DeKALB — In the halls of the SGA, Jacob Burg is Deputy Speaker of the Senate, Chair of the Board of Elections and acting Election Commissioner. Burg has worked with several commissions to continue to improve the NIU community. 

Burg got into politics because it was something of a family tradition. “I come from a long line of activist family,” Burg said. “My parents and grandparents were very very active.” 

Burg recalled anti-war signs from Vietnam to Korea and his grandpa’s stories of living in a segregated Chicago. His family wasn’t the only thing to encourage him into politics, however. Lived experience played a large role. 

“I come from a very low-income family,” Burg said. “When you grow up in that situation you’re always faced with disappointment.” 

Contrary to what one might expect, he described the disappointments he has faced throughout his life as motivating. 

“One thing it’s made me is a harder worker and more determined to make things change,” Burg said. 

Currently, in his second year with the SGA, Burg spent his first year as a senator on three different committees.

In this year, he worked with the SGA Senate Speaker and the Chair of the Public Affairs Committee with the Period Project in order to provide free menstrual products to students, worked with a previous chairperson of the Organizational Oversight Committee in order to implement the Huskie closet and personally worked to increase the number of bus stops in the West Hillcrest neighborhoods.

This is separate from the work he did on the three committees mentioned prior, which includes setting up Greek Week and Earth Week, among many other smaller initiatives. 

“I really felt Student Government could be doing more, connecting with more students, and better represent.”

In his second year, Burg became Deputy Speaker and assumed oversight over the daily affairs of the senate, wrote and passed legislation requiring more constituent outreach for senators and informally assumed the director of community service role, which entailed direct oversight of five more SGA committees and brought the total number of committees that he worked on up to seven. 

This is not to mention the four-page bill he wrote with the treasurer, requiring those on the finance committee to disclose their affiliations with on-campus organizations and the 15-page complete reform of election policy he wrote with the election committee in order to increase the transparency and accountability of the SGA.

“If I want to sum it up, engagement of the SGA with the campus, diversifying the senate, getting new voices and representation of underserved communities, transparency, and accountability,” Burg said about what he hopes to see in the future.  

He emphasized that while he’s put a lot of work into the SGA, he’s OK with not leaving a legacy. 

“Realistically in three years, no one’s going to know my name, and that’s OK,” Burg said. “What’s important for me is that I set the structure now so that in the long run, the SGA can return to the important role it’s had on campus.”