The DA 03-07-2014

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THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”

da

Friday March 7, 2014

Volume 126, Issue 111

www.THEDAONLINE.com

WVU SGA ELECTIONS

NYDEN/EVANS 2014

Voter turnout sees decrease after recordhigh turnout in 2013 2014-15 2013-14 3,384 VOTES 4,289 VOTES

by Sam Bosserman Staff Writer @DailyAthenaeum

Kyle Monroe/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

Members of The Trusted Ticket celebrate by lifting up SGA president-elect Chris Nyden. Nyden and running-mate Jake Evans won the election by a margin of 1.2 percent.

Nyden, Evans elected SGA president, vice president in tight race BY LAURA HAIGHT staff writer @DailyAthenaeum

After weeks of campaigning, the Student Government Association elections have finally come to a close. Chris Nyden and Jake Evans, leaders of The Trusted Ticket, were named the 2014-15 SGA president and vice president. The Board of Governors was split between The Launch Party and The Trusted Ticket, with eight of the candidates from The Launch Party and seven from The Trusted Ticket.

Chris Nyden, new student body president-elect, said he’s ecstatic about winning the election. “Jake and I have worked really hard for this,” Nyden said. “Tonight shows hard work pays off.” Nyden said he thought the candidates who didn’t win from his ticket worked very hard, but he looks forward to working with the governors-elect from The Launch Party. “They’re not working under me, they’re working with me,” he said. “I think we share common Doyle Maurer/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM goals and they ran a very Current SGA BOG member Stephen Scott celebrates election results. Scott was one of eight BOG candidates from The Launch Party to be elected for the 2014-15 acsee results on PAGE 2 ademic year.

This year’s Student Government Association elections concluded last night with the official announcement of the winners in the Mountainlair Commons Area. Approximately 10 percent of the student body, or 3,384 people, turned out to vote in the elections, a drop of 905 or roughly 21 percent from last year’s tally. Not surprisingly, more votes were cast at the Mountainlair than all of the other six polling locations combined. SGA elections chair Josh Harrison said while voter turnout was down, it is difficult to compare years due to the many variables going into elections. “It’s difficult to compare the two years because you have different administrations running different tactics for campaigning and different tactics to get out the vote,” Harrison said. Harrison said the turnout rate is similar to other Big 12 universities, where online systems which allow students to vote from anywhere are commonly used. According to Harrison, SGA has developed an effective elections procedure, from which future administrations can build and try to gain more interest from the student body. “We’ve developed a venue and a system where people feel comfortable coming out and voting,” Harrison said. “(As far as increasing turnout), it could be a matter of changing the structure of the organization so it better represents certain parts of campus that historically have lacked voter turnout.”

see turnout on PAGE 2

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Photo gallery | More images from Student Government Association’s election results event are online>> www.thedaonline.com

Visit us at www.thedaonline.com to see a complete list of election results

Time names W.Va. No.1 most miserable state in US by alexis randolph staff writer @dailyathenaeum

West Virginia has graced another top list – unfortunately, the list was not glamorous or even positive. West Virginia was recently named the most miserable state in an article on Time.com. This is the state’s fifth consecutive year at the bottom of the well-being list. “Time” ranked the top five most miserable states in order: West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama and Ohio. Each state’s level of misery was based on The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. Having inter viewed more than 176,000 resi-

dents from all 50 states, the index considers factors such as life expectancy, obesity and household income. West Virginia scored the lowest with an index score of 61.4. Amy Gentzler, an assistant professor in the West Virginia University Department of Psychology, is familiar with West Virginia’s poor index scores. “I try to talk about it in class on occasion, because I have taught courses on emotion, mood and also social psychology,” Gentzler said. “Somebody does have to be on the bottom, and it is unfortunate it is here.” She said the economic state of West Virginia is what is keeping the state “The states that tend to be on the bottom

apOLOGY In Wednesday’s edition of The Daily Athenaeum, the Opinion page published an unsigned letter to the editor regarding statements allegedly made by a teacher at a local high school. The representations in the letter were uncorroborated. It is the policy of the Daily Athenaeum never to publish uncorroborated anonymous letters. The Daily Athenaeum is responsible for the accuracy of the information it publishes. We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of professional ethics and integrity. Our publication of the anonymous uncorroborated letter to the editor was a serious error of judgment for which we sincerely apologize to the teacher referenced in the letter and to our readers.

“ As long as we continue to blame others for our problems instead of accepting the responsibility ourselves, we will continue to place the future of our state in the hands of someone else.” Jospeh Foster WVU English Student

are largely in poverty,” Gentzler said. However, Gentzler said things are different in Morgantown. “A few years ago, I found when they released the Gallup Poll, it was broken down by regions. It was interesting – where Morgantown is is actually significantly higher in these ratings,” Gentzler said. According to the article, less than half of West Virginians described themselves as thriving. Physi-

cal health was also a factor in the poll, with West Virginia having the highest rate of high blood pressure as well as high cholesterol. Joseph Foster, a junior English student, said he believes West Virginians are stuck in their ways. “I believe West Virginians are depressed because we are complacent,” Foster said. “Our culture values tradition and stability. Regrettably, this often leads to a fear of change. Creativity, spon-

taneity and even ingenuity are squelched.” In order to change, Foster said West Virginians must take control. “If West Virginians wish this to change, then we cannot rely on anyone else to do so,” Foster said. “As long as we continue to blame others for our problems instead of accepting the responsibility ourselves, we will continue to place the future of our state in the hands of someone else.”

Christine Biearman, a sophomore psychology student, said she believes there is a correlation between the physical and mental health of state residents. “West Virginia is one of the few states that has the kind of all-over-the-state poverty, and that directly correlates to depression and sadness,” Biearman said. Biearman said she believes health care is the key to changing the state’s standings in polls such as this one. “I definitely think affordable mental health care is necessary, along with affordable health care in general,” she said. “Those would be a great

see HAPPY on PAGE 2

Two students set to break record for pool marathon meghan bonomo staff writer @dailyathenaeum

Two West Virginia University students will play pool for 80 hours to help support the Morgantown community. Skyler Banfill, a recreation, parks and tourism resources student, and Ian Lake, a prebusiness and economics student, will attempt to set the new world record for longest marathon playing billiards.

The event will be held at Anytime Billiards in Uniontown, Pa., from Sunday at 10 a.m. until Wednesday at 6 p.m. The longest singles pool marathon on record was 74 hours and 50 minutes, so the WVU team for 80 straight hours. The two students are working with the Greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia Make-A-Wish Foundation to use their recordbreaking attempt to raise

donations. Banfill is a junior world champion pool player and said he saw this as an opportunity to do something big. “As soon as I found out about it, I got really excited and was really enveloped in the idea knowing that something like this could have the potential to help a cause or an organization” Banfill said. Banfill searched for someone who held the same passion and dedication to pull

off the record. “It made sense to me that (Lake) was the perfect guy to do it because I didn’t seek him and have to convince him,” Banfill said. “He had his mind in the right place and wanted to help somebody.” Lake and Banfill traveled with the WVU pool club to events under the Association for College Unions

see RECORD on PAGE 2

A P P LY O N L I N E T O DAY

NEW ON-CAMPUS STUDENT HOUSING opening fall 2014

CO L L EGE PA RK.WVU. E DU


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