THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”
da
Tuesday October 26, 2010
VOLUME 124, ISSUE 47
www.THEDAONLINE.com
Homecoming king, queen not certified BY TRAVIS CRUM CITY EDITOR
The Homecoming king and queen election results at West Virginia University have yet to be certified due to multiple violations filed against the 10 candidates. Although there were 2,508 votes for king and 2,586 votes for queen, the elections cannot be approved until all violations are reviewed by the Judicial Board, the SGA judical branch that certifies elections, said Tasha Frazie, Stu-
dent Government Association elections chair. Omar Wazir, Homecoming king, won by 400 votes, and Tracy Speilman, Homecoming queen, won by 319 votes. Monday was the deadline for all elections violations, Frazie said, to review multiple violations. At the Judicial Board’s meeting Sunday, it dismissed a complaint of a racially discriminating campaign slogan against Taylor Richmond because the form was not filled out correctly, Frazie said.
FOR MORE INFORMATION For voting breakdowns, see The Daily Athenaeum page 2. Judicial Board Chair James Bailey said the complaint was filed anonymously early last week. “To have an effective complaint, you’re supposed to fill out every field on the form,” Bailey said. “The complaint against (Richmond) did not list a complainer, it just said
‘N/A.’” Richmond and Melissa Moraes, who campaigned together, used the slogan, “Run and Tell, Vote Taylor and Mel,” after a popular YouTube news clip. The basis of their slogan was a news clip about an attempted sexual assault. It was made into a parody by “Auto– Tune the News,” titled the “Bed Intruder Song.” The image of Antoine Dodson, an African American resident of Chicago, who was interviewed after his sister’s
Trunk-or-Treat
attempted sexual assault, also appeared on Richmond and Moraes’ T-shirts. According to the complaint, the slogan and T-shirt design were racially discriminating, Frazie said. “I knew that what we did was not against the Elections Code ... my only concern was that it would be deemed offensive enough to be an issue with the University,” Richmond said. “It was not my intentions to have any sort of offensive campaign or have any kind of racist
Library options to be examined for WVU Tech staff writer
Chelsi Baker/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
Children’s Trick-or-treating event offers 80 tables of candy BY MELISSA CANDOLFI STAFF WRITER
More than 2,500 children attended West Virginia University’s third annual Trunkor-Treat event hosted by the Institute of Industrial Engineers. The event featured various student organizations giving out Halloween candy at more than 80 kid-friendly tables. “WVU students get such a bad reputation as a bunch of party kids, but this lets us show that we care about the community, and not just about football,” said Adam Brandfass, a senior industrial engineering major. Each organization participating in the event was advised to bring its own candy. Brandfass said many had to run out for more because of the event’s popularity.
“We were expecting about 1,000 kids, so we bought some candy,” he said. “But once almost 3,000 kids showed up, everyone needed more.” He said when the event started in 2008, approximately 700 children attended. Last year almost 900 kids attended. “In three years the event has grown,” Brandfass said. “It is obvious the community is enjoying it just as much as we are.” Trunk-or-Treat gives parents an opportunity to enjoy Halloween with their children while knowing they are in a safe environment, he said. Since the event is WVU student-driven and inside the Coliseum, parents feel more comfortable knowing their Chelsi Baker/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM child is not walking around on Nicolas Weber, 1, wears a horse costume at the Shell Building during Trunk-or-Treat. More than 2,000 children came to the event for games and trick-or-treating Monday see treats on PAGE 2 afternoon.
Options for providing the West Virginia University Institute of Technology library access through WVU’s main campus libraries were discussed at Monday’s Faculty Senate Executive Committee meeting. Currently WVU Tech does not have the same library access as the main campus, making it difficult for WVU Tech faculty and students to gain information, said Alan Stolzenberg, Faculty Senate chair. “If we are going to ask faculty members to be actively engaged in research, we need to make the tools available for that to happen,” said University President James P. Clements. WVU Tech’s Faculty Assembly said at their Oct. 7 meeting that library access is important for classroom ef-
Three city manager candidates to attend forum staff writer
The top three candidates for city manager will be available to answer questions from Morgantown residents tonight. The Morgantown City Council is hosting a public forum at the Morgantown Event Center from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The forum is a chance for the candidates to introduce themselves to the public and for the residents to learn more about them, said Mayor Bill Byrne.
“We want to give the public an opportunity to shake their hands and ask a question,” he said. The top candidates are Tony Massey, city manager in Frankfort, Ky.; Terrence Moore, city manager in Las Cruces, N.M.; and Jeff Mikorski, former assistant city manager and current interim city manager for Morgantown. The council also hopes to get feedback from residents on the candidates and what they bring to Morgantown, Byrne said.
The forum and other interviews with the candidates were facilitated by Affion Public, the consulting firm that handled resumes and narrowed down the candidates, said Scott Reilly, CEO of Affion Public. City Clerk Linda Little and Affion Public will compile the feedback and present it to council, he said. The candidates have already been interviewed, and they met with the entire council and executive board Monday, Reilly said.
The three candidates also toured Morgantown with council members, Byrne said. A new city manager must be elected by the council, and it hopes to hire someone in late November or early December, he said. Affion Public received more than 60 applications for the position, Byrne said in a previous report. The top eight applicants were presented to council and narrowed down to three
see candidates on PAGE 2
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FICTION OR FACT?
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James Gunn discusses Isaac Asimar at the Festival of Ideas A&E PAGE 5
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INSIDE THIS EDITION West Virginia men’s soccer sophomore defender Eric Schoenle had a career game Saturday in WVU’s win. SPORTS PAGE 10
forts and they are “anxious” for access to be restored, he said. Scott Hurst, campus provost for WVU Tech, told Faculty Senate he is willing to reasonably compensate WVU to correct this but is unsure of the cost, Stolzenberg said. Divisional campuses cannot share a license with the main campus and must have their own license to gain library access, said Michele Wheatly, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “There is a number of ways to get access to what they need,” she said. “The problem is that (WVU) Tech may not be in the financial position to pay for all these licenses as a separate institution because it is a very expensive thing.” Allowing individual institutions to gain access
see library on PAGE 2
Chelsi Baker/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
Student Government Association members answer students’ questions and discuss future election processes at the Speak Up event Monday evening.
SGA discusses possible solutions for student elections problems by samantha cossick
by erin fitzwilliams
see elections on PAGE 2
faculty senate
by jessica leppar
Five-year-old Chancery Morris reaches for candy during Trunk-or-Treat at the Shell Building Monday afternoon.
overtones.” Richmond said he apologizes to anyone who was offended. He also met with Jennifer McIntosh, executive director of the President’s Office for Social Justice, to discuss the complaint and better ways to approach race issues. Moraes said she was sorry for what happened and didn’t mean to be offensive. “I’m glad that the violation was dropped. I just tried hard to have fun and run a
associate city editor
Improving student elections by implementing different processes was discussed during Monday’s Student Government Association’s Speak Up event. Although nothing was decided, the comments will be considered by SGA. SGA President Chris Lewallen said he wants to get the Secretary of States to donate 20 voting booths for student elections next year. Currently, SGA spends $5,500 to use the Votenet online voting system, he said. Votenet was used during this year’s Homecoming elections and has been used for SGA elections.
Switching systems would save SGA money, which could be put to more student organizations grants, and possibly increase the validity of elections, Lewallen said. Booths would take away the legitimacy of elections if only 1,000 people vote, said SGA Chief of Staff Daniel Brummage. “People say it might cut down on voter turnout, but I think it might improve,” Lewallen said. “I would rather have 1,000 legitimate votes than 20,000 of concern.” Booths may make it possible to have longer voting periods, said Taylor Richmond, a senior political science
see reform on PAGE 2
WVU TRIES TO MOVE ON Coming of its 19-14 loss to Syracuse, the West Virginia football team tries to recover its season Friday against Connecticut. SPORTS PAGE 10