NEWSWIRE The Xavier
Published by the students of Xavier University since 1915 Fiat justitia, ruat coelum Volume CI Issue 12
November 11, 2015
Graham to field student questions BY RAYMOND HUMIENNY Campus News Editor
After the resignation of University of Missouri president Timothy Wolfe in the wake of student and faculty protests, the transparency of university administrations is in the spotlight nationwide. In an effort to increase transparency on Xavier’s campus, students and administrators will partner to hold an event where students can address administrators directly about issues on campus. Student Government
Association (SGA) will host “Your School, Your Questions,â€? a question-and-answer panel with Xavier leadership. “The event pretty much created itself in a way. You walk around campus and you hear students really just guessing at the reasonings behind things and not really knowing,â€? SGA legislative vice president Josh DeVincenzo said. “Being a part of SGA, we KDYH D JUHDW EHQHĂ€W RI NQRZLQJ the inside scoop of the administration, but for the common student who doesn’t have those
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“Your School, Your Questions� will be a forum for student concerns.
freedoms, they really don’t know and they really rely on rumors for explanation.â€? The panel is comprised of Xavier president Fr. Michael *UDKDP FKLHI DFDGHPLF RIĂ€FHU Scott Chadwick, chief student DIIDLUV RIĂ€FHU 'DYH -RKQVRQ DQG assistant provost for student enrichment Lori Johnson. “We’re really trying to engage the student body into an inclusive community where we’re all on the same level of knowledge,â€? DeVincenzo said. The event bolsters SGA’s presence on campus, according to DeVincenzo. He said his successor Michael Quigley looks to continue “Your School, Your Questionsâ€? in the future. “Relevance, transparency, both; we just really want the students to understand big initiatives going on on campus,â€? DeVincenzo said. Regarding student opinions on Xavier initiatives, DeVincenzo said that it is important for students to look past rumors about initiatives like large-scale campus renovations. “Rumors might not be the best word to describe it, but when people come onto campus after the summer and see these new additions, they might want to know why, per se, something like the stairs are relevant,â€? DeVincenzo said. “A lot of these things are big initiatives that are going on in administra-
tion that don’t have answers yet, and sometimes students feel inclined to spread the word on answers they may have heard about, but let’s go to the source where you can actually hear the most relevant and up to date responses for those questions.â€? The conversation is not OLPLWHG WR VFKRRO Ă€QDQFHV DQG budgeting. Given the range of potential questions, AFJ created an online survey asking students to submit their inquiries beforehand. After a screening process, these questions will be addressed during the “completely uncensored Q&A,â€? according to DeVincenzo. There will also be an open-mic Q&A session during the event. “We’ve gotten some really phenomenal questions, some that I hadn’t even thought about,â€? DeVincenzo said. “It takes a lot of collaboration, RSHQQHVV DQG FRQĂ€GHQFH LQ WKH student body and the administration to put together an event like this, but I have full faith that the administration will be able to perform under this kind of pressure. And the students; I honestly thought putting out a SurveyMonkey would yield a lot of funny responses, but I was shocked and very proud of the student body that all the questions have been very critical ones.â€? So far, questions submitted via SurveyMonkey have ranged
from inquiries on sustainability to concerns about physical plant winter materials. The online survey is now closed and no additional questions can be submitted. “The goal of this event is to create a community,â€? DeVincenzo said. “We want to bring the human element to the administration, and there’s going to be something symbolic about that. We’re going to have everyone on the same level, not putting the administrators up on stage or anything like that. 7KH\¡OO EH RQ WKH Ă RRU DW D WDble with everyone who’s on the ground sitting.â€? Additionally, DeVincenzo shared questions he would personally ask administrators. “How have our motives been changed throughout the pressures to be a competitive university, in the sense that there’s a lot of pressure for tuition to go up and benchmark Xavier to other schools, but there’s a lot of loss for that. Our education may not be as accessible to a diverse pool, so diversity takes a hit for that,â€? DeVincenzo said. “How can we balance things the most productive way as a Jesuit university to keep our identity here?â€? “Your School, Your Questions,â€? takes place from 7-8:30 p.m. on Nov. 11 in the Gallagher Student Center Atrium.
Jansen said. Sophomore candidates Zeina Farhat and Shelby Lauter ZHUH GLVTXDOLĂ€HG GXH WR WKHLU failure to turn in documentation of their campaign spending to the Board of Elections on time. Both Lauter and Farhat served on Senate last year. Farhat voiced frustration that write-in candidates who didn’t have to turn in any documentation were given Senate positions. “It is my fault because I didn’t turn in a budget, but I think the one thing that’s disappointing for me is that write-ins who didn’t have to do anything get to take my spot and that the majority of Senate now is writein candidates who didn’t have to
do anything to get the position. They just had to be written in at least one time and accept their nomination,� she said. Farhat also expressed concern about the write-in candidates’ lack of experience in Senate. “People who have no experience with the clubs are now going to be in charge of distributing over $800,000 to the campus, and they have no idea what they’re doing.� Farhat said she missed the deadline to turn in the documentation by 45 minutes. “The Board of Elections code says you must turn in your budget by 4 p.m. and they texted me at 4:30 and said that if I emailed my budget right then
then I could still be a candidate. I checked my phone at 4:45,â€? she said. “If you’re going to let people who didn’t go to a Senate meeting have a couple H[WUD ZHHNV WR JHW WKHLU YHULĂ€cation forms then give someone who forgot to turn in their budget an hour extra, especially when there’s absolutely no interest in SGA anymore as an organization on campus.â€? Farhat said she forgot to turn in the documentation since she did not spend any money campaigning. Lauter said she also did not have any spending to report. “It sucks. I want to be a senator, and I can’t because I forgot to turn in my $0 budget,â€? Farhat said.
Senate elected, some candidates disqualified
BY MICAH PRICE Staff Writer
The SGA senate election took place last week, and the winning candidates have been announced. The senators-elect are: Anthony Luster, Brennan Mullins, Chris Harding, Jacob Jansen, Johnny Srsich, Michael Krauza, Sarah Ochieng, Sunny Guo and Sylvia Chemweno. In addition, the winning write in candidates are: Benmun Damul, Brandon Luther, Dan Celani, Ethan Alter, Johnese Sherron, Jonathan Pickman, Josh Tye, Luis Gomez, McKenzie Lauver, Owen Grieves and Valerie Okpadile. The voter turnout was about 9 percent of the undergraduate population, with 420 votes cast. Š2015
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First-year student Jacob Jansen expressed his hopes for the coming term. “I hope to make legitimate change in making printing more HIĂ€FLHQW DV ZHOO DV NHHSLQJ UHVidence halls open later,â€? Jansen said. Jansen said he will propose printing stations in each residence hall so that students will not have to leave their halls to print, as well as create a system in which students can swipe into any dorm until 11 p.m. or midnight. “It means a lot to represent the freshman class because they are a class that rarely has its voice heard, and I am in a position where I can make that change for the freshmen,â€?
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