The Student Government Association has passed the second Sense of the Senate in two weeks for what they view as a pressing issue on campus.

Two weeks ago, SGA asked for President Richard Freeland to take a stance on the situation with the janitor’s union. This past week, SGA unanimously passed a Sense of the Senate calling for a speedier implementation and acknowledgment of the Centralized Interpreting Fund, a fund which will be used to broaden the use of interpreters at events on campus for the Deaf community.

“We will not accept complacency with this,” said SGA President Richard Schwabacher.

The Sense of the Senate stated its “official support that the Centralized Interpreting Budget Committee Act diligently in implementing a Centralized Interpreting Budget for all students of the Deaf community at Northeastern University.”

In passing the legislation, SGA is calling for the office which maintains the fund to, “by the end of the month of October 2002” have the fund fully available to the Deaf community on campus.

“The money is accessible now,” said Kay Onan, special assistant to President Freeland.

“What we’re working on is how to streamline the use of the fund,” she said.

By streamlining, Onan was referring to the research she has been doing by calling around the nation and finding out how other universities allocate money to interpreters on their campuses.

“One thing I have found out is that most schools don’t have nearly as many Deaf students as we do,” Onan said. “When they do have Deaf students, they’re mostly graduate students.”

Without a flagship program for a school to follow, NU will have to adapt a unique program for its Deaf community. Onan said education needs to addressed as well. Details for a group’s protocol are important in the full implementation of the fund. She said not all groups know how to properly advertise to the student body that an interpreter will be available.

While the research being conducted is important, Schwabacher is upset with the administration because, he says, the research has already been done over the past two years. He’s says the bottom line is, $3500 is set aside for the use of students on campus and is not being used.

“It’s being delayed…it needs to be made available,” Schwabacher said.

According to Schwabacher, SGA has yet to meet with Freeland on the recently passed legislation, but they have a conference scheduled for November 1, the day after their proposed deadline. According to Schwabacher,Freeland said, at a previous meeting with SGA, that the program would be implemented by September of this year.

“Will all features be in place by the end of October? The answer is no, but all the important things will be,” Onan said.

Freeland acknowledged the student’s work on the fund over the past year, and he hopes to bring the program to the student body as soon as possible.