Students face a referendum next Monday over an issue they and Student Association senators know little about, SA officials said.

The referendum will decide if NIU will stay in the Illinois Student Association, a student lobbying group. Each student pays one dollar of a $22,000 fee for the ISA every year.

However, SA advisers and senators expressed doubts that anyone knows what the ISA actually does.

Tom Ellett, NIU’s field representative for the ISA, said students have almost no information about the ISA and having a referendum would be “ridiculous.”

Ellett, who also chairs the Student Political Education and Action Committee, said he intends to go to the SA Supreme Court to change the referendum to a later date.

SA officials went even further to say the student senate, which is supposed to communicate with the ISA on issues, is also in the clouds about the organization.

SA Vice President Tanya Smith, who sits on the ISA board for NIU, said SA senators “don’t care” about finding out about the ISA.

Smith requested volunteers for a committee to investigate the value of the association, but no senators came forward, she said.

She said she made senators aware of the referendum through announcements and reports during senate meetings. Smith also invited ISA Executive Director David Starrett who answered senators’ questions at a meeting two weeks ago.

“Every senator should have a rough idea about the ISA,” she said.

But senators generally have not pursued to educate themselves further about the organization, she said.

Senate Speaker Preston Came blamed the ISA for not thoroughly informing the senate about what it does for students. “The ISA really hasn’t sold itself that well,” Came said.

Came said the senate does not plan to make a recommendation to students on how to vote.