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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY SERVING THE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1933
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VOLUME 79 | ISSUE 11 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011
GSUSIGNAL.COM
Student Government in violation of state law SGA E-Board members refused to allow Signal reporters into its Oct. 5 meeting by saying it was closed to discuss “personnel” issues. Two weeks later, the doors were locked for its Oct. 19 meeting.
CHRIS SHATTUCK News Editor The Student Government Association has closed its executive board meetings from the public on a weekly basis, citing “personnel” issues as the reason for the closures. In closing its E-Board meetings, the SGA is in violation of Georgia’s Open Meetings Act, according to the Georgia First Amendment Foundation and the Student Press Law Center. “Unless you have a specific reason that you
can point to under the law, and unless you go through the proper process for doing that, you are in violation,” said Mike Hiestand, a consulting attorney for the SPLC. “Once you assume that role and those responsibilities, it comes with it another responsibility to comply with the laws that say the business you can set needs to be done publically,” Hiestand said. SGA E-Board members refused to allow Signal reporters into its meeting on Oct. 5, saying it was closed to discuss “personnel” issues.
BRITTANY SPORNHAUER Staff Writer
Panthers end losing streak in double overtime thriller
PATRICK DUFFY | THE SIGNAL
In double overtime, sophomore linebacker Mark Hogan (No. 23) intercepted a tipped ball in the endzone, ensuring Georgia State’s victory.
One day after celebrating his 69th birthday, Georgia State head coach Bill Curry received a gift from his team in the form of a sticky Gatorade bath and a thrilling double overtime victory at homecoming in front of more than 14,000 fans. As outside linebacker Mark Hogan sat down beside Curry and Kelton Hill at the postgame press conference, he inhaled, exhaled and then let out a loud “whew!” Hogan’s sigh of relief encapsulated the emotions behind the Panthers 27-20 homecoming win over the South Alabama Jaguars better than any words Curry could offer up after the game. The win was the Panthers’ first in seven weeks and improved their record to 2-5. As a result of an odd sequence of events at the end of regulation, Hogan was forced to play hero for the Panthers twice.
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Two weeks later, the doors were locked for its Oct. 19 meeting. The Executive Board is comprised of the president, executive vice president, the five sub-committee vice presidents, the president pro tempore and the chief justice of the student judicial board, who sits as a non-voting ex officio member. SGA President, James Dutton, has said that the E-Board meetings must be kept closed to
After trailing for the entire second half, South Alabama matriculated the ball deep into the Panthers’ red zone in the final four minutes. With eight seconds remaining in the game, Hogan picked off a desperation pass by the Jaguars’ CJ Bennett, who struggled for most of the game. However, the officials ruled that the offense had not been set and that a false start infraction by the Jaguars nullified the play. The ruling was even more controversial because of a new NCAA rule that requires a mandatory ten-second runoff for an offensive penalty committed in the final minute. A ten second runoff would have ended the game. Oddly enough, South Alabama’s delay of game penalty meant the play never happened and there was no 10 seconds to run off the clock. “We’ve gotten some of the strangest and most difficult calls I have ever seen in all my six years just in the last couple of
Students may soon have the opportunity to vote on a campus-wide smoking ban in a student referendum as early as next year. The idea for the ban came from Dr. Douglass Covey, the vice president of Student Affairs, last year when he pitched it as an idea for the University Senate to consider. “Last year I suggested the idea, but it never made it out of committee,” Covey said. “Its something the university should certainly consider.” “I would love to see this policy brought up before the Student Alliance and Development Committee in the University Senate,” Covey said. President James Dutton of the Student Government Association wants a referendum on the topic, in order to allow students on campus to voice their opinions. “[The referendum] should really engage all the students,” Dutton said. “We think the fairest way would be a referendum.” Although no concrete plans have been scheduled yet for a vote, students have already begun speaking out about the ban. Some non-smokers like Danielle Daoust, a junior marketing major, support the idea of a smoking ban because of the negative side effects of second hand smoke. Daoust said that she has asthma, and when she walks past another student that is smoking, it causes her asthma to flare up. “I shouldn’t have to be affected by someone else’s decisions,” Daoust said. One compromise would be to designate official smoking areas away from the busiest places around campus. Diamond Hill, a sophomore journalism major, said this would be the best solution for everyone. “I feel like there should be select areas away from everyone else,” Hill said. She thinks that if citations were given to students that smoke, students would obey the ban. State law already bans smoking 25 feet outside the doors of a public building, but Michael Johnson, a
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