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(03/30/09 4:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Student Association tickets create platforms promising things they will try to accomplish throughout the year. Last year, the current IUSA administration listed five things. Below is a listing of Big Red’s five platform initiatives and how well the administration met each goal.Weekend Health Center HoursCurrently, health center weekend hours have not been put into place because the administration decided it would be unwise to raise student fees in the current economic environment. Weekday health center hours cost less than weekend hours. “We were hesitant to propose any large fee increases this year,” IUSA President Luke Fields said. “We know that the burdens of coming into a college environment are only increasing.” The Big Red administration has been working with health center workers to see if minimizing hours on certain weekdays and creating partial weekend hours would be feasible. Tax-Free TextbooksA bill that supports a tax-free holiday went into the Indiana State Senate but failed to pass. State Sen. Vi Simpson wrote a bill that went to the state senate. The bill went to the committee but died because the state needed money to pay its deficit, Fields said. The bill received support from IU-Bloomington, its satellite campuses and other Indiana colleges supporting the initiative. IUSA also met with the president of the Indiana Retail Commission. “For this year, the work is finished,” Fields said. “I think we did everything we could to the best of our ability so that we can hand off the baton to next year’s group in April.” Student SectionIUSA did not acquire a traditional student section. Members of the administration said this is because of low student turnout at basketball games. But the administration said they made positive strides. “Despite the decrease in student tickets, we were able to maintain that no student seats were lost in Assembly Hall – despite the fact that basketball could have made additional money from alumni,” said current Vice President Dan Sloat. None of the 7,500 student seats were lost, Fields said. The student prices will remain low for basketball tickets, Fields said. Through their time in office, Big Red was able to develop a good relationship with the new Director of Athletics Fred Glass and basketball coach Tom Crean to inform them that students are interested in this initiative, Fields said. Big Red will be meeting with Glass sometime soon to open the lines of communication for a student section.Meal Point RolloverAll meal points remaining at the end of the school year will now roll over to the following semester. For those students who purchased a meal plan for the next school year, leftover meal points can be used for the following two semesters. This was a big victory for the Big Red administration, Fields said.Fall BreakIUSA did not create a fall break this year. Fields said the administration has worked with the campus calendar committee to try to make adjustments with the schedule. Fields said it is a complicated process that both the faculty and board of trustees must approve. Congress has advocated that students get the entire week off at Thanksgiving break and begin school earlier. The current IUSA administration has gotten the resolution together and is working with each dean to see if this new schedule is plausible, Fields said.
(03/30/09 4:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In light of last year’s IU Student Association election, the current Big Red administration is trying to ensure a fair and scandal-free election occurs Tuesday and Wednesday.During last year’s IUSA election, it was discovered that a congressional candidate of the Kirkwood ticket, Adam Pozza, accessed current IUSA President Luke Fields’ computer and forwarded e-mails regarding Big Red’s campaign to members of the Kirkwood ticket.The winning Kirkwood ticket was disqualified from the election, and the Big Red ticket was sworn into office.One of Big Red’s main goals this year was to legitimize IUSA after an election process marred by corruption.“Coming out of last year’s election, the question on campus was not what is IUSA going to do, but should we even have IUSA next year,” Fields said. “I think we’ve had a fabulous year at a time where we had to have a fabulous year. If we had a bad year this year, I think those whispers last year – that we should dissolve IUSA – would have turned into shouts.”The judicial branch and elections commission of IUSA handle any mishaps and controversies in the election process if there are any, Fields said.The appointment process for the elections commission, compared to past IUSA elections, has become more formalized, said current IUSA Vice President Dan Sloat.The tradition of appointing the outgoing Union Board president head elections commissioner continues. The rest of the four members of the election commission were selected by virtue of their office, and all work on some type of judicial board capacity on campus.“They have been recognized from other organizations for their impartiality and reasoning,” Sloat said. “In years past, the rest of the appointments have been very arbitrary and have been done by the sitting president.”Fields said the presidents of the various IUSA tickets need to be held accountable for their own actions as well as those of the members of their tickets.“I tried to communicate to the various tickets’ presidents that we need to have a good, clean election,” Fields said. “It is imperative to the legitimacy of IUSA.”To better suit the election process, the elections code was rewritten to ensure that a clear set of rules were set in place.One new elections code rule requires a reevaluation of the code by IUSA Congress every year.Another change from last year’s election involves voting locations. Students can now vote online through the IUSA Web site in addition to in-person IUSA polling stations.The workers at the polling stations will not be affiliated with any of the tickets running.Sloat said the polling stations were set up because a ticket running its own voting station is considered a fine line of solicitation. Therefore, the government got involved so that stations could be run impartially.No campaigning can take place within 50 feet of the polling sites and computer labs, according to the new elections code.“The polling stations give everyone an opportunity to feel comfortable voting and feel as if they could vote for whoever they want,” Fields said. “And they do not give anyone a particular advantage in those high traffic areas. They are a good way to be a little more equitable in the elections and to make sure all students have an opportunity, as much as we could ensure it, to feel comfortable with who they are voting for and to not feel pressured as to who they are voting for.”
(03/30/09 4:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A proposal to better represent international, domestic minority and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students failed to pass at an IU Student Association Congress meeting last week. The measure, which would have incorporated three delegate seats to members of the underrepresented campus groups, fell two votes short of passing.The amendment was proposed in an effort to directly and more successfully represent IU’s diverse community, said the amendment’s proponents.Many disagreements arose during the meeting. In the initial proposal, the minority leaders would have been chosen by the Commission on Multicultural Understanding, but members of Congress argued that the IU student body needed to vote on these three delegates.Many supporters and creators of the amendment believed this rationale was insufficient.Junior Alexandra Chtchedrina, international student and co-writer of the VOICE Report, said many Congress members are appointed, not elected, to represent the students. She said because of this, the amendment was not that different from what IUSA is currently doing.According to the second article of the IUSA constitution, members of congress are elected annually to serve a one-year term. The members must also be members of IUSA and live in the district they will represent. IUSA Vice President for Congress Andrew Hahn said because some seats are vacated during the year, congressional appointments do happen.But Hahn said the delegate seats in the proposed amendment could never be elected by students, which was problematic. The proposed amendment evolved throughout the meeting.Some Congress members were concerned that administrators involved in the Commission on Multicultural Understanding would meddle in the IUSA government, said junior Solomon Hursey, an amendment supporter. Congress members changed the amendment so that various minority organizations would get to choose their outstanding members and send their recommendations to Congress. They would ultimately choose the delegate they believed would foster greater student involvement.The amendment, however, needed a two-thirds majority to pass, and failed with 24 for the amendment and 13 opposed. Another problem Congress found with the amendment proposal was that only one student would have the responsibility of representing a distinct population of the IU community.Michael Coleman, IUSA Congress Teter representative and co-sponsor of the bill, said, “We can’t expect (62) Congress seats to satisfy the will of over 40,000 students.”The bill proposers said they recognize that great progress has been taken to make positive strides in diversity on the IU campus.“Diversity Day indicates that the University is trying to go into the right direction,” said sophomore Jordan Jacobs, author of the amendment. “There has been good progress, but there is still work to be done.”But many individuals involved with the amendment said they believed that without these three delegate seats, their presence is not being represented in IUSA.“Overall, IU Diversity Day was a great success,” said second-year law student Ben Blair, official sponsor of the bill. “However, IU’s student government has not leaped into the 21st century.”
(03/27/09 4:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It’s the economy, stupid.Members of three rival tickets sparred Thursday night at the IU Student Association Candidate Debate, covering a variety of topics crucial to the future of the University. But perhaps none was more important than how the potential governors would deal with a slumbering financial system.Nearly 50 students attended for the opportunity to hear what each of the three IUSA tickets – Red-Hot, Btown and ONE University – had to say about the issues.A central question during the debate was about the financial decisions each ticket would have to make if they were the new IUSA administration during this difficult economic time.Chancellor Ken Gros Louis asked what financial cuts students would make if they had to make such choices.Red-Hot would collaborate with other members of the IUSA administration and Congress to figure out with the situation is, said junior Andrew Hahn, presidential candidate of the Red-Hot ticket.Hahn also said the Red-Hot ticket believes that premier schools should maintain their funds and that frozen faculty salaries would be an undesirable product.Hahn said that ticket hopes to find a way of “balancing issues.”Members of the Btown ticket said they believe some options in dealing with the financial situation should be avoided.“No one plans across-the-board cuts,” said junior Jacob Turner, ticket supporter and stand-in for Btown treasurer. “That would be far too easy.”Members of the ticket said they also believe capping faculty salaries is not the best option and that some units, such as the Jacobs School of Music and Kelley School of Business, have the funds to “stand on their own,” Turner said.Members of the ONE University ticket said they believe in the “free market solution,” said junior Jeff Fraser, chief-of-staff for ONE University.Ticket members said they do not wish to decrease faculties’ salaries, and they said they do not wish to cut the funds of top schools such as the Jacobs, Kelley and the School of Journalism.In many aspects, the tickets have similar perspectives in how the campus should be run, but some tickets distinctly vary.Jack McCarthy, junior and vice presidential candidate of the Btown ticket, and Hahn agreed to develop relationships with IU administrators prior to entering office and have spoken with administrators in the past to assist in developing their campaigns.But ONE University representatives disagreed that administrators are a large priority for IUSA, saying they had not met with any administrators.“We’re not concerned with introductions,” said second-year law student Ben Blair, presidential candidate of the ONE University ticket. “We want to represent the students right now.”Members of each ticket expressed which platform was their highest priority.Hahn said that for Red-Hot, it was “Your IU” – a pledge the ticket has made to use blogs, open office hours and other means of communication to better interact with the student body. Hahn also said he wants to apply for Indiana State Transport funds to help save student transportation fees.Junior Peter SerVaas, presidential candidate for the Btown ticket, said textbooks were the main priority. SerVaas said IUSA should work with professors to turn in book lists earlier so students have a better chance of selling them back to the bookstores.Samantha Israel, junior and vice presidential candidate for Congress for ONE University, said members of her ticket hope to increase the community service effort within IUSA because “IUSA has been lacking in that area.” “IUSA supports the mission of IU students accomplishing service awareness to benefit the community,” Israel said.Throughout the debate, the candidates were tested of their University knowledge.“The candidates did very well,” Gros Louis said. “They showed that they were knowledgeable of the campus. They dodged questions, but I expected that.”
(03/26/09 4:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>All IU Student Association candidates will answer hard-hitting questions at today’s Candidate Debate from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Kelley School of Business in room 109.Students will have the opportunity to see how the executives of the Btown, Red-Hot and ONE University tickets deal with “think-on-your-toes” situations, said senior Dan Sloat, current IUSA vice president.“The debate will test how well-prepared candidates are,” Sloat said. “Students get to see to what extent a ticket is prepared and educated.” The debate allows the students to see all three tickets together and to decide who best meets their needs, Sloat said.University Chancellor Ken Gros Louis will moderate the debate and ask a diverse array of questions, said senior Liz Retana, IUSA election commissioner.Students can hold the candidates accountable for what they say, Sloat said.IU students can develop their own thoughts, become informed about each ticket and ultimately decide who to vote for in the upcoming election, he said.“Each student can respectively make a fair and unbiased decision,” Retana said.
(03/25/09 4:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Hoosier Compass ticket nearly swept the Residence Halls Association elections, claiming three of four executive positions after Tuesday’s re-election in Ashton Center.President Jessica Schul, Vice President of Internal Affairs Michael A. Coleman and Vice President of Programming Katie Lambert – all of Hoosier Compass – won their respective races.But one member of the Chuck Norris ticket, Mary Kathryn Frederich, won the race for vice president of student affairs, defeating Sheldon Raisor of the Hoosier Compass ticket by 24 votes.“I’m proud of myself, but I wish my whole administration had gotten into office,” Frederich said. “I’m happy one of us is in office.”Frederich will be representing a different standpoint because she was on the opposing ticket.“I hope everyone can move past this and work together,” Frederich said.The re-election results can still be contested within 48 hours.The Chuck Norris ticket contested the outcome of the first election, which took place March 3. The re-election Tuesday in Ashton Center – the only residence hall to re-do elections – yielded 127 new votes and altered Frederich’s race.Schul said the Hoosier Compass ticket is a close group friends that has become a family.“I’m happy that most of us got re-elected, but it is extremely upsetting for us that Sheldon did not obtain his position,” Schul said. “He was someone we were looking forward to working with.”Schul said each executive helps determine the fate of the administration.“We are all going to work in a professional manner and do the very best we can,” Schul said.Junior Aaron Collins, presidential candidate for the Chuck Norris ticket, said he is happy with the results.“I think the results shined a light on the proper voice that had not been heard in the previous election,” Collins said. “Had there been other re-elections at the dorms recommended by the election commissioners, the results could have been different.”Initially, the RHA elections commission ruled that re-elections should take place at Ashton, Briscoe Quad, Willkie Quad and Read Center. But the RHA Judicial Board overturned the commission’s decision and ruled that only Ashton should have new elections because RHA ballots were not available there for most of the original election.Collins said he is glad Frederich will be a member of the new RHA administration.“She is a great asset for RHA to hold on to,” Collins said.Because the Ashton votes determined the results of the RHA election, both the Hoosier Compass and Chuck Norris tickets were out campaigning throughout the day to make the name of their ticket known to residents.Candidates from both tickets were greeting and introducing themselves to potential Ashton voters.All campaigning had to occur 50 feet from the polling place to stay within the elections code.Candidates are allowed to go around and campaign, but Schul said even if candidates are 75 feet away, it has the same effect on potential voters.Members of the Chuck Norris ticket were handing out candy and giving out free coffee.Senior Ben Siebert, Chuck Norris vice president for internal affairs candidate, said the candy helped with dialogue and gave candidates the opportunity to explain in a quick conversation what the Chuck Norris ticket wants to accomplish.Collins said the coffee bar was set up to get Ashton residents to vote in the election.“Everyone campaigns differently,” Schul said. “We campaign with a Web site, and they campaign with coffee and candy.”Sophomore Jess Meyer, RHA election commissioner, said the increased advertising and student awareness of the judicial board’s decision brought in Ashton voters to the polling station.The Ashton ballot was the same style ballot as the one used in the initial RHA elections, including the straight ticket option, Meyer said.Although the polling station had an influx voters at various times, the campaigning outside was consistent.Meyer said it was a hot race, and candidates were doing a lot to get out the vote.The campaigning at Ashton was more intense than the initial RHA election as a whole, senior Eric Gibson, current RHA president and election commissioner, said.“It was absolutely positive,” Gibson said. “It is unfortunate that this level of competition was not taking place closer to the first race. There would have been a greater likelihood that the problems would not have occurred.”
(03/24/09 4:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With a lengthy Residence Halls Association election and a close race between the Hoosier Compass and Chuck Norris ticket, today’s Ashton Center re-election will be the determining factor of the RHA election.The RHA executive board could be filled by the Hoosier Compass, the Chuck Norris ticket or a mixed administration.In this election, the ballots will list the candidates from each ticket, but they will not have a straight ticket option for either the Hoosier Compass ticket or the Chuck Norris ticket.A mix-match is possible for the RHA executive board if student participation is large enough, said senior Erica Wiley, RHA elections commissioner.The election will be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. today at a table near the center desk in Ashton Center, located in the main building.The re-election will decide who will be the RHA executives, and they will represent the residents of campus residential housing.On March 11, the RHA judicial board decided the RHA executive ballots were not available to Ashton Center residents for six of the nine hours of the elections, which warranted a re-election.“People of Ashton are being given the opportunity to have their voice heard to a full extent in order to rectify something wrong that happened, which shouldn’t be taken in vain,” said junior Aaron Collins, presidential candidate for the Chuck Norris ticket.For this re-election, all the poll workers are affiliated with RHA, but the workers are not associated with either ticket, Wiley said.The Ashton results from the previous RHA elections on March 3 will be supplemented with the new results accumulated today.“The Ashton re-election will help us know that the votes were accurately counted and represented,” said senior Jessica Schul, presidential candidate for the Hoosier Compass ticket.
(03/12/09 4:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a Residence Halls Association election filled with accusations, violations and a judicial hearing, the end of the process is in sight but remains unfinished.The RHA judicial board met Wednesday night and decided to reinstate sophomore Katherine Lambert as candidate for Hoosier Compass vice president for programming. They also overturned the RHA election commissioners’ decisions to reinstate elections in Read Center, Willkie Quad and Briscoe Quad. However, the RHA judicial board decided that since RHA executive ballots were not available to Ashton Center residents for six of the nine hours of the elections, re-elections will occur from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. March 24. Senior Eric Gibson, current RHA president, said the RHA judicial board found Lambert in violation of some of the election codes but did not believe there was enough merit to disqualify her.Gibson also said that for three of the four residence halls, the violations were not serious enough to merit a re-election.“I am thrilled that the judicial board went through with our repeal and heard the whole side of the story,” Lambert said. “I am thrilled to be reinstated and so glad that it’s all over.”According to a document obtained by the Indiana Daily Student, “The 2008-2009 Election Commission of the Residence Halls Association: Chuck Norris vs. Hoosier Compass” states that “Lambert was seen by Elections Commissioner, Eric Gibson, sitting next to the polling station talking with the poll worker” in Read Center. Lambert said she was talking with a friend from work and did not introduce herself to anyone or sway votes in any way. Lambert said Gibson saw her and asked if she had been campaigning. When Lambert said she had not, he continued on his way. When she later heard of the complaints filed against her, it was stated that her physical presence was seen as campaigning. The document states “Lambert was seen by Elections Commissioners, Erica Wiley and Jess Meyer, escorting Read elections commissioner, Christian Porod, to 801 N. Jordan Ave. with the Read Center elections ballot box.” Lambert said as she was leaving the library, she saw Porod and walked with him to 801 N. Jordan Ave. She said she noticed Porod holding the ballot box but didn’t realize walking into the Residential Programs and Service building would leave a bad impression on the election commissioners.“I had no access to the ballot box and did not sabotage information,” Lambert said. “I was walking on a public street with students around.”Lambert said “the punishment choice was more severe than what the ticket had expected.” But she also said “the judicial board reinsured (her) reputation to the campus.” Junior Aaron Collins, Chuck Norris presidential candidate, said he was glad the RHA judicial board noted the Hoosier Compass ticket had been in violation of the elections code, but he “preferred if something more was done.”Collins still believes the Chuck Norris ticket has a fighting chance of winning the election.“Votes are close in individual races,” Collins said. “It’s not over until it’s over. We will endure and hold on to what we believe in. We will put our all into it.”
(03/11/09 4:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Hoosier Compass ticket violated seven election codes during the Residence Halls Association elections March 3, according to an RHA Elections Commission document. The violations resulted in a re-election and the disqualification of a member of one of the tickets. A document obtained Tuesday by the Indiana Daily Student states the Elections Commission agreed with seven of 10 complaints filed by the Chuck Norris ticket against Hoosier Compass.The document also stated the commission found “no merit” in two complaints filed by Hoosier Compass, which related to postings on a blog kept by junior Aaron Collins, presidential candidate for the Chuck Norris ticket. The Elections Commission disqualified sophomore Katherine Lambert, the Hoosier Compass’ candidate for vice president of programming, after it determined she violated an elections code that states “no publicly visible campaigning or campaign materials are within fifty (50) feet of the polling place.”The Hoosier Compass ticket has contested her disqualification, and an RHA Judicial Board hearing will take place later today to determine the outcome.“We believe that the Elections Commission’s decision concerning the pending disqualification of Katherine Lambert was determined using incomplete and insufficient evidence,” the Hoosier Compass ticket said in a statement Tuesday night. “We trust the RHA Judicial Board will render an unbiased and accurate decision on Wednesday.”Elections commissioner and current RHA President Eric Gibson said Tuesday he was confident the judicial board’s decision would be the last word. “Tomorrow will be the end of this awful situation,” he said.According to the “Chuck Norris vs. Hoosier Compass” document, Gibson saw Lambert sitting next to the Read polling station talking with a poll worker.The same document states that Lambert was seen by election commissioners senior Erica Wiley and sophomore Jess Meyer “escorting the ballot box” with the Read elections commissioner, Christian Porod, to the Residential Programs and Services Building at 801 N. Jordan Ave.The document also states that Lambert was hanging up Hoosier Compass posters, in violation of Read’s posting policy.With all of this evidence, the commission determined Lambert was in violation of the elections code that states, “All campaigning for RHA elections shall take place in an orderly, responsible manner and in accordance with all University, Community Council and other applicable regulations.”Also, the election commissioners decided that this evidence warranted a new election at Read, according to the document.Elections commissioners declined to comment about Lambert until after RHA’s judicial board hearing today.In a separate complaint to the commission, members of the Hoosier Compass ticket said they felt “threatened” by a blog post authored by Collins. In an entry dated Feb. 5, Collins wrote, “I’m pretty worried about the election, actually. If I lose, shit’s going to get real.”Collins said the Hoosier Compass ticket misinterpreted the post. “I was using common slang to explain how my situation would worsen to a point that I would prefer not to be in,” Collins said Tuesday.Collins said that without receiving this position his financial situation will worsen to the point where he would have to take a break from school for at least a semester to deal with issues. RHA presidents receive free housing. “The wording was questionable and not something that needed to be written about RHA, and it was searchable,” said senior Jessica Schul, presidential candidate for the Hoosier Compass ticket. “If we wrote something about Chuck Norris, there might have been a different outcome.” Collins said that he is not only running for president for the financial aspect but also because he cares about RHA.“It’s upsetting that the election crossed into my personal life,” Collins said.The election commissioners disagreed with the ticket but told Collins to “choose his words more carefully in the future,” to put his blog on a private setting for the remainder of the election and to no longer put his personal views of the elections on his blog.The document also sheds light on problems at Ashton Center, which, along with Read, Briscoe Quad and Willkie Quad, will have new elections Thursday. In addition to a lack of advertising, the document stated ballots were not available in Ashton for six of nine hours the polls were open, resulting in an outcome that “does not accurately reflect the true voice of the Ashton residents.”Gibson said Ashton’s lack of publicity was unintended.
(03/10/09 4:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Residence Hall Association’s judicial board will decide Wednesday night if one of the Hoosier Compass ticket members will be disqualified from the elections.In addition, the Residence Hall Association will hold a reelection Thursday in Briscoe Quad, Read Center, Willkie Quad and Ashton Center in an attempt to make the voting process more fair, said senior Eric Gibson, current RHA president.The Chuck Norris ticket contested the results of the March 3 RHA elections by providing a document listing the violations.After an election commissioners’ meeting Sunday night, officials decided that a redo of the elections would take place in the respective residence halls in which violations were occurred because of campaigning from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday.In Read Center and Willkie Quad, ticket candidates of the Hoosier Compass party were too close to the polling stations, while in Read Center and Briscoe Quad posters were also hung too close to the polling stations.The elections will be reconducted in Ashton Center because the election commissioners said they felt the election was not publicized properly, Gibson said. “We don’t think that we have done anything wrong to have somebody get disqualified,” said senior Jessica Schul, presidential candidate for Hoosier Compass. “We are disappointed because this is not the outcome we wanted. We are hopeful and we trust the decision of the RHA judicial board.”After judicial board officials decide Wednesday, the name of the individual associated with the Hoosier Compass ticket will be released, Gibson said. RHA officials have previously declined to release that information. The name of the individual accused of the violation might not be disqualified from the Hoosier Compass ticket. If the name is released and the decision is overturned then stress can be created, said Sarah Nagy, staff adviser for RHA. The decision to redo the elections came after research and examination from the RHA election commissioners, Gibson said. Commissioners saw posters hung up in the residence halls as well as pictures that some members of the Chuck Norris ticket provided as evidence of the accused violations.Junior and presidential candidate for the Chuck Norris ticket Aaron Collins said he is pleased with the decision, because now the election results can be justified and can run smoothly. Each of the votes from the first election will be erased from the four residence halls so afterward there will be new totals, Gibson said.
(03/09/09 4:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Residence Halls Association’s election commissioners have decided to redo elections in Ashton Center, Briscoe Quad, Willkie Quad and Read Center, after considering complaints from the Chuck Norris ticket regarding election code violations. The commissioners disqualified a member of the Hoosier Compass ticket, though officials declined to release the individual’s name Sunday.“It was a very, very long process,” said senior Eric Gibson, current RHA president. “We read through complaints thoroughly and conducted our own research. We spoke with candidates of both sides and workers at center desks. Based on the election code, we feel we made the best decision.”Because the Indiana Daily Student was informed of the changes before the tickets were notified, the IDS was not able to contact either ticket for comment.According to the RHA elections code, no campaigning can occur within 50 feet of the polling stations. The Chuck Norris ticket claimed this code was violated, Gibson said.The code states campaigning can consist of posters, fliers and ticket members being present, Gibson said.The Chuck Norris ticket claimed the Hoosier Compass’ posters were within 50 feet of the polling stations in Briscoe and Read, Gibson said.In Read and Willkie, candidates of the Hoosier Compass ticket were within 50 feet of the polling stations, Gibson said.But at Willkie, junior Sheldon Raisor, candidate for vice president of student affairs for the Hoosier Compass ticket, committed an infraction, Gibson said.Raisor works at the Willkie center desk and was working during the elections – putting him too close to a polling location. After Raisor realized he was in violation of the elections code, he went to an election commissioner to rectify the situation, Gibson said.Ashton was not mentioned as a violation, according to the Chuck Norris ticket’s paper work, but it was “an election commission decision that the elections had not been properly publicized,” Gibson said.Gibson declined to release the name of the Hoosier Compass member who was disqualified.“While clear mistakes were made, this candidate has been extremely valuable to this organization, and the last thing I want to do is smear their name through the public eye,” Gibson said.Though Gibson said it was a hard decision, the election commission felt there were too many complaints against the candidate.The Hoosier Compass has 48 hours to appeal to the RHA judicial board.The new election will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the named residence halls.“I don’t think this hurts us at all,” Gibson said. “This is the first competitive election for RHA. I think that speaks in terms of success for RHA.”Gibson added that RHA executives and candidates do not want this situation to be reminiscent of last year’s IU Student Association elections.“We want this to be handled fairly and adequately and not have it dragging on forever like IUSA,” Gibson said.
(03/09/09 4:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The REAL ticket is dropping out of the IU Student Association elections, ticket organizers said, citing a lack of financial means and an inability to connect with the student body as primary reasons.Ticket members decided late last week they were unprepared to be successful in the elections and will officially announce their decision today, said junior Sam Miller, the ticket’s presidential candidate.“We got started really late to campaign,” Miller said. “Other tickets were further underway.”Ticket executives needed money and sponsors to compete, Miller said, and did not realize how great of a financial burden the ticket would take on during the campaign.Miller and Nick Pavilonis, REAL ticket vice presidential candidate, will support the Red-Hot ticket, but the REAL ticket as a whole is split on which ticket it will support, Miller said.Two of the REAL ticket executives met with some of their Red-Hot ticket counterparts, including presidential candidate Andrew Hahn, vice presidential candidate Mary Kelley and candidate for treasurer Pat Rodgers, and said they had similar thoughts on the big issues at hand, Pavilonis said.Red-Hot ticket members liked the REAL ticket’s first platform idea – the long-term solution committee – and wanted to implement it into their platform, Miller and Pavilonis said.“We are excited to have more people in the campaign committee in Red-Hot to help us better represent all IU students,” Hahn said. Hahn said Miller and Pavilonis will help strengthen the Red-Hot leadership and add to the entire Red-Hot team.The race started with five tickets, but the Hoosier ticket and the REAL ticket have both dropped out, leaving three tickets in the race: the Red-Hot ticket, the ONE University ticket and the Btown ticket.Senior Dan Sloat, IUSA vice president, said because the IUSA tickets are vying for a similar voting base, the race is bound to get competitive.
(03/07/09 2:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Chuck Norris ticket has contested the Residential Hall Association election, filing a series of violations against the winning Hoosier Compass ticket.The RHA election commissioners will be meeting today to make a decision as to what their next step will be concerning the controversial election results.The Chuck Norris ticket claims that the elections code’s campaign practices were violated in certain residence halls: Ashton Center, Read Center, Willikie Quad and Briscoe Quad, said senior Eric Gibson, current RHA president.According to the RHA elections code, no campaigning can occur within 50 feet of the polling stations and that is the basis of the complaints, Gibson said.Campaigning can consist of posters, fliers and campaigning within 50 feet of the polling station, Gibson said.The Chuck Norris ticket wants the election commission to review potential violations to make sure the elections were run fairly, Gibson said.“I chose to contest the elections because the integrity of the organization is in jeopardy,” said junior Aaron Collins, presidential candidate for The Chuck Norris Ticket. “I did not do it to win the elections personally.”Hoosier Compass asserts that they have not violated any of the elections codes.“I feel that we were very professional and mindful of the elections code,” said senior Jessica Schul, presidential candidate for Hoosier Compass. “I don’t feel like our ticket has done anything wrong. I trust the elections commissioners and their judgment.”The elections commissioners will research the situation and decide how to settle the matter appropriately.
(03/04/09 5:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Hoosier Compass will serve as the governing body for the Residence Halls Association, having won the election Tuesday with 491 total votes. The Chuck Norris ticket lost the race with 417 votes.Senior Eric Gibson, the current RHA president, said the elections are still pending for 48 hours so any contesting issues can be filed.The RHA executives create programs in the 11 residence halls to establish a welcoming environment in the residence centers as well as to help new students transition to IU.The Central neighborhood brought in the most votes while voter turnout was fairly equal between the Northwest and Southeast neighborhood residence halls.The vote tallies were comparable to last year, Gibson said.“Everything went smoothly,” Gibson said. “There were no issues at all.”The Hoosier Compass ticket said it believes hard work and campaigning skyrocketed its successful win in the election.“I think that we were very effective in actively representing our ticket in the residence halls,” senior Jessica Schul, president-elect of the Hoosier Compass ticket, said. “Our Web site was professional. ...We tried everything to get ourselves out there.”Junior Sean Apfelbaum, former candidate on the Chuck Norris ticket for vice president of programming, said, “It was a good race.”“It’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out next year,” Apfelbaum said.IU students pay a $12 student activity fee per semester that goes directly to RHA funding for various programs. Despite this, many residents do not even know what RHA is and what it does for IU.Freshman Kayla Douglas, a Read Center resident who helped out with the elections, said she thinks people in the student government seem to be the only ones voting, and from what she saw, not many others did.Other students felt like voting in the RHA elections was not worth their time because they had never heard of the organization prior to being near the voting table.“I’m too busy, and I don’t care what RHA is,” said freshman Hunter Harper, McNutt Quad resident. “Voting takes too much time, and my vote won’t matter.”Some IU students took the time to vote in the RHA elections.“I got an e-mail from my RA and didn’t know of the elections before two days ago,” sophomore Ryan Mabry, another McNutt Quad resident, said. “I picked a random ticket, straight Hoosier Compass.”The names of the RHA tickets, The Chuck Norris Ticket and Hoosier Compass, appealed to many voters. However, several students did not know who the RHA executive candidates were and were ignorant of the tickets’ platforms.“I voted half-and-half for each ticket,” freshman and Wright Quad resident Eduardo Sanchez said. “I don’t know what RHA is because of a lack of campaigning and knowledge. I don’t know about platforms. It was more about the names – Chuck Norris was a great marketing promotion.”
(03/03/09 5:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Students can choose today between a compass and Walker Texas Ranger. The Residence Halls Association elections will be held today from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at every residence hall’s center desk or main lobby. For the first time in several years, more than one ticket is running – The Chuck Norris Ticket and Hoosier Compass.The election will also include center executives and center constitution changes, if there are any.Students can vote for an entire ticket or for individuals, said senior Eric Gibson, current president of RHA. In the end, there could be a mix-matched administration.Residents must show their student ID to receive two ballots, one for the RHA executives and one for the center executives. Students will put their ballot in the designated voting box.At the voting site there will be a list of residents in that particular residence hall, and when students vote they will sign or initial next to their name to ensure that each student only votes once, said senior Erica Wiley, RHA election commissioner.Students can only vote in the residence halls they live in, Gibson said.The presidential candidate for The Chuck Norris Ticket is junior Aaron Collins, and the presidential candidate for the Hoosier Compass ticket is senior Jessica Schul.The goals of both tickets vary, but both aim to better the IU campus by creating more programs, helping students make the transition to college life, and getting the word out about RHA.“The Chuck Norris Ticket hopes to expand and continue what we have established this year and work with other student organizations,” Gibson said. “Hoosier Compass hopes to do more RHA programming and create more diverse programs.”Students are encouraged to vote in the RHA elections.Gibson said if the administrators who are elected are not right for the job, the issues students care about will not be represented and their voices will not be heard.IU students pay a $12 student activity fee per semester, which goes directly to RHA.“Students pay a fee to RHA so students can choose who will do the best in serving the students and make good use of the fee,” Wiley said. “It gives students a voice in the dorm, especially with two tickets running, because it shows who they want to represent and what programs they want to see happen.”
(03/03/09 3:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Student Association is making an effort to make IU a greener and more sustainable campus.IUSA is working with various campus organizations to get an optional $5 green initiative fee listed as one of the checkboxes available during online class registration. By urging IU students to sign a petition form in support of it, IUSA hopes to accomplish this goal. “The idea is a grassroots way to put into being the efforts of student groups across campus and gives us something to show sustainability wise,” said senior Abby Schwimmer, IUSA director of sustainability.The green initiative fund will go to any project on campus that could be seen as supporting sustainability or environmental efforts. Campus organizations may send in a request for a proposal to IUSA if an organization is working on an environmental project.Examples of green projects include purchasing recycling bins or motion sensor lighting, according to an IUSA press release.“The optional registration fee of $5 is not an energy fee,” Schwimmer said.Through IUSA, a group of students and faculty members will determine which sustainability initiatives the fees will go to each semester. IUSA will create this panel and discuss how the money will be best used to make IU a more sustainable place. They will decide where the money is urgently needed, said junior Nathan Bower-Bir, coordinator for IU Volunteers in Sustainability.“The beauty of this fund is that it is subject to student control and supports a great cause,” Schwimmer said.The process to get an optional fee on the checkbox list is to receive a quarter of the enrolled student body, approximately 10,000 students, to sign the petition.“It’s not a commitment that you pay the fee if you sign the petition,” Schwimmer said. “It is stating that you support making the option available.”To establish these funds, IUSA is working with Greeks Go Green, Volunteers in Sustainability, INPIRG and the Residence Hall Association.Every dorm has a director of environmentalism, and they are handling how the petitions are being signed and how to get the word out about the green initiative to their particular residence hall, said sophomore Aarthi Devanathan, director of environmentalism for RHA. “Students have an interest in making the campus greener, and signing the petition is a great place to start,” Schwimmer said.
(03/02/09 4:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Student Association is bringing its voting and attendance system into the 21st century.Instead of taking attendance via voice affirmation, IUSA will be implementing a clicker system already used in large lecture classes at IU for Congress meetings.The IUSA Web site will eventually allow students to see how Congress members have voted.With the new clicker system, IUSA Speaker of the House Mike Powell, a senior, said there will be personal accountability because the Congress members’ voting records will be available to the public, just like in the U.S. Congress.IUSA Vice President Dan Sloat, also a senior, said students will be able to recognize the diversity in votes, which might help them figure out for whom they will vote in the IUSA elections.“One of the drawbacks to voice affirmation is that the voice of dissension is lost,” Sloat said. “To some outside students, it may appear that no serious voting is taking place because no one is blatantly opposing a bill.”Powell said the clicker system will improve the record keeping, transparency, efficiency and legitimacy of IUSA.“It will improve the transparency of IUSA because it is a useful tool to consolidate records and go to software,” Powell said. “Roll call vote takes 10 minutes, but with the clicker system it will only take 30 seconds to a minute, which will improve efficiency.”IUSA worked with University Information Technology Services to make the clicker system plausible.The system did not cost anything for IUSA. UITS is lending clickers, software and receivers for the duration of the academic year.A lending agreement Sloat signed Friday stated that UITS can borrow back the equipment on a case-by-case basis, but this will never conflict with Congress meetings.Sloat said this is the biggest change to internal Congress in a long time.Eventually, IUSA would like to give all students a voice by allowing them to vote using their cell phones, but Sloat said that change will not occur in the current administration.The idea for this system was borne during a meeting of the Association of Big Ten Students, when IUSA discovered that other Big Ten schools such as Illinois already employed the governing system.The clicker system will be implemented in the March 10 Congress meeting.
(02/27/09 5:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The REAL ticket is joining the IU Student Association elections race and is promising to bring realistic and tangible goals to the administration.With the Hoosier ticket dropping out of the race, the REAL ticket is the fourth ticket competing in the IUSA elections.REAL is an acronym for the ticket’s ideas of restructuring, education and living. All these goals are considered by the ticket to be attainable to implement into IU’s system.“We’ve seen students make promises that never materialize,” junior Joey Schlafly, candidate for treasurer, said. “We are not just putting out goals that won’t be able to be reached.”The idea of restructuring is to create a more unified IU campus where all student organizations can work as a cohesive unit.“There is a divide between campus organizations, and since these organizations are student-run, why can’t we integrate them and give them one voice?” junior Sam Miller, presidential candidate, said. “If you have more student organizations together and more students leaders together, more ideas can come out of it.”For education, the REAL ticket plans on eliminating the late fee for OneStart’s online scheduling’s drop/add feature because the executives see it as an “extent of tuition,” Miller said.The ideas for the living platform are to make the campus more resourceful, safer, cleaner and more student-friendly. The candidates hope to accomplish this by not wasting food, extending transportation, increasing campus lighting and cleaning up the campus with the help of student volunteers.Members of the REAL ticket pride themselves on having a tight-knit connection with all of the executives.“Other tickets have pulled together their core executives from various places to give the ticket a diverse look,” Miller said. “Instead of working 24 hours a week together, we can work together 24 hours a day to accomplish our goals.”Junior Nick Pavilonis, vice presidential candidate, said the REAL ticket executives will not have to waste time to get to know one another because they have already developed close relationships.Members of the REAL ticket said their diversity will come from the officers, directors and members of Congress.“Diversity will come through the people who are under us,” Miller said. For more information on the REAL ticket, visit www.getrealiu.com.
(02/26/09 5:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The two competing Residence Halls Association tickets, Hoosier Compass and The Chuck Norris ticket, met Wednesday to promote their platform issues and answer student questions.The two tickets hope to better the IU campus by creating more programs, helping students make the transition to college life and getting the word out about RHA. “We want to create a better name and better understanding of RHA,” said sophomore Michael Coleman, Hoosier Compass vice presidential candidate of internal affairs. “We want to heighten the name.” The RHA elections will be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. March 3 in each residential hall. RHA directly affects the students who live in the residence halls and the environment of the dorms. “Students have a voice in the student government and in their home,” said senior Jessica Schul, Hoosier Compass presidential candidate.Junior Aaron Collins, The Chuck Norris presidential candidate and current executive vice president for RHA, believes students should vote in the elections because the RHA administration receives feedback and learns what students want to see in the residence halls.The Chuck Norris ticket said they have a lot of experience with RHA because Collins and junior Sean Apfelbaum, current vice president of programming, have both held executive positions in the current RHA administration. “Our overall goal is to continue to make strides and progress,” Collins said. “With the experience we have gained, we can see the organization forward and share our knowledge. We will continue to focus on the campus 110 percent.”However, the Hoosier Compass ticket said they want to provide students with opportunities on campus such as dorm programming to make them more comfortable at IU.“We want to help students find a way home and find a destination,” said sophomore Katie Lambert, Hoosier Compass vice presidential candidate of Programming.
(02/25/09 5:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Residence Hall Association is having a “meet and greet” with the two competitors seeking to lead RHA: Hoosier Compass ticket and The Chuck Norris ticket.The event will provide a forum where students can get to know for whom they can vote in Tuesday’s RHA elections. The meeting will also give students a chance to review each of the ticket’s agendas, said senior Erica Wiley, RHA election commissioner.The meeting will be from 6 to 7 p.m. today in the main lobby of the Residential Programs and Services building located at 801 N. Jordan Ave. RHA is the governing body of the residential halls and is composed of the 11 different governments from each of the dorms. The association creates programs within the residence centers and works with various other organizations on campus. The meeting gives the candidates an opportunity to state their platform for about five to 10 minutes, after both tickets will participate in a question-and-answer session.Each ticket is composed of four candidates: president, vice president of internal affairs, vice president of student affairs and vice president of programming.Students directly contribute to RHA with a student activity fee of $12 a semester, and by going to this event, students can take an active role in seeing how their money will be put to use, Wiley said.“RHA is for the students and run by students,” Wiley said.In the past few years, only one ticket ran in the RHA elections.“This year’s election is the first competitive election in three or four years, which is a pretty big deal,” said senior Eric Gibson, president of RHA.