The Student Association allowed the Campus Activities Board to continue their five-year guardianship of the incomplete SA art collection.

The senate passed a Community Affairs Committee recommendation Sunday to allow CAB to keep the art collection, but it must take measures to inform the senate on the status and safety of the collection.

Brian Subatich, SA community affairs adviser, said, “There is no room for compromise on the recomendations; they (CAB) know what they have to do.”

Collection Curator Marie Castro told the senate the collection “is titled the SA art collection, but it does not belong to the senate.”

But Subatich said, “Make no mistake, we govern the collection,” and let CAB look after it.

According to the recommendation, the collection has 250 to 300 pieces of art, while 17 have been reported missing or stolen within the last 13 years. CAB took control of the 20-year-old collection in 1985.

Castro said about 180 pieces are stored in a vault, while 40 other pieces are in offices around campus.

The SA recommendation asked CAB to have security installed on all art work displayed in the Holmes Student Center immediately.

In addition, SA members requested photographs of the art collection to be filed with the SA no later than March 1 and a list of serial numbers submitted by April 1.

“We (the SA) need to have the information because we are not informed,” Subatich said.

Part of the SA’s recommendation includes changing the art curator’s job description. The curator will be responsible for providing collection reports to the SA president in April and December of each year.

Appraising the art collection is another priority senators are looking into. Supplemental funding for the appraisal will be considered by the SA Finance Committee. CAB has estimated an appraisal could cost between $3,500 to $30,000, Castro said.

CAB’s Visual Art committee is advised to file insurance claims immediately on the art work proven stolen. Any money collected from the claims will be used to help pay the appraisal costs, according to the recommendation.

“I think it is time to get this problem solved,” Sen. Joe Davidson said.

In other business, the senate put a freeze on funds allocated to the CAB public relations budget. The CAB Public Relations Committee transferred over $100, more than 10 percent of their budget, without senate approval to pay for a full page Northern Star advertisement.

This action violates SA bylaws and an SA finance committee policy which states the SA finance committee will only fund smaller Northern Star ads.

Sen. Pat Sanchez said, “It (the transfer) is wrong, so we are putting a stop on it.”

Along with inducting 14 new senators, the senate also approved two advisory positions.

Tracy Havener was approved for public relations adviser and Debbie Connelly for minority relations adviser.

Connelly said her goals for this semester include “opening up communication between the Jewish community and the African- American community at NIU.” Connelly replaces Joan Clay, who transferred from NIU, and Havener replaces Chris Hudders, who resigned last semester.