The Student Association is currently accepting applications for positions on a program prioritization student task force.

Program prioritization, which began in 2014 after a recommendation from the Higher Learning Commission, uses task forces to create reports that review 223 academic programs and 236 administrative programs to influence the allocation of university funds, according to the program prioritization website.

Program reports were completed on Dec. 11, and the task forces are currently meeting, privately, every Friday to grade the programs. The program reports must be graded by April 30, according to a Jan. 18 Northern Star article.

Once the reports are graded by the academic and administrative task forces, the program prioritization student task force will review them with the potential to make changes, said SA Senate Speaker Dillon Domke at a SA Senate meeting Sunday.

“We can actually say that we think this program or this department should be ranked here, so were going to have pretty good power with this,” Domke said.

The amount of members on the task force has yet to be determined but SA hopes to have younger senators on this task force to see it through next year, Domke said.

“This is one of the most important processes that the university has gone through in near past,” Domke said. “This isn’t something that will be one meeting and done. It’s going to be intense but very valuable.”

There is no deadline for the applications but SA hopes to start reviewing applications within the next two weeks, Domke said.

Senator at large

Moriah Tyler, junior political science major, was voted into the position of senator at large during the SA Senate meeting Sunday.

Tyler is a member of the Pre-law Honors Society.

“I know you all represent the students and I also want to represent the students,” Tyler said. “What I want to accomplish as a senator is making sure that the student body at NIU gets heard.”

Tyler said she would like to address student parking.