Kirkwood wins race

After nearly three weeks of controversy, the IU Student Association election is finally over. Campaigning with the slogan "work hard, play hard," the Kirkwood ticket emerged as the winning ticket.\nJoe Walterman, Elections Commissioner, said six of the 11 Supreme Court justices have certified the following vote count: 3,184 for Kirkwood, 2,030 for Synergy and 2,000 for Steel.\n"It's finally over and the students had their voices heard which is the most important thing," said sophomore Blair Greenburg, vice president of administration.\nSophomore Bill Gray, student body vice president, said his ticket was content that the voters got to decide the election.\n"With everything we did, we just worked really, really hard and it seemed that a lot of people, rather than put in the time themselves, just got upset that we were willing to," said Gray.\nAfter the shock subsided, the ticket agreed that it was time for them to immediately get to work.\nAt the top of their list, in no particular order, lie issues that fueled debate during the election. \nKirkwood executives agree the Graduate Professional Student Organization should be allowed the independence they desire. Currently, the GPSO is a part of IUSA, but would rather work parallel to the association. They added that they would be focusing on the alcohol policy, improving the greek system and keeping tuition levels steady while analyzing IU's budget. Academics will also be an important focus.\nJunior Brian Daviduke, the Synergy candidate for president of the student body, said he isn't at all ashamed of how his ticket ran this year, and maintained he wouldn't change a thing.\n"I have absolutely no regrets throughout this whole campaign," he said. "I would run with the same people the exact same way and I would do it again."\nDaviduke admitted that the last two months were the greatest of his college career so far and said he has met amazing people.\n"I know Kirkwood will do the best job that they are capable of and I wish them luck in doing so," he said.\nHe added that he would like to know how the election would have turned out if no rules had been broken -- rules he believes were.\nThe Steel ticket is disappointed that they didn't win, but is determined to stay involved in campus activities.\n"Everyone on our ticket is great leaders and we'll all find things to continue doing around campus," said senior Ilia Smith, the Steel ticket candidate for treasurer. \n"We'll make sure we keep doing good things for the school," Smith said.\nKirkwood said their victory coincides with the beliefs of the student body, or the nearly 20 percent of students who voted, and they maintain that although they did not break any rules, they did step close to the line concerning the mass e-mails.\n"The e-mail thing I can understand," said sophomore Judd Arnold, treasurer. "We danced around that."\nGreenberg contended that the students liked what their ticket had to say because the same people run every year. This was the first year that someone new stepped into the game who truly represented the student body, he said. \n"We're not the normal student government people. We're different," he said.\nOutgoing student body president, senior Jake Oakman, wishes the new administration the best of luck next year, and is looking forward to working with them in the transition process.\n"I believe that by and large the election, overall, was fair, although there were some things I wasn't too pleased with," Oakman said. He added that he appointed most of the people who made the decisions regarding the rules, and so he respects their opinions.