During a Student Government Association (SGA) meeting, student senator Joanne Fanfan raised concerns among Nest residents that the upstart security company Page Security was over-checking student IDs. The conference was held on February 6, 2024 at NEIU's main campus.
“Many students were very uncomfortable with the way things were going,” said Sen. Fanfan. She said one student was tested three times in a short period of time. “The few students we are concerned about are mostly students who identify as black,” Fanfan added.
Terry Mena, NEIU's vice provost for student affairs, told SGA that page security had just started the day before. “So they're new,” he said. “It may be part of a transition period where they are still getting used to their jobs and roles.”
Mena went on to say that the administration is “re-emphasizing” the policies discussed in spring 2023 and informed SGA that it will send an email reminding students of the Nest guest policy. An email to that effect was sent to Nest residents two days later, on February 8, 2024.
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In addition to concerns about Nest, the SGA has sworn in two new senators, Ashiana Martin and Cy Nikel Reddy.
Martin is a graduate student in political science. She joined SGA to be an advocate for Black people and advocate for marginalized students, she said. She supports the creation of safe social spaces where students feel like they belong.
Reddy is in a computer science program and is an international student from India. He wanted to join his SGA to advocate for international students. Specifically, he plans to advocate for mental health access and scholarship support for international students at NEIU.
SGA President EJ Schumacher also said SGA currently lacks student representation from NEIU's El Centro campus in Avondale and the Carruthers Center for Inner-City Studies (CCICS) in Bronzeville. They are calling on anyone who wants to represent the students who belong to and study at these campuses to apply to join the SGA.
SGA also passed two resolutions clarifying service hours requirements and penalties for not meeting those requirements. SGA members are required to spend four hours each week serving the NEIU community and write two reports on student events in which they participate. Members will lose their stipend payments if they do not complete at least 75% of these hours. Both resolutions passed unanimously.
