Student Association Senate has approved a bill to enforce neutral viewpoints among SA members, as in the selection of SA Senators.

The bill, approved at Sunday’s SA Senate meeting, requires all SA officials involved in the Senate’s vacancy approval process to make all decisions in a viewpoint-neutral fashion. Under the change, all candidates should be judged on their merit and character and not on the views of organizations they are affiliated with.

“There’s multiple points in the bylaws that decree specifically that we should be neutral in viewpoint,” said SA Senate Speaker Dillon Domke. “So the opinion of the Rules and Procedures Committee was that it should be across the board. If we’re gonna do that one way, in one aspect of voting, and then not in another way, it contradicts itself.”

The motion passed and will be added to the Senate bylaws in article 2, section 5C as point 11.

Other business

A bill to approve student group Better Together at NIU was passed unanimously. Better Together representative Ellie Evans said the goal of the organization is to promote interfaith cooperation at NIU through service, dialogue and promotion.

“Interfaith cooperation can be defined as different religious and nonreligious beliefs coming together for a common good,” Evans said.

Evans said the main goal of Better Together is to create a university where all of the religious and non-religious beliefs are represented. The organization’s short-term goal is to promote interfaith events where members and participants will have the opportunity to voice their values and engage across lines of religious difference, Evans said.

Alpha Chi Sigma, a chemistry fraternity, was approved unanimously. A representative of the organization likened the group to the existing co-ed business fraternity on campus, Delta Sigma Pi, in terms of providing professional opportunities for students in chemistry-related internships and careers. Membership in the fraternity is not exclusive to students with a chemistry major or minor and is open to members who wish to make chemistry a major aspect of their life in the future.