Current IUSA officers emphasize importance of voting

It’s as easy as a click of a button.\nWith the polls opening today at 10 a.m., the INdiana, Big Red and Kirkwood tickets are going head-to-head in IU Student Association elections.\nStudents are encouraged to vote until 10 p.m. Wednesday at www.indiana.edu/~iusa.\n“All students need to do is click the link on the Web site,” said current IUSA Vice President Joe DeJean. “Voting can be very fast – it only takes 10 to 15 seconds.”\nIUSA president W.T. Wright and DeJean emphasized how important it is for students to vote in the upcoming election.\n“Whether (students) realize it or not, IUSA is a large voice – they have a large seat on things,” DeJean said. “It is important to have people in office that represent the student body.”\nWith three tickets competing this year, candidates are presenting their platforms and information on the Internet. The INdiana, Big Red and Kirkwood tickets promote themselves, respectively, on www.theindianaticket.com, www.votebigred.com and www.votekirkwood.com.\n“The candidates need to know that they are campaigning for IUSA, not against each other,” Wright said. “(Candidates) need to keep an ear open for the student voice because it may not always be clear; they need to be willing to search for it.”\nWith a year under their belt, Wright and DeJean talked about their accomplishments in the past school year. While they admit it is impossible to get through everything in their platform, they said they think they got the most important things accomplished.\n“It takes a lot of time, and we definitely looked into all of (our goals),” DeJean said. “There are certain things (in the past), like the SRSC, that took 25 years to be built.” \nWright agreed.\n“It is important to push though every year to put things into action,” he said.\nWright and DeJean said they were proud of their ability to get back 100 student seats in Assembly Hall, apply for federal funding to get rid of the transportation fee, push for renovations in the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, become involved in possibly renaming the Ora L. Wildermuth intramural center as well as helping the Athletics committee with prospects of new coaches, to name a few.\n“IUSA is great because we get to play a role in all facets of campus life, all the way from renaming a building to athletics,” Wright said.\nWith that, Wright and DeJean both said they think their involvement in IUSA has been rewarding. \n“It is nice to know what is going on, while getting peoples’ opinions,” DeJean said. “The interaction and helping other organizations gives you a good feeling.”