The Student Association has decided to put up a fight after a DeKalb County decision denied university input.

When census numbers determined that DeKalb County must form a Metropolitan Planning Organization, county and city officials decided not to include NIU on the six-person committee.

The SA announced a proposal Friday for an eight-member committee that would include university input.

“The MPO should represent all parties with a legitimate interest,” said Brooke Robinson, the SA’s director of public affairs, in a statement. “And the university has a right to representation and voting rights on the MPO as a provider of mass transportation, a regular recipient of federal funding and a major investor in the future growth and development of the area.”

The committee will handle money received through state and federal grants, with the goal of organizing future transportation infrastructure and mass-transit funding.

The SA’s proposal calls for four mayor-appointed DeKalb representatives, one governor-appointed Illinois representative, one mayor-appointed Sycamore representative, one representative from DeKalb County appointed by the county board chair, and one non-voting member from Cortland, appointed by the town president.

The committee currently is made up of three representatives from DeKalb, one from Sycamore, one from the DeKalb County Board and one from the Illinois Department of Transportation.