February 13, 2013

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NEW PLAYERS PROVOST TALKS COME UP TO UA FUTURE BAT SPORTS - 6

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HEAT UP YOUR LOVE LIFE WITH HOME COOKING

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ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT Printing the news, sounding the alarm, and raising hell since 1899

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2013

DAILYWILDCAT.COM

VOLUME 106 • ISSUE 99

Student organization files federal lawsuit BRITTNY MEJIA Arizona Daily Wildcat

A lobbying organization has filed a federal lawsuit that accuses the Arizona Board of Regents of violating students’ First Amendment rights. The suit comes on the heels of a unanimous vote last week by the Arizona Board of Regents to make the $2 per-student, per-semester charge an opt-in fee, meaning students would have to explicitly agree to the fee before paying it. Most fees, such as the Student Recreation Center fee, are opt-out; students are automatically charged but can request a refund. Following the regents’ decision, the Arizona Students’ Association filed a lawsuit in federal

Former House rep. stresses voting

court “because the Regents violated the First Amendment rights of students by suspending funding to ASA in retaliation for support of Proposition 204,” according to an ASA press release. Last fall, ASA, which is a student organization that lobbies on behalf of higher education in Arizona, came under fire for donating more than $100,000 to a campaign advocating for Proposition 204, which would have extended a sales tax for education funding. ABOR voted at its November meeting to suspend the ASA fee for the spring semester. The goal of the federal lawsuit is to “protect students’ freedom of speech” and to “ensure that all student groups can make decisions without fear of retaliation from a governing board

such as ABOR,” according to Zachary Brooks, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Council and an ASA director. “ASA made the decision to protect all students’ freedom of speech once ABOR retaliated against students’ decision to support an educational proposition,” Brooks said in an emailed statement. “It makes sense to us that an educational group supports educational ballot measures.” However, Mark Naufel, president of the undergraduate student government on Arizona State University’s Tempe campus, who resigned from his position as ASA treasurer due to disagreements with the organization, said he did not understand the decision to file a lawsuit. “I am in disbelief at ASA’s decision to sue

the Arizona Board of Regents. It is absolutely ridiculous, and further justifies why the Undergraduate Students of Arizona State University took a stance to remove this fee,” Naufel said in a statement via email. “Right now ASA is using Students’ dollars to sue ABOR, who is the group [that] helps our universities receive public funding, and are constantly working to advance education in the state of Arizona.” Rick Myers, chair of ABOR, declined to comment because the regents had yet to be served and did not have details regarding the lawsuit, aside from the press release sent by ASA. “I think we’ll just have to wait and see,” Myers said. “I think there’s really nothing to say until we see what in particular that they’re having concerns with.”

Sister Cindy condemns sinners

RYAN REVOCK Arizona Daily Wildcat

Former Arizona House Representative Amanda Reeve spoke to the UA College Republicans club on Tuesday evening about her recent trip to Tunisia and Egypt and emphasized the importance of voting. Reeve spoke to about 10 students from the College Republicans club at the Student Union Memorial Center. Reeve was first appointed to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2010 and served in the House until she lost the most recent election in 2012. Reeve recently went on an exchange program with the American Council of Young Political Leaders to Tunisia and Egypt. The purpose of the trip was to help build U.S. relations with those countries and to talk about the challenges of democracy, according to Reeve. On the trip, there were three Democrats, three Republicans and one independent. Reeve said the trip to these countries was “very emotional” and “lifealtering.” At one of the speaking engagements on the trip, someone questioned how a person can make a change in government if there is no one to act as their voice. Reeve said the question took the group by surprise and that it was hard to imagine someone wondering who could act as their voice. “I told her that when I was younger I watched this movie called ‘The Power of One’; in there the line that I will never forget was that ‘every waterfall

REEVE, 2

KYLE WASSON/ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT

SISTER CINDY SMOCK preaches to students sitting on Heritage Hill, near the Administration building, while students behind her engage in a silent demonstration protesting Smock’s style of preaching. Smock travels to college towns across America with her husband, George Edward Smock, better known to students as Brother Jed. The Smocks aim to “make Christianity an issue” on campus, Brother Jed said. They will be on campus throughout this week and next week.

National increase in ER visits from energy drinks not reflected at UA RACHEL MCCLUSKEY Arizona Daily Wildcat

Despite a national increase in emergency room visits due to energy drinks, the UA is not too concerned. The nation saw an increase from about 10,000 to 20,000 ER visits from the use of energy drinks in 2011, according to a report by the U.S. Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration released last month. This is a 36 percent increase from the previous year. However, the University of Arizona Medical Center had zero cases in 2012, and the University of Arizona Medical Center — South Campus only had one case in 2012, according to Keith Boesen, director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center. There were 11 cases in Arizona — excluding Maricopa County — where someone went to the hospital because of energy drinks in 2012, he added. However, it is not mandatory for hospitals to call the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center unless they need assistance handling a particular case, so there might be more cases than reported, Boesen

said. On campus, beverage sales comprise roughly 30 percent of all student union and convenience stores’ sales. Energy drinks are the sixth most popular beverage item sold and account for 1.4 percent of beverage sales, according to Todd Millay, marketing manager of Arizona Student Unions. “I would suspect it’s the ‘abuse’ of drinking these energy drinks by students in relation to alcohol consumption that would result in an ER visit,” Millay said in an email. However, Lynn Reyes, an alcohol and other drug prevention specialist for Campus Health Service, said that Campus Health doesn’t see people having a problem with energy drinks, especially not with alcohol. “What I’m seeing more of is people not even using mixers as much as they used to,” Reyes said. “[They are] just drinking straight hard alcohol. I haven’t seen the same thing that people are seeing nationally. It doesn’t mean that it’s not happening, but people are just saying, ‘You know, we’re just drinking it straight because it saves money.’”

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QUOTE TO NOTE There’s a vital difference between complete blindness and turning a blind eye, and society is often guilty of the latter.” OPINIONS — 4

BRIANA SANCHEZ/ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT

ALTHOUGH THERE IS A NATIONAL INCREASE in emergency room visits due to energy drinks, the UA has not seen a similar problem for students; the last increase in ER visits happened a year or two ago because of the drink Four Loko.

Campus Health saw an increase in ER visits from energy drinks a year or two ago because of the popularity of the drink Four Loko. Since then, there has not been an increase in visits regarding energy drinks, Reyes said. “Some people were reporting that they were more impacted by the caffeine in it [Four Loko] so that they were feeling drunk but also feeling jittery and shaky because of

the enormous amount of caffeine that they ingested, not knowing that they were getting that much,” Reyes said. “There is that kind of overstimulation thing that people get but also the amount of alcohol, for some people, did make them vomit and just get totally drunk.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not regulate

ENERGY DRINKS, 2

WEATHER HI

SUNNY Harrison, AR Jay, FL Ford, KS

63 35 LOW

51 / 34 61 / 39 56 / 25


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