 150 if its two sided and then they are going to start charging you and the reasoning was
cost. And then when we go back to research his, and I have mentioned this before but I am going to
mention it again, we have University administrators with over $300,000 worth of University cell phones
who use it for whatever they want, not just for work. We have to demand better and not just accept the
status quo, so again, I ask all of you to demand better. The President said it in his State of the University
Speech when he gave his announcement that he was retiring. He said to keep questioning, don’t relax,
don’t rely on just what people tell you. It is time to keep asking questions. And because I want to give
you the opportunity to ask questions, and because I think it is important as the 40 elected members of
this campus to represent the constituents of this University, the students, I have asked our State’s
Attorney to come here tonight to speak on both issues that I have mentioned: safety and the issues of
corruption at our University. It is time to work together with the university and with other officials
within the community as well to demand better from our university. At this time I yield to our State’s
Attorney Clay Campbell.
COMMITTEE REPORT(S)
Senator Rebecca Clark, Mass Transit:
 Ride Sharing program to begin after Thanksgiving break
 Car sharing pushed through legal, waiting to get departmental approval
 Speaker Quick Inquires: “Has there been any discussion in your committee regarding
adding a bus to the Route 3?”
o “It was talked about and the Chairman said that right now the money is very
tight so we would be forced to take a bus from another bus route in order to
add a bus to Route 3 because we do not have the money for a new bus.”
Senator Michael Theodore, University Services:
 Approved and recommends a resolution that will be voted on in this meeting
 The committee’s push for better utilization of the text message system has been successful and
will include off campus advisories as well as on campus incidents
EXECUTIVE BRANCH REPORT(S)
Elliot Echols, Student Trustee:
 Encourages students to be involved and engaged on campus and with academics
 Next board meeting will be held November 8th at 9:00 AM and senators are encouraged to
attend
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OLD BUSINESS
SAB 44009: A Bill to Recognize UNICEF Campus Initiative
 Senator Shockey Motions to postpone
o Motion passes at 6:39, Bill postponed.
SAB 44010: A Bill to Recognize NIU Racquetball
 Speaker Quick Motions to postpone
o Motion passes at 6:40, Bill postponed.
SAB 44011: A Bill to Recognize Almost Rockwell
 Speaker Quick motions to postpone
o Motion passes at 6:41, Bill postponed.
SAR 44023: A Resolution to Confirm Kelsey Shockey
 Motion passes at 6:43
SAR 44024: A Resolution to Proclamate the NIU Rugby Team
 Speaker Quick speaks on the teams behalf
o Resolution passes at 6:47
SAR 44025: A Resolution to urge the University to suspend efforts towards plus-minus
 Senator Theodore speaks on the bills behalf
 Senator Phillips Inquires: “Is there any way that we could compromise, for instance, implement
just a + system?”
 Senator Zanayed States: “We need to approve this resolution tonight because we do not have
enough time to filibuster this to try to slow the process down. We need to slow it down tonight”
 Senator Gordon States: “As a student it will negatively affect or GPA, all students are not 4.0
students. Many students are B students and I believe that they should not be affected by a B- or
a B+”
 Speaker Quick States: “Studies have shown that the number As awarded by universities does go
down when a plus minus system is implemented”
o Bill passes at 6:53
SAB 44013: A Bill to Appropriate supplemental funds to Military Services
 Speaker quick speaks on the bills behalf
o Bill passes at 6:54
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SAR 44026: A Resolution to Appoint Dillon Domke
 Dillon Domke speaks on his own behalf
o Senator Phillips Inquires “Can you go into more detail with your past experiences?”
o Bill passes at 6:57
o Takes Oath at 6:58
PUBLIC COMMENTS
None
ANNOUNCEMENTS
None
ADJOURNMENT
President Troutman requested a motion to adjourn. Motion is made by Senator Zanayed. Seconded by
Senator Theodore. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 6:59 p.m.
MINUTES SUBMITTED BY
Chad A. Harris, Clerk of the Senate & Special Assistant to the Speaker.
EXECUTIVE ALLOCATION INFORMATION
None
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