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Thursday, April 11, 2013
@msureporter @msureporter
MSU Reporter facebook.com/msureporter
Minnesota State University, Mankato
www.themsureporter.com
THURSDAY
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FRIDAY
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SATURDAY
THE RESULTS ARE IN
Collins, Shakespear elected as 81st MSSA voted in. free. “Essentially, they didn’t believe it was an imperative of other students to pay for students to park in the free lot,” said Shakespear. “But that’s the case for anything these days. We pay taxes so that other people can drive on the roads. We pay taxes to keep people in prison. I haven’t committed a crime, but I’m paying to keep people in prison.” The last few weeks have seen a split in the student senate’s view on the free lot issue, which was brought to light a few weeks ago when Director of Facilities Services and Parking Advisory Committee Chairperson, David Cowan, gave the MSSA recommendations on how to keep the free lot. The PAC’s recommendations were for MSU to take about $25,750 out of the
school’s general fund to keep the lot free, or charge $62 dollars for a permit on that lot. The MSSA voted against the PAC’s recommendation, and passed their own, which included a $76 permit proposal. Cowan described the PAC’s efforts to work with the MSSA in an email. “Know that each spring the Parking Advisory Committee report on parking permit rates and budget recommendations seldom survive unscathed,” he said. “A perfect plan which satisfies all our 7,000 customers is an objective that is tough to achieve. Each collective bargaining unit, as well as the student senate, have now weighed
Wonderland / page 18
Free Lot to Remain david bassey • msu reporter Chris Collins (left), and Ben Shakespear (right) were elected as president and vice president as members of the Maverick Herd party. CHRIS HOUCK
staff writer
It was a long election season, but after weeks of campaigning, thousands of f lyers and plenty of rhetoric, the 81st MSSA is official. Current MSSA Speaker Chris Collins and McElroy Residence Community Senator Ben Shakespear were elected to the senate’s highest offices as president and vice president, as the pair’s party, the Maverick Herd, took home 14 of the available positions. The party lines however, were clearly apparent, with the MavPride party, led by current vice president David Schieler and running mate
Kayla Lyman taking home 12 positions of its own. Collins, a human biology and chemistry double major and Mankato native paired with Shakespear, an international student from Australia and political science major, ran on a platform of “stability and efficiency,” according to the group’s Facebook page. Shakespear spoke about the issues that were debated during the spring’s campaigns just hours after his vice presidential win, with the issue of the free lot being a focal point. “I guess there have been arguments that it’s not imperative, that it’s not necessary,” said Shakespear
about the free lot issue. “But it’s something that the school needs provided. It’s something that the students want.” Shakespear noted the vast amount of support that the free lot received during the spring election, with 1,099 voters, out of around 1,700, in favor of keeping the free lot free. The Maverick Herd was a political ticket created by Shakespear and Collins, which sought to keep the free lot out of any required parking permits. MAVpride was the other major political ticket during the campaigning, and didn’t necessarily see the free lot as a major priority to keep
RYAN LUND
news editor
The overwhelming issue in this year’s elections, that of Lot 23, the last free parking lot remaining in the MnSCU system was also put up for vote. The students however, appear to have spoken, with the overwhelming majority, more than 1,000 students, voting to keep the free lot free. At issue was the continued maitenance of MSU’s parking facilities, as David Cowan and the Parking Advisory Committee faced substantial difficulties in formulating a functing budget for the school’s future plans. The board had at one point toyed with the notion
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of eliminating the coveted lot, the last of its kind in the area, in order to make up an approximate shortfall of $26,000 for MSU’s transportation costs, which are entirely self-funding. Ultimately, following a sparsely attended public hearing in which students and faculty debated the issue before the board, Cowan and the PAC recommended that the free lot remain. MSSA however, voted to disregard the board’s recommendation, citing the resulting cost increases to students as their primary comcern. Following Tuesday’s referendum the free lot appears to be saved, at least for now.
A&E
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INDEX: SPORTS
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CLASSIFIEDS
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