By Steve Babcock

The Student Government Association opened debate last Thursday on a resolution that would make a yearly meeting with academic advisors mandatory for every student. The SGA will vote on the resolution at this Thursday’s meeting.

The resolution SR-W-02-103 states that if students do not meet with their assigned academic advisor within the appropriated time of one academic year, it would result in their classes being blocked. The push to get students in their advisor’s office has become a critical aspect of semester conversion.

Ann Comer the communications manager for the office of the provost reiterated the importance of advising to the smooth transition to semesters.

The mandatory advising runs hand-in-hand with Northeastern’s policy stating it will not “hold any student harmless” as long as students work with their advisors, follow their graduation-track schedule and complete their academic requirements.

“Advising is a very big thing right now,” Comer said.

Andres Vargas, vice president of academic affairs and one of the authors of the legislation, flushed out the reasoning behind the new resolution, saying that it is the “first step” in resolving the academic advising problem that has existed for so long.

“Academic advising at this school is substandard,” he said, “There is no reason you should have to wait hours upon hours to take care of your problems.”

Several senators came out in strong opposition to the resolution, mainly taking issue with the blockage of classes that students would face if they are unable to meet with their advisor. Such opposition arose within the first minutes of the open debate, as Senator Sam Klarr moved to table the resolution, effectively postponing the resolution’s vote. After consulting with several other senators, Klarr withdrew his motion.

Also vocal in questioning the resolution was Senator Sharif Zeid of the College of Business.

“What is the logic on the block?” Zeid asked. “Don’t you think that it punishes students when the problems lie in the faculty?”

In response to Zeid’s questions, Vargas said SGA was would not be making a firm statement if they were to “put this forth without any consequences.”

“Without the block the resolution amounts to a recommendation, which we have done before,” he said.

Senator Jason Kravitz was also on the opposing side, saying the block on classes is “the easy way out.”

“There is a better way to do this,” Kravitz said. “No other university forces students to see their academic advisor.”

At the heart of these and other arguments were the current problems in the academic advising system faced by Northeastern’s administration. Each spokesperson during the debate was eager to point out that the problems of advising did indeed fall in the administration’s hands.

A recent poll conducted by NU Pulse showed that 40 percent of NU students do not know who their academic advisers are. An added obstacle on the path of bettering communication between students and advisors is the increasing number of freshmen accepted to Northeastern each year. With semester conversion on the horizon, an entirely new set of questions will be asked of by students of their advisors.

At debate’s end, SGA President Richard Schwabacher encouraged senators to enlist the opinions of constituents and to seriously think about the impact of the legislation before voting.