Fusion declares candidacy

The IU Student Association election season reached the two-week warning Wednesday night, and another party has entered the race.\nThe Fusion ticket, headed by senior Dan Shapiro, announced its candidacy as the fourth and final party, which promises to fight for students' interests through communication and cooperation with IU's several hundred student groups.\n"We have as many people who want to work with us as people who want to work for IUSA," Shapiro said. "There are 38,000 students on this campus. They all have needs. A lot of them aren't being addressed."\nShapiro will run for president along with the party's three other executive candidates and 45 congressional spots.\nVice Presidential Candidate Lorenza Jara said the ticket promises to focus on realistic goals.\n"We're not the ticket that's going to BS people," she said. "We have real goals, and we have ways to accomplish them. Our slogan pretty much says it all: 'We're keeping it real, and we're doing it together.'" \nTreasurer Candidate Chuyen Wu said Fusion can accomplish many of its goals in partnership with IU's diverse array of student groups.\n"There are lots of strong student groups on campus that are not properly represented in terms of resources," he said.\nWu said Fusion would use IUSA funds to purchase special equipment, such as projectors, for community use in student group events.\nLike other tickets, Fusion plans to negotiate a looser campus and city alcohol policy. But Shapiro said the party will work within the realm of reality.\n"We're going to do everything that we need to do to make sure students don't get in trouble for being responsible," he said of the hospital employees' obligation to report underage drinking cases. "We need to reach out and work with (the police departments)."\nIU Police Department Lt. Jerry Minger said he believes Fusion's efforts are misguided.\n "One of our perspectives is to work with the community," he said. "I'm not sure that allowing somebody to do something illegal is the best way to do that."\nMinger added he feels alcohol education might be a better use of the IUSA budget.\nAnother use for the IUSA budget would be parking, said John Arney, the platform's congressional secretary.\n"Our position is to do things which are realistic and things that are economically feasible," he said of Fusion's plan to revise the IU Parking Operation's ticket fines. \nBut unity and communication remain the chief goals of the party, Shapiro said. \n"IU students are not just members of the IU community, but they're members of the Bloomington community," he said.\n-- Contact staff writer Mike McElroy at mmcelroy@indiana.edu.