Some questions concerning recent dumpings of The Northern Star were answered at Sunday’s Student Association senate meeting.

Star Editor-in-Chief Dave Kirkpatrick addressed the senate to clarify recent newspaper circulation problems.

“The circulation policy of the Star is one that does not condone or instruct anyone to dump newspapers,” Kirkpatrick said. “We have 17,500 papers printed every day. We have instructed our drivers that if there are extra papers after they have made their complete run, go back and hit some of the ‘hot spots’ where students commonly travel through.”

NIU Student Regent Bob Tisch found about 15 bundles of undelivered Star newspapers in a garbage dumpster on Oct. 31. Tisch and SA President Huda Scheidelman contacted Kirkpatrick after informing NIU officials. There also have been reports of papers dumped at the SA Recycling Center the day they were issued.

Scheidelman also discussed The Northern Star student fee implemented this semester. Despite SA protest, the Board of Regents approved the eight-cents-per-credit-hour fee last spring.

“The basic reason why the SA is opposed to it is because a student organization has not gone through the scrutinization that every other student organization goes through,” Scheidelman said.

The SA Finance Committee reviews budgets for SA-funded organizations. However, the Star is not scrutinized, Scheidelman said. “There is no reason why a student organization should be able to bypass that process.”

Scheidelman said the Star is asking for a student fee increase of seven cents per credit hour, bumping the fee to 15 cents per credit hour.

In other SA business, the Academics Committee is examining ways to improve the class registration process. “It’s a very archaic process here,” said SA Academics Adviser Willie Fowler. The committee is looking into a telephone registration process for schedule completion, he said.

If the phone process is used, students will face higher fees, Fowler said. The question is “how much do we really want this, and are we willing to pay a small increase in student fees. The more and more advanced we get, the more money we’re going to ask the students to spend,” Fowler said.

Scheidelman introduced the topic of student charge accounts through NIU. The credit system would allow students to charge books, food and other goods from the Holmes Student Center on their student identification cards or a similar card, she said.

The credit system might start next fall, Scheidelman said. The system would help students by increasing revenue and keeping student fees down, she said.