The gap left by the January resignation of the Student Association Tenant Union director was filled Sunday when the SA senate approved an appointee.

The new director will plan programs and events to help students find housing and resolve tenant/landlord conflicts.

SA President Jim Fischer said the SA appointed and approved NIU student Tim Gobel to be the new director of the tenant union Sunday.

“I made the appointment and the senate approved it. Cam (Davis) and Todd Lipscomb sat in on the interview,” Fischer said.

Gobel said the director position interested him because of his involvement with the tenant union in the past.

Fischer said Gobel was appointed on March 6, and he has been taking time to get into the position, developing ideas and becoming familiar with the union and what he will be doing.

Gobel said, “I have been waiting to begin any programs until I was approved, and I probably will be working on programs and events that have already been started.”

The main project of the tenant union is the “Housing Bazaar,” Gobel said. The bazaar, which has been held for the past two years, enables landlords of apartment complexes and houses to make their housing information available to the students, he said.

It is an informational event that provides students with the knowledge of different leases and rents, Gobel said. “It gives students a chance to do it all at once,” he said.

Gobel said he will get in contact with landlords to see if it is “feasible to have it (the bazaar) this semester.

Gobel said if the bazaar is not held this semester the tenant union will begin planning for a bazaar which would be held at the end of the fall semester.

“That’s the time for people in the halls to talk to their roommates and decide where they plan to live. At the beginning of the semester they could sign a lease,” he said.

Gobel said he has been studying tenant union projects such as combating on- and off-campus parking problems, receiving and filing complaint forms and conducting student tenant rated surveys, Gobel said.

Don Henderson, Students’ Legal Assistance director, said, “I am glad the union is getting into the situation where it can perform.”

“I was very impressed (by Gobel) and thought he was quite interesting,” Henderson said.

Gobel said although there are only eight weeks left, his main goal is to “increase the student awareness of the tenant union and how to go about using its services.”