A ceremony to induct the new Student Association executive board—President Paula Radtke, Vice President Gregg Bliss and Treasurer Diana Turowski—was held Sunday in the Swen Parson gallery.

The audience of about 30 SA senators, parents, administrators and others looked on as Jon Dalton, vice president for student affairs, Don Henderson, director of students’ legal assistance and former SA president Jim Fischer spoke of the responsibilities the new officers would be undertaking and of the role of the SA in campus life.

Radtke said she was pleased with the speeches although she does not think “endorsing a tuition hike is radical,” in reference to part of Dalton’s speech.

At the reception after the ceremony, Radtke and the other newly-sworn-in officers outlined some of their goals for their administration.

Among Radtke’s biggest concerns was the tuition hike that seems likely to be passed by the Board of Regents. Radtke said she would like to see students given a surcharge which would be recalled after the semester it was implemented. For example, if tuition is raised $150 for the spring 1989 semester, it would not necessarily be raised another $150 for the fall 1989 semester, which is what a regular tuition hike might require.

NIU Student Regent Nick Valadez said that while he preferred not to have a tuition hike at all, he would rather see a surcharge than a straight tuition raise.

Voter registration was also one of Radtke’s top priorities. She plans to have a table set up in King Memorial Commons on Fridayfest Aug. 26 and at Add/Drop.

Linked with this is Radtke’s plan for the Student Committee on Political Action. She said she saw SCOPA as having two aspects. The first was election education, which would induce students to vote for those legislators who will support their best interests and give them fair representation. Radtke also mentioned action, such as holding another Day of Action and having “increased personal visits with legislators.”

The student Regent vote is another of Radtke’s top priorities. The three student Regents, from NIU, Illinois State University and Sangamon State University, currently do not have a vote on the Board of Regents, she said. Since students pay a large percentage of the costs of NIU, it is only fair the student Regents should be able to vote.

SA Treasurer Diana Turowski’s main goal was to get credit hour amounts figured out so the budget can be made. Turowski estimates this year’s budget to be about $20,000 less than last year’s. She also wants to complete the budget earlier than last year.