THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”
da
Tuesday September 1, 2015
Volume 128, Issue 11
www.THEDAONLINE.com
SGA announces stipend budget by lauren caccamo staff writer @dailyathenaeum
The annual stipend budget was presented last night by the Student Government Association, giving the organization $18,000 to disperse among numerous officers. Both Student Body President George Capel and Vice President Ashley Morgan make $5,500 each, on top of a tuition waiver for the
year. Despite the $2,000 cut in the executive elect’s salaries, eight new positions within SGA require more money for stipends to other positions, including the five Board of Finance members, two administrative positions, director of student organizations and the city council liaison. S G A C h i e f- o f-St a f f Randy Jones has foregone his stipend. According to Morgan, SGA presented budgets
throughout the summer, but was not approved for a budget until last week. The full budget will be presented to the Board of Governors on Wednesday for approval. The Daily Athenaeum could not independently confirm by print time why the budget was not approved during the summer. The total budget proposed for SGA stipends was $18,000, a $250 decrease from last year’s budget.
The board voted in favor of the stipend budget unanimously. The West Virginia University student body president and vice president are granted more benefits during their time in office compared to those of their Big 12 counterparts, but they work with more transparency between them and the University regarding where student fees are allocated, according to the executives. Still, student government officers in other Big
12 schools receive considerably less for their efforts. According to Kyle Hilbert, student body president at Oklahoma State University, the student body president receives a $3,000 stipend, and the vice president only $1,800. Hilbert said that there are no tuition waivers. Representatives from other Big 12 schools provided similar statistics. University of Texas at Austin Student Body Vice President Rohit Mandalapu said both he and
WHO IS THE ULTIMATE WVU FAN? Caroline Hanson
Stephen Saab
Derek Farley
by jennifer skinner staff writer @dailyathenaeum
Hundreds of thousands of West Virginia University students and alumni share similar passions for the Mountaineers, but on Sept. 4, just one will receive the title of the Ultimate Mountaineer Fan. WVU is presenting the Ultimate Mountaineer Fan contest in partnership with the Collegiate Licensing Company, America’s biggest and oldest collegiate trademark licensing agency, and Top of the World, the top collegiate headwear licensee in the country. Based on creativity, WVU pride and the number of online fan votes, the selected Ultimate Mountaineer Fan will win a free trip to Norman, Oklahoma, on Oct. 3 when WVU’s football team takes on the University of Oklahoma. The winner will also receive a $500 American Express gift card and the opportunity to design a WVU hat at Top of the World. Before the winner is selected on Friday, four finalists are in competition for fan votes on Twitter and Facebook this week. Those four finalists are Derek Farley, Caroline Hanson, Steven Saab and Layne Veneri.
Layne Veneri A junior biology student, Layne Veneri has spent his time at WVU supporting the Mountaineers at all sporting events while also giving back with community service. “It’s important to show how much
Layne Veneri
our University does and how service-oriented we are. It plays a large role in being the Ultimate Mountaineer fan,” Veneri said. Veneri established his love for service when he created the student organization Students Optimistic for Curing Kids, which raises awareness of pediatric cancer and donates money to children fighting cancer in West Virginia. “Making a club like SOCK-IT is important as the state’s flagship University. We take the initiative to help kids who are fighting for their lives,” he said. “We’re just trying to promote how common pediatric cancer is. People are starting to catch on and realize that.” In addition to serving as the president of SOCK-IT, Veneri is involved in the Mountaineer Maniacs, the Honors College and the Pre-Dental Club as he hopes to attend dental school at WVU. “WVU is home to me. I’ve always loved it,” the Princeton, West Virginia, native said. “I’m a third-generation student. My whole network of family went here. There’s no other place for us.” Veneri is ready to tailgate with all of his hometown friends in the blue lot before every home game this season, but he also believes it takes more than just celebrating and cheering on the football team to be the Ultimate Mountaineer Fan. “I want to represent the school for more than just sports. I want to represent the Ultimate Mountaineer Fan of academics, leadership and service,” he said. “The trip’s fun, but it’s all about representing the school and what the school really is, which is more than just sports.”
Steven Saab
Steven Saab graduated last spring with a degree in industrial engineering, but in no way is he done being a Mountaineer. “If you ask anyone who has known me since elementary school, they just feel like I’m the example of the Ultimate Mountaineer Fan,” Saab said. “I wear WVU stuff just about every day and take it with me everywhere I go. I really never plan to miss a game.” Born and raised in Morgantown, West Virginia, Saab has always lived within walking distance from Milan Puskar Stadium and has not missed one of the 91 home football games since 2001. Saab, who just accepted a job in the Washington, D.C. area and will move there this week, plans to fly in for every home football game this season. “I really want to win because I feel like I spent my whole life as such a dedicated Mountaineer fan, and it’s a family tradition that everyone in my family has gone to WVU – all my brothers and my sister and my parents,” he explained. “Growing up in Morgantown, you bleed blue and gold all the time.” Saab wants the rest of the country to see how much passion Mountaineer fans have for the University and the state of West Virginia. “It’s our chance to show who we really are and how great the state is,” he said. “I feel like we’re underappreciated people from the national standpoint. It’s a great way to prove to everyone we’re not just an afterthought.” Besides going to lots of sporting events
see fan on PAGE 2
the vice president receive $570 each month on top of only a $5,200 tuition waiver for both semesters combined. At Iowa State, SGA student body elects are given $300 stipend each month with no tuition waiver. In addition to the stipend budget passing, SGA board of governors discussed changes to bylaws of awarding grants to student organizations for the 2015-16 school year.
see sga on PAGE 2
Trump ahead of Clinton in West Virginia survey by jake jarvis city editor @newsroomjake
Donald Trump has won the heart of West Virginian voters—or so it may seem. If voters had to choose tomorrow, 29 percent of them would choose the multimillionaire entrepreneur, according to a recent poll from Orion Strategies. Given the choice between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Trump, 53 percent of the survey’s respondents would rather vote for Trump. “He has a large chunk of disaffected voters,” said Patrick Hickey, a presidential scholar and professor at West Virginia University. “It’s easy to be fed up with the system, and I think all those people are kind of flocking to his campaign.” Hickey, a presidential scholar and professor at West Virginia University, said it’s possible there are more disaffected voters in the Mountain State. One message that seems to please West Virginian voters, he said, is one of job creation. Obama has most recently come under fire for his Clean Power Plan, which some in the Republican Party say is killing the coal industry in West Virginia. More than 60 percent of survey respondents would rate President Barack Obama’s performance as poor, whereas 24 percent would rate his performance as either good or excellent. “Ironically, (Trump) is like the anti-Obama candidate,” Hickey said. “In 2008, Obama was the change candidate and now Trump is.” Across the nation, Trump continues to pull ahead of the wide field of Republican candidates and is approaching 30 percent favorability among Republicans. “But that seems to maybe be his ceiling,” Hickey said. Scott Crichlow, chair of WVU’s political science department, said Trump’s combative attitude portrayed in the media is exactly what about a third of the voters are looking for. Eventually, Crichlow said, a Republican will probably rise up to be the “not Trump vote.” Besides the 32 percent of survey respondents who say they haven’t decided yet, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, is the Republican with the next highest amount of support, according to the Orion sur-
see trump on PAGE 2 89°/67°
MUSIC TO YOUR ‘EERS
INSIDE
Morgantown Sound returns A&E PAGE 3
MOSTLY SUNNY
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THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX: Standardized testing devalues creativity, emphasisizes structure
QUESTIONS ANSWERED Holgorsen clears up position battles ahead of opener SPORTS PAGE 9
OPINION PAGE 4
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