The Student Association gave its approval Sunday to eliminate the use of Social Security Numbers as a means of identification.

“The importance of this cannot be overstated,” said Sen. Andrew Nelms.

Eric Johnson, SA director of governmental affairs, would like NIU to be among the first to discontinue the use of Social Security Numbers.

“I would like to see Northern kind of blaze the trail,” he said.

The resolution was approved and will be sent to the Board of Trustees and NIU President John Peters for final approval.

Another bill discussed, which came with debate, involved the budget guide.

The budget guide is a 130-page booklet that SA-recognized organizations can use to formulate their budgets.

The first vote was on sending the bill to committee.

Sen. Jeffrey Meyer was in favor of the proposed committee reviewal.

“This is a rather lengthy, in-depth document,” he said. “There are some issues that would be better addressed in committee.”

Shaun Crisler, SA treasurer and budget guide author, disagreed.

“It’s not like I slung it together yesterday,” he said. “It took me 15 weeks to write this guide.”

Sen. R.J. Gravel was more concerned with the amount of paper wasted.

He referred mainly to the first page printed with students’ z-ID numbers.

“The budget guide I printed off totaled 124 pages,” he said. “This is 66 pages of wasted paper.”

Gravel was overruled before he began to discuss how many trees were used in the process.

Sen. Crystal Hoppe said that sending the bill to committee was unnecessary.

“I did feel the budget guide, even though we could have saved some paper, is sufficient, very helpful and will be guiding to the organizations,” she said.

Nine senators voted in favor of the bill, while 17 opposed it. The bill was not sent to committee and the budget guide later was approved.

“This budget is something that is going to make or break an organization,” Sen. Melissa Basset said. “Why not give it to them now so they can begin to work on it?”

Also discussed was the registration of 317 new DeKalb County voters prior to last week’s deadline.

Johnson was pleased with the number.

“317 voters can sway any election in this county,” he said.

Among other things approved were the positions of the Senate Speaker, Frank Woodin, and the Senate President Pro Tempore, James Barr.

The meeting concluded with the present members of the SA singing a one-day-early “Happy Birthday” to SA President Kevin Miller, who turned 21 today.