DeKALB| The Student Association Senate voted Senator Austin Quick as speaker of the senate Sunday night after former Speaker Jeremy Peters stepped down Wednesday.

Peters said he stepped down to focus on his academics and for personal reasons.

“I appreciated the job and I felt there was a lot of importance in the senate and SA, but I wanted to get my personal agenda accomplished before I focus on helping the students and the organization as a whole,” he said.

The senate voted 18-11 to elect Quick over former President Pro Tempore Ryan Smith, the only other candidate nominated for the position.

“I want to ensure that, from this point on, we move forward for the betterment of the students at large,” Quick said after his election. “We should put our personal issues behind us. Today is a new day.”

The senate questioned Quick and Smith and debated their qualifications for some time during the meeting.

Concerns of the senators were how the candidates would fill six senator positions, their plans for review of the bylaws, transparency in the senate’s operations, their campus group affiliations, and how they would separate their personal political views from their leadership.

Several senators also brought up questions of Quick and Smith’s involvement in the NIU College Republicans, the nature of the removal of Smith from his position as president pro-tempore on Jan. 28 and an anonymous message sent Feb. 12 that sparked heated debate amongst the senators through e-mail.

President Pro Tempore Winnie Okafor reminded the senators that they should leave personal issues or past points of contention out of the discussion and be respectful of each other.

“We all have our ideals, our views,” she said. “We all represent different aspects of campus. Whatever we do in our personal political lives shouldn’t necessarily have to translate into our senate lives.”

Smith said he was disappointed to not have been elected speaker but was looking forward.

“It was obviously a disappointment to not be speaker but when one door closes another one opens,” Smith said. “I wish senator Quick and the senate the best.”

Quick will be sworn in as speaker Feb. 27. The speaker of the senate manages the affairs of the legislative body and is paid $1 plus current minimum wage.

The senate also approved supplemental funding for two student organizations, but less than the organizations requested.

The NIU Paintball Club received $1,800 in supplemental funding, $5,200 less than its request of $7,000.

The group requested funding to attend the NCPA Collegiate Paintball National Championship April 15 to 17 in Florida.

The senate debated the question of their funding at length. They debated confusions over the funding request budget, how long the club had known it was planning to attend the tournament, and how much it was asking its members to contribute.

The Senate approved about $650 in supplemental funding to NIU Women’s Rugby, $4,350 less than its request of about $5,000.

The team requested the funding to attend a tournament March 26 and 27 in Nebraska.

Senators asked a representative from NIU Women’s Rugby as to why they hadn’t tried to fundraise on their own for the tournament. Many senators said they would offer their fundraising ideas to the club.

Both clubs were approved funding for only tournament entry fees and their teams’ hotel stay. Both clubs are responsible for transportation.

The senate also amended the NIU Paintball Club’s request for funding, stipulating that it must decide whether it will use the funding by March 11. If the club decides it cannot afford to attend the tournament, it must return the funds to the SA. A similar amendment for NIU Women’s Rugby will be voted on Feb. 27.

During questioning and debate for both groups, several senators said the senate could not approve such a large amount of supplemental funding when they knew they had 10 to 15 requests for supplemental funding still to come before them.

“We’re here to help the students, but we don’t have the funds to help this much,” said Senator Robert Lausch.

The senate started the year with about $30,000 in its budget, which is funded by student fees.

The senate approved about $15,000 to the NIU Ice Hockey Club Feb. 13. Before approving Sunday’s supplemental funding, about $11,000 remained in the SA budget. Now, a little over $8,000 remains.

The senate also voted to approve two senators-at-large during the meeting.

Kazimier Chevas, junior political science major, said he is interested in serving on the SA finance or elections committee.

“I want to be more involved on campus…to be able to fill in the blanks on the senate right now,” Chevas said.

Cameron Lythberg, sophomore political science major, was also approved as a senator-at-large. He said he would like to serve on the SA public affairs committee.

“My biggest goal is to get students to know their student government,” Lythberg said.