The $8,000 allocated for the fall and spring semester editions of Towers magazine came under scrutiny in Sunday night’s Student Association meeting after the publication’s editor asked to use the money to print only one edition.

Towers Editor Shelley Wilson asked the senate for permission to use the $8,000 to publish one large edition of the publication instead of two editions costing $4,000 apiece. Wilson said she made the request because this is the 50th anniversary of the magazine.

Printing one edition of Towers would allow the magazine to use color, double the size of the edition, and select a higher quality of student literary pieces and drawings for the magazine, Wilson said. “We want to impress people with the quality of one issue. It is a better return for the money,” she said.

However, Sen. Jim Valentine charged that the student-run organization apparently was becoming “elitist” through the selection process.

Towers “wants the best of the best,” he said. But Wilson said, “It’s elitist in absolutely no way.”

Sen. Gary Stittgen said NIU could only stand to gain through the one printing of Towers because “better quality means awards … and recognition” for NIU.

Sen. Jim Ruzicka, who voted to approve the request while in the SA Finance Committee, changed his mind and questioned why the entire $8,000 was needed to produce one issue.

SA Treasurer Diana Turowski said Towers is budgeted for two issues of 3,000 copies and 45 pages each.

After debating the issue for almost an hour, the senate decided to postpone their decision until further cost estimates and more information were put into writing.

In other business, SA President Paula Radtke announced she will act as the chairman of the Student Committee on Political Action “at least until the end of the semester.”

Radtke removed former SCOPA Chairman Rene Lilly during last Sunday’s meeting.

Radtke said the senate needs to “stop fighting amongst ourselves” so SCOPA can get its feet on firm ground by increasing student involvement.

Of the six new SCOPA members approved Sunday by the senate, only one has been a member of the committee before.

Senate Speaker Joe Annunzio, an ex-officio voting member of SCOPA, said the committee appears to be shifting from the political left to the right, although there are 14 available seats on the committee.

Annunzio said he was not concerned with the ideological shift because SCOPA is not supposed to deal with political ideas or groups. SCOPA’s role is to deliver political information to NIU, he said.

The SA Internal Affairs Committee is considering changing the name of SCOPA to better reflect its role as an “awareness” committee rather than an action committee, Annunzio said. He would not comment on the names being discussed.