ASG Senate talks rebranding, Student Activities Finance Committee funding

The first order of business of the Associated Student Government Senate’s Wednesday meeting was to refurbish the organization’s color scheme. This included ditching the original neon green in favor of a fresh palette of pastel-leaning colors.

Weinberg junior and Speaker of the Senate Kaitlyn Salgado-Alvarez said she thought the color change was part of a much-needed ASG rebrand. Many people she approaches aren’t familiar with ASG, and Salgado-Alvarez thinks the rebrand can help clarify the organization’s status as NU’s student government.

SESP freshman and ASG Parliamentarian JJ Nabors-Moore also said he was a fan of the rebrand.

“We definitely feel a little goofy with all these bright colors,” Nabors-Moore said. “The fact that we’re going with more subtle coloring makes us more serious and more representative of what an actual student government is supposed to be like.”

A major talking point of the meeting was the upcoming Board of Financial Review meetings to determine funding allocations, set to start May 10. Salgado-Alvarez called this year’s SAFC a “tough Funding Senate” because ASG’s funding is about $1.3 million short of its lower bound request of roughly $4 million.

An initial step of ASG’s involvement with the Student Activities Finance Committee was to assemble a group of senators to join the BOFR, which reviews the Student Activities Finance Committee’s proposed allocations for student groups and offers recommendations on funding priorities.

However, Nabors-Moore said only having $2.7 million in SAFC funding worried him.

“A lot of clubs are going to be unhappy,” Nabors-Moore said. “I just hope we’re not going to be over-flooded with too many different appeals so that we’re accurately able to give out funds.”

Salgado-Alvarez also introduced a proposal she received from the student body president of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The request, outlined in an email sent to Salgado-Alvarez Wednesday morning, was for NU’s ASG to sign a petition to “oppose government overreach that threatens the basic rights of students to learn, speak, and belong without fear of political retaliation.” This comes amid nationwide rollbacks on DEI policies and funding freezes.

Salgado-Alvarez said individual senators can choose whether or not they want to sign the petition.

Afterward, Salgado-Alvarez gave a refresher on how to propose ASG legislation, laying the foundation for the bulk of the meeting, in which committees brainstormed potential legislation.

Communication junior and Senator Ryan Lien discussed a committee to support student business enterprises. Lien said the idea came to him because of the uptick in student bands on campus.

“Providing easier channels of communication and information sharing could help students connect with opportunities and students who can provide services such as haircuts or photography to help students save money and make money,” Lien said.

The deadline to introduce legislation that can be passed within the quarter is April 30.

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