NSG for ASG

8/14/2019 NSG for ASG

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CONTENTSNeals Plan for Northwestern

Innovative Leadership that acts on your ideas.

2 Executive Summary

3 The Problem

3 My Plan

3 You

4 Me

4 Experience

5 Philosophy

5 Teamwork

6 Structure

6 Accountability

6 Transparency

7 Reforms

9 On the Issues

10 Disclaimer


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 02GOOD MORNING.

How?Listen and inform to build a stronger ASG/Student connection: Open meetings with the adminis-tration, Presidents questions, Lunch with ASG, ASG at New Student Week, and an ASG Newslet-ter will make ASG more accountable to and connected with its constituents.

Pursue new projects that matter to students: We can work to improve career services, strengthen tieswith the graduate schools, and make it easier for student groups to ascertain funding for new andexciting projects.

Follow through on current projects: A more ecient ASG will have the capacity to eectively completethe current projects that ASG is pursuing: Campus wireless, 24-hour campus, lecture webcastsand weekend shuttle times.

What is ASG?ASG is supposed to be the students voice, theunifying body for undergraduate students. It ismeant to be the vehicle for student concerns andideas for change.

What is the problem?ASG is not connected with students in the way itneeds to be. Many students consider it useless orinecient.

What can I do?I have the experience to make organizations moreecient, exciting and inclusive. But, I cannot do itwithout your involvement.

What can you do?Raise your voice: weigh in on the current stateof ASG and begin to own a share of your studentgovernment.

What can WE do?Build a team that is accountable, transparent andeective. A stronger ASG/Student connection willmake ASG more eective in advocating for studentsolutions.

Come Togeter.

Your voice. Your change. Your Northwestern.


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I decided to run for Presidentin order to promote a culture

of collaboration and uniteNorthwesterns student body.The only solution to ASGsineciencies and lack ofaccountability is teamwork.Together, we must understandthe issues that Northwesternstudents face and the waysthat ASG can address them. Ihave experience working withASG. I understand the problemsplaguing ASG and their root

causes. I also understand that Ido not have all of the answers.Strong relationships will helpto forge a team that can moreeciently pursue solutions. Whyshould I lead such a team? I haveexperience making organizationsmore ecient, exciting andinclusive; I promise accountabilityand transparency, two necessaryelements of any eectiveorganization; I am ready to builda team that blends a diversityof experiences and talents tooptimize ASGs potential.

ME. EXPERIENCE. 04

Dorm President.Muticutura.Entrepreneur.Meet Nea.{

GOOD MORNING.

Experience

Me

I am an inside outsider. I am a rst year senator. Most of my

interaction with ASG has been as a student group leader, not anocial. As an ASG Senator, I have actively pushed for more Senatoraccountability by working with former Speaker Jesse Garnkelto create a weekly Senate update to be distributed to all Senateconstituents.

I have started and operated multiple organizations that arestill running smoothly. Behind the talk and the claims, thoseorganizations are my record.

ISBE (Institute for Student Business Education) President:leading the largest business organization on campus has

allowed me to help build an ecient structure with a diverseteam of talented students.Minorities in Business - FounderCo-founder of 2 businesses that are still operatingTeaching Assistant for two entrepreneurship classesLived at the rock for a week in a tiny car with no heat in thewinter.Learning and Organizational Change major: I have spent amajority of my time at Northwestern searching for solutions tomake organizations better.

I also identify with a multitude of cultural and extra-curricularspheres at Northwestern. Here is what I have been involved in:

Cultural Groups:Danced Hawaii club luauWas a bodyguard for the KASA showServed on diversity panel on race relations at NorthwesternAm helping to charter the National Black MBA Association atNorthwestern

Residential Life:Served on the Residential College BoardAyers CCI (College of Commerce and Industry) President

Services:Volunteer and help teach an entrepreneurship class to low-income high school studentsRepresented Northwestern as an ambassador in Springeldfor the IMAP Grant

Miscellaneous:Judged the Rainbow Alliance Drag showServed on the Selection Committee for the ASG Financial VicePresidentWas a security monitor at Jones Residential College for 2yearsWork until 3AM at the University Library Front DeskHelped Plan Rock the BeachServed on a panel to prepare new professors for the comingschool year

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PhIlOSOPhY. TEAMWORk. 05GOOD MORNING.

PhilosophyAs a leader, I valuecollaboration, accountability,transparency and eciency.

The changes that I propose arebuilt upon these foundationalprinciples. The followingexplains how I would applythese concepts to ASG.

A direct ine to te administration.

Your 24-our connection.

TeamworkYear after year, ASG has been an organization of individuals. Imaginea line of archers. Each ASG ocial has its own bow and arrow. Theyare each aiming for an individual goal with their individual power. In

the end, they can only pull their individual string back so far. Eacharchers arrow falls short of its respective target. What if ASG cametogether as one archer? As a team, we can use the collective powerof the student body to pull the bowstring back, aim, and release.Together, we have the power to hit ambitious targets. My entireplatform centers on this notion. A stronger connection betweenASG and the student body will aord students more opportunitiesto share their ideas and concerns with their government. Increasedaccountability will strengthen the bond between ASG and students.More transparency will promote equality within the team so thateveryone is on the same page. Once this culture of collaborationmaterializes, ASG will be able to advocate eectively for student

interests.



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STRUCTURE. ACCOUNTAbIlITY. TRANSPARENCY.06GOOD MORNING.

StructureThe structure of the current ASGerects walls within the government.Senators do not work well witheach other. The Executive Boarddoes not communicate well with theSenate. Neither body communicateswell with the student body. Suchcommunication is necessary forASG to be eective in exercising itsmandate. Here is what I would do tomake ASG more conducive to internal

and external communication:

AccountabilityBetween elections, there are few timeswhen the ASG President or Senatorsare questioned outside of The DailyNorthwestern or The Chronicle.Presidents may talk at students duringsterile speeches and oce hours forthe ASG President are a good start, butASG ocials need to be questionedmore often. If the ocials are notanswering to anyone, they will not berequired to deliver. Accountability

ensures productivity.

TransparencyIf ASG wants to have a good-faithmarriage with students, studentshave to know what is going on. Ofcourse, students have to care what isgoing on. But, they also have to beable to access the information. ASGultimately needs more transparency.If a Northwestern student wants toknow what ASG is talking about, whatit is planning, when it is meeting, andwhat is on the agenda, that student

should only need to spend a fewminutes on ASGs website.



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REORM 08GOOD MORNING.

they have. One way to promote cohesion amongSenators and between the Senate and the ExecutiveBoard is to host a retreat that is not dripping with

clich team-building activities, but actually allowsthe ASG ocials to get to know each other and dis-cuss the issues that are important to them.

Lunch with ASG: In the Norris Cafeteria once perweek, ASG ocials will have an open lunch to an-swer student questions and talk about what is goingon in ASG. This will be an opportunity for studentsto ask the ocials questions and propose new ideasfor the future of ASG.

Senator Reports: Senators are out of touch withtheir constituents. In order to make Senators ac-

countable on a continuing basis, Senators will berequired to draft biweekly reports that are sentto their constituents and posted on the website.Writing these reports will ensure that Senators arepaying due attention to the goings on within ASG,thinking about their constituents, and maintainingan open line of communication between the stu-dents and their government.

Document Release: An open government and aconnected government requires that students candiscover with minimal eort exactly what their

government is and has been doing. Archives shouldnot be stowed away in some box. They should beon the website for all to access. Using a complete

document release policy as a model, the new ASGwill post all of its reports, meeting minutes and leg-islation on the website in an easily navigable format.

Blog: The ASG Executive Board will have an on-lineblog on the ASG website so that they can updateASG events from an internal perspective. Studentsand other ASG ocials will have the capability tocomment on posted items.

Open Administration Meetings: ASG ExecutiveBoard members have the unique opportunity tomeet regularly with Bill Banis, the VP of Student Af-fairs. Students should be able to attend some ofthese meetings and voice their concerns before theordinary order of business begins.

Create a committee to evaluate ASG: Any suc-cessful institution needs to self-evaluate. Activestudents will comprise a working group to identifyASGs ineciencies, listen to student concerns, andpropose concrete reforms to be considered in theSenate.

Establish a dialogue with peer institutions: Wecan only benet from talking to other Universities.

At the local level, we can coordinate programmingand host joint events. We can share ideas withother COHFE schools in order to nd out what hasworked elsewhere and what has not.

Partner with Northwestern classes to promoteASG reform: ASG needs to contact professors whoteach classes designed to address institutionalproblems. ASG can give them a list of pressing is-sues for which their classes can choose to proposesolutions. Ultimately, we hope to use studentsclassroom work to help add value to ASG.

ASG Newsletter: Publish a monthly ASG Newsletterdetailing the progress of each member of the ASGExecutive Board.



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09ON ThE ISSUESGOOD MORNING.

ASG has dealt with and continues to deal with a plethora of issues. They have made progress on some;

others have been mismanaged. These are some of the issues that I nd important and believe the ASGExecutive Board should continue to address. This list is not, by any means, nal or rigid. The new ASGwill have the capacity to take on new challenges and pursue new solutions. ASGs purpose is to investigatepossible changes and lobby for them; it cannot implement them unilaterally. A primary goal will be todiscover and address student concerns that have been hitherto ignored.

Weekend Shuttles Our goal is to continue the push to increase access to shuttles on Saturday and Sun-days, not just to sporting events, but also between the Evanston and Chicago campuses.

Campus Wireless ASG has been pushing for campus wireless for the past several months, but there stillis work to be done. Our goal is to see campus wireless through to completion and continue to put pres-sure on the administration to act.

Career Services Currently, Career Services oers poor on-line resources and insucient interview prep-aration tools. Northwestern must invest in its students futures by certifying that all of Northwesternscareer and internship resources are readily available to every student.

SAFB Deregulation The Student Activities Funding Board doles out around $1.2 Million in funding peryear to student groups across campus. However, the process by which groups come to receive this moneyis unnecessarily arduous. Student group leaders should not have to jump through rings of re to receiveASG funding if they have exciting projects that are important to students.

Video Lectures/Podcast ASG should begin to investigate the possibility, if not petition for, a pilot pro-gram to videotape large lectures and post them online as a library resource or podcast.

Minority Enrollment Petition for increased minority enrollment.

let is experiencemae yours etter.



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10DISClAIMERGOOD MORNING.

False promises are bad.This platform encapsulates whatI believe we can accomplishover the next year. However,I understand that things canchange. This document is aguiding light, but it can bechanged as circumstances change.

The most important elementsof my platform are the coreprinciples that I represent as aleader.



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Neal Sales-Grin for ASG Presidentgroups.northwestern.edu/neal

www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13921919601

[email protected] 1 (773) 272-5734

April 15

designed by Ivan Li 11

Photography by Christopher Wickman 09

Documents

NSG for ASG