DN
CARDINAL CONNECTION CLEARED
Restroom bill moves past SGA
acceptance
THURSDAY, FEB. 27, 2014
THE DAILY NEWS
BALLSTATEDAILY.COM
No further violations following new board’s $400 campaign fine RACHEL PODNAR CHIEF REPORTER | rmpodnar@bsu.edu
violations were brought to the elections board Wednesday afternoon. The allegations included that Cardinal Connection had its Facebook page public before the nomination convention and tweeted from its Twitter account minutes before the nomination convention closed. Cardinal Connection — Nick Wilkey, president; Carli Hendershot, vice president; Rahissa Engle, secretary; and Sidney Staples, treasurer — beat Empower by 81 votes Tuesday night. “I feel very relieved,” Wilkey said
The Student Government Association elections board voted Wednesday night that Cardinal Connection committed no additional violations. The slate remains the 2014-15 executive board of SGA. Additional possible campaign
late Wednesday night. “I’ll feel even more relieved [Thursday].” The elections board remains a governing body through Friday afternoon, and elections code says that violations can be filed up to 48 hours after the election results are certified. Wilkey said he is not positive what the allegations were, but he believes they concerned tweets. “I had confidence we didn’t actually do anything wrong,” he said. “I still don’t know what we are accused of.” When Cardinal Connection’s
win was announced Tuesday night, the slate also received a fine for $400 — the maximum amount — for a violation regarding using University Computing Services to campaign during the election. The elections board did not confirm the official violation, but Wilkey sent an email to Ball State University Dance Marathon committee members Monday afternoon, urging them to vote for Cardinal Connection.
See SGA, page 6
LOOKING FOR
Alumnus tries to reconcile faith, sexuality, community helps find his place in church
Resolution petitions university to add gender-neutral facilities RACHEL PODNAR CHIEF REPORTER | rmpodnar@bsu.edu
The Student Government Association passed a resolution recommending the university include at least one single-stall, gender-neutral restroom in any buildings built or remodeled in the future. Gender-neutral restrooms, also called family restrooms, are DN PHOTO EMMA ROGERS helpful for people who are gender nonconforming, for caretakers of the opposite sex and for nursing mothers. Carli Hendershot, the senator who authored the bill, said the resolution is just a recommendation and is open to what the university wants to do with it. The resolution still has to move through University Governance and Campus Council.
BALL STATE
Family restrooms are already planned for some buildings in the process of renovation or for future renovations on campus. Kevin Kenyon, associate vice president of facilities planning and management, said Hendershot’s legislation is “very feasible.” “It’s something we are planning to do,” he said. “One is planned in the Applied Technology Building. We’ll start renovating that one next. Unless something changes, there will be one there.”
See BATHROOMS, page 5
Graduation rates govern state funding Improving 4-year deadlines would lead to more Indiana aid |
KAITLIN LANGE CHIEF REPORTER kllange@bsu.edu
Ball State receives less public funding than its larger state cousins and so has to spend substantially less — as much as 23 percent less per graduate — than Indiana and Purdue universities. “We’re good stewards of student tuition money and taxpayer money,” said Bernie Hannon, associate vice president of business affairs. “We spend more of our money on instruction and educational costs as opposed to administrative or other costs.” Data from the Indiana Chronicle of Higher Education shows that Ball State spends $58,011 per degree — $9,759 less than IU and $16,887 less than Purdue. Hannon said Ball State can’t afford to spend as much money as other colleges because the university has a lower tuition and, out of the three schools, receives the least amount of money from the state per student.
DN PHOTO BREANNA DAUGHERTY
A group of protesters stand outside of the First United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Ind., before starting a protest Sunday. The protest revolved around Adam Fraley being forced out of his congregation because of his sexual orientation.
RYAN HOWE STAFF REPORTER
E
|
rhowe@bsu.edu
scaping the cold from outside, Adam Fraley sat in his warm living room with his partner, Zach Morrison. The front window fogged as the couple sat comfortably on the couch. The Christmas lights wrapped around logs in the fireplace illuminated the room with a calming glow. The conversation, however, wasn’t as calming. Fraley, a Ball State alumnus, made national news when he left the First United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Ind. Fraley’s reasoning was that he felt ONLINE See raw video of uncomfortable after an inthe protest from Sunday morning terim minister found out bit.ly/1bZHOQu he was gay. See FRALEY, page 3
DN PHOTO BREANNA DAUGHERTY
A man tells Adam Fraley and the protesters to be ashamed of themselves Sunday before entering the First United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Ind. Two-thirds of the congregation of the church left when Fraley was forced out from his position as choir director for being gay.
« I’m not an emotional person, but when I walked in and saw almost 80 people standing around, I got a little teary-eyed. I know this whole experience has really strengthened my beliefs, and it’s shown me how embracing people can be. » THE PULSE OF BALL STATE
THE PULSE OF BALL STATE
ZACH MORRISON, partner of Adam Fraley
See GRADUATION, page 6
THE PULSE OF BALL STATE
MUNCIE, INDIANA
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THE PULSE OF BALL STATE