Student Association president Kevin Miller has a long list of difficult goals to accomplish this year.

Important issues at hand involve a potential new student radio station, inflated book prices, financial aid cutbacks, Greek exposure, Barsema Hall transportation and the idea of installing elevators at Lincoln and Douglas halls.

Student radio station

The SA would like to see a student-controlled FM station so that people studying radio or broadcasting could gain experience, Miller said.

Tim Emmons, of NIU Public Radio, said there are no frequencies available in the area for this goal to be achieved.

“It is not possible,” Emmons said. “I know that for a fact.”

Miller said he knows it’s a difficult goal, and he’s unsure if the Federal Communications Commission will let the SA purchase another radio license.

“It probably borders on impossible,” he said. “But that’s never stopped me before.”

He also said the SA needs to do its research first.

“It’s not just the fact that we don’t have an FM license,” he said. “There’s various restrictions. There’s lots of hoops that need to be jumped through.”

Miller added that he’s looking at other schools to see how they have worked things out.

Book prices

Another concern that Miller has is high textbook costs.

“We’re looking into some sort of book rental, or book buy-back system,” he said. “Maybe an online-trading program.”

SA Treasurer Shaun Crisler said the program would be fairly simple.

Students would be able to go to the SA Web site and register their books online, as well as be able to buy books at lower prices and receive more money back for books than they could selling them back to a store, Crisler said.

“Once we can promise that it can do what we need it to do, which is to save students money, then there should be no problem getting it off the ground,” Crisler said.

Amy Sherwood, a junior undecided liberal arts major, said she knew someone who spent more than $800 on books this semester.

“[The plan is] a good idea for the books, for sure,” she said.

Financial aid

Miller said he is also pushing for heavy lobbying from state legislators to restore some of the $33 million that was lost in financial aid this year.

In addition to the cutbacks, state government cut Monetary Award Program aid by 5 percent when it finalized the state budget in June. Also, MAP aid was eliminated for students who are in their fifth year (ninth semester) of receiving aid. This was done even though some majors cannot be completed in four years, Miller said.

“I want MAP to be fully restored to what it was before the budget cuts, because this is a tremendous burden on students,” Miller added.

Miller said he is personally going to lobby after the general election on Nov. 5.

“I’m going to work with trying to rope in senators,” he said. “I’m also going to be working with student leaders across the state.”

Sophomore sociology major Barbara Bakken thinks financial aid should be a priority.

“Too many people can’t afford to go to school,” she said.

Senior OMIS major Joshua Block said the financial aid goal is admirable, but may be far-fetched.

“There must have been a reason why they took some of the financial aid away,” he said.

When legislators were finalizing the state budget last spring, there was a decisive gouge in the overall higher education budget. The state simply decided that fifth-year MAP funding was too expensive to keep.

Greek exposure

One long-term goal is to have better representation for the Greek system, because Miller said he doesn’t agree with the way many of the rules are enforced.

“There are so many unfair things placed on Greek Row,” he said. “And other organizations for that matter.”

Barsema Hall transportation

Miller said he’s already achieved one of his goals this year, which was to establish transportation to Barsema Hall.

The city would not allow large buses because Hillcrest Road, on which a bus would need to travel after stopping at Barsema, was not designed for heavy traffic. Miller decided on the shuttle bus solution to provide transportation, for now.

“It is a temporary solution,” he said. “But it will remain a temporary solution for as long as it takes.”

Lincoln and Douglas elevators

Walter Lubas, a sophomore physical education major, said Miller’s goals are good, but he’d also like to see elevators installed at Lincoln and Douglas halls.

Miller said he will look into the installation of elevators, but it’s not likely.

Lubas also thinks that the SA needs to get the word out that it’s here, because he didn’t know what the SA was.

“Maybe write it on the sidewalks outside the dorms,” he said.

Bakken agreed, suggesting that SA members hand out fliers about what they do at the start of the year when students are buying books.

Miller added that he’s always open to suggestions, and complaints.

“I can’t guarantee we’ll fix it,” he said. “But, we’ll try.”