By Sarah Metcalf

For the first time in at least the last three years, two grievances have been filed against an undergraduate student group, according to the co-chair of the Student Affairs Board (SAB).

The Northeastern University Allied Student Coalition (NUASC) had a productive year in its first semesters as an existing student group, bringing such speakers as Judy Shepard and James Dale to campus. However, there have allegedly been internal conflicts as well as external problems with Northeastern University’s Bisexual, Lesbian, Gay, Straight and Transgendered Alliance (NUBiLAGA), leading to two formal grievances that will be filed against NUASC and brought before the SAB Friday.

The internal grievance deals with an alleged constitutional violation regarding the election process, among other things, said an anonymous member of NUASC, who is not involved with the grievances being filed.

“Internally, I would say (problems have been occurring) since the end of fall semester,” the source said. “I know since the beginning, Brian (Cox, president of NUASC) has said he tried to set up all these meetings with Jaxon (White, co-president of NUBiLAGA) and NUBi-LAGA advisors, and whenever he tells people about that, he makes it seems like it’s all (White’s) fault for canceling. I feel like every time (Cox) says good things about NUBiLAGA, he grits his teeth while saying it; he says it to be the ‘nice person.’ ”

While the external grievance is being filed by NUBiLAGA against NUASC, the source said, members of NUBiLAGA would not comment on the specific problems involved.

SAB co-Chair Michael Benson said the board can only hear grievances pertaining to constitutional violations. He said there have been two grievances put forward that deal with alleged violations of a constitution, but would not specify as to what group they were filed against or which other student groups were involved.

Despite the apparent issues, Cox said he has nothing but the utmost respect for NUBiLAGA and their goals, and that NUASC’s goals are simply different. NUASC was founded at the beginning of the academic year as an educational advocacy group for the gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual (GLTB) community. It branched off of NUBiLAGA.

“NUBiLAGA does not have the same goals as we do. They have great goals, and we are fully supportive of their goals, but they provide the campus community with a social environment in which students and members of the GLTB community can feel safe,” Cox said. “We are visible, we are loud, we are active, we are an educational body whose goal is to educate the community and create change.”

Cox said he was taken by surprise when he heard of the grievances being filed, but said his organization will persevere.

“It’s a surprise, but it’s important to note it’s not a surprise our organization is not fully ready to take on — it’s not something both organizations can’t move on from stronger than they were,” he said. “If anything comes out of it, I’d like it to be constructive dialogue which will allow our organizations to form a stronger partnership.”

The problems allegedly began when NUASC stated in its constitution two of its three purposes as: to “be the connective body between Northeastern University and the outside community” and “the establishment, staffing and maintenance of a Northeastern University run GLBTQS (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning and Straight) Resource Center.”

It states in NUBiLAGA’s constitution, however, which has been in existence since the 1970s, that NUBiLAGA will serve the interests of not only on-campus members of the GLTB community, but also “other members of the Northeastern community.” Their constitution also states that “NUBiLAGA will act as a social, cultural, support and resource center for students … We will be willing to provide help and information on issues of concern to the gay, lesbian and bisexual community.”

Members of NUBiLAGA, among other students, said they believe students can currently find all of the resources the GLBTQS community needs in the NUBiLAGA office, which acts as their resource center.

Contrary to the allegations, Cox said the existence of the two separate groups is necessary for the successful progression of GLTB rights.

“(NUBiLAGA) has performed a great service, and it is important to note that a student can benefit from that type of service, but at some point students are going to be ready to move on and be visible, to be active and to be vocal — you can’t have a student who hasn’t gone through the whole coming-out process do that,” Cox said. “Combining the two groups would be a disservice to the NU community.”

Depending on the outcome of the meeting of the SAB, future programming planned between the two groups could remain in jeopardy, the source said.

If the grievances are found to be substantiated, the SAB could go as far as to dissolve the group, Benson said.