Several NIU Greek students formed the coalition “Students for All Students” in an effort to bring “a more conservative” point of view to the Student Association Senate, said Tom Zur, one of the organizers of the coalition.

“The Senate is not equally divided (between liberal and conservative members) and shouldn’t be, but the ratio should be more balanced,” Zur said.

SAS, also organized by Joe Annunzio and 7th Ward Alderman Chris Hoagland, is comprised only of fraternity and sorority members who are running for seats in the SA Senate elections today and Thursday.

Annunzio said, “We are not interested in blocking out other groups in the Senate. Everybody thinks we’re against JLS (The John Lennon Society). Actually, we have a lot of respect for those groups.”

Zur said, “We’re not just running for Greek interests. Greeks represent over 10 percent of (NIU’s) population, so we feel we can represent the interests of all students.”

Zur said the most obvious concern of members of SAS are the effects of the budget cuts on NIU, including the increase in the amount of students per classroom.

“NIU has a lot of potential for growth, but the cuts are keeping the university from expanding,” Zur said.

Annunzio said 56 physical education classes were eliminated as a result of the budget cuts despite the popularity of athletics at NIU.

Coalition member Dave Stern said another major concern of SAS is how the SA Senate and Finance Committee allocate funds to organizations.

Stern said, “A lot of groups on campus are not getting the amount of money which is representational to the amount of members they have.”

e said he has seen cases where some groups receive less funding than needed for their budgets while other groups receive funding that surpasses their budgets.

The coalition is comprised of 21 SA-recognized candidates and five write-in candidates.