Technician
thursday march
31 2011
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Thompson punches presidential ticket About one-fifth of eligible voters turn out for student elections. Joshua Chappell Senior Staff Writer
Sarah Tudor/Technician
Chandler Thompson, a senior in economics, celebrates her new position of Student Body President for the 2011-2012 year. Candidates from all four positions waited early Wednesday morning to hear the results.
Chandler Thompson was named winner in the preliminary results race for Student Body President Wednesday. Thompson, a junior in economics, will succeed Kelly Hook, current Student Body President. Thompson received 52.4 percent of the vote, according to Lindsey Pullum, junior in political science and chair of the Elections Commission. Thompson said her love for the University gave her the desire to run for office.
“I love N.C. State and wanted to use my commitment toward the University to its fullest potential,” Thompson said. “I am driven to make a difference and wanted to use this drive to connect students to the University.” Kelly Cunningham, a sophomore in zoology, voted for Thompson and said she is excited to see what she will accomplish. “I think the campus as a whole will benefit most from her plan to promote sustainability,” Cunningham said. “As conserving the environment becomes a more pressing issue, it is increasingly important that we have an environmentally-friendly campus.” Cunningham also said she was excited about other aspects of Thompson’s platform. “I am most excited about Chandler’s
plan to keep a dining location open late and bring a fourth meal into the meal plan,” Cunningham said. Nancy Thai, a freshman in biological sciences, supported Thompson for a slightly different reason. “[Thompson] did a good job getting her name out there, but it wasn’t too obnoxious,” Thai said. “I have heard good things about her.” Although Thompson had a lot of support on campus, there were some students who were not approving. Lauren Caddick, a sophomore in art and design, was not impressed with Thompson’s campaign. “I felt that compared to the other candidates, Chandler had the weakest platform,” Caddic said. “The things that she was running on felt frivolous
elections continued page 3
Report: All races were clean Broken signs don’t result in ‘official’ violations. Elise Heglar Staff Writer
Alex Sanchez/Technician
Sociology sophomore Katherine Haddock and biological sciences senior Destiny Harris lead a march to Talley Student Center with parks and recreation management senior Matthew Sprouse and plant biology senior Alicia Smith Wednesday. The group marched to the Talley ballroom for the N.C. State Women's Center's 24th annual Take Back the Night.
Sexual violence riles campus Police searching for attack suspect Female student fends off attacker near Thomas Hall. Chelsey Francis Senior Staff Writer
A female student reported being sexually assaulted by an unknown male Tuesday night shortly after 11 p.m. According to Jon Barnwell, patrol division commander with Campus Police, the student was walking on the south side of Thomas Hall at Yarborough Drive and Derieux Place when the incident occurred. The suspect approached the victim and attempted to put his hands down her pants, but the victim kneed the suspect in the groin and fled the scene, according to Barnwell. “The investigation is ongoing,” Barnwell said. “We are following up on leads and reviewing CCTV[closed-circuit television] video.” According to Barnwell, there are not any cameras in the area where the attack occurred, but there are cameras in areas that the suspect would have gone through in order to reach the location of the attack. Campus Police are asking anyone with any information that might be relevant to the investigation to call (919)515-3000.
Students march to protest violence Story By Allie Beckett
T
he N.C. State Women’s Center hosted the 24th annual Take Back the Night event Wednesday, only one night after a female student reported a sexual assault near Thomas Hall.
Some students felt the timing of the sexual assault only magnified the importance of events like Take Back the Night, which raises awareness about sexual violence. “What happened recently really put things into focus. I want to be safe walking to my car at night,” Lauren Opdyke, a junior in psychology. The Movement, a group of student activists and peer education leaders who work to prevent sexual and relationship violence, had a heavy presence at Take Back the Night. According to its website, The Movement’s method for prevention is not focusing on what women should do or should not do; The Movement strives to change the culture to the point that any form of interpersonal violence is not tolerated. Jenny Lomelino, a senior in English and a peer educator for The Movement at N.C. State’s Women’s Center, said one way students can help end our “rape culture” is by becoming involved in The Movement. “Take Back the Night is important because it puts faces to the statistics. We all hear about rape and sexual violence, but I think that people don’t realize how often it happens —particularly on our campus,” Lomelino said. According to the Women’s Center website, approximately 350 of every 10,000 (3.5 percent) female students on a college campus will be raped each academic year. This extrapolates to a possible 509 rapes or attempted rapes at N.C. State each academic year. Take Back the Night March and Rally are dedicated to promoting awareness, prevention, and safety on the campus—and also to honor and remember those whose lives have been affected by sexual assault or domestic violence. According to its website, Take Back the Night began in
The student elections are over, and the winners have been named in the preliminary results. Election officials said there were no official campaign violations. According to Elections Chair Lindsey Pullum, a senior in political science, none of the candidates had any officially recorded violations of policy during the election that warranted punishment. During the Student Government elections, candidates and members of the student body are asked to report any policy violations to the Election Committee. Policy violations are stipulated by the N.C. State University Student Body Statutes, a document all candidates are given before the election. “Anyone can file a report. People can anonymously tip us and we investigate it, but if the people in question are following policy by our interpretation, then they are not in trouble,” Pullum said. According to Pullum, there is not going to be a final violations report written or put on the Student Government website because there were no violations serious enough to warrant any trouble.
clean continued page 2
insidetechnician
Red Bulls give Lassiter wings See page 8.
Alex Sanchez/Technician
Junior in biological sciences Adriana De La Nuez tells her story at the 24th annual Take Back the Night in the Talley ballroom Wednesday.
response to a common anxiety among women: walking alone at night. The first documented Take Back the Night event in the United States took place in Philadelphia in October 1975, after a young woman was stabbed to death by a stranger a block from her home while walking alone. Mary Margaret and Nicole Medlin, both seniors in
March continued page 3
$5.00 from the sale of each shirt to benefit “Origami Wishes” NC State’s campus-wide fundraising for the American Red Cross. T-shirts will be available this Friday for $10.00 each at NC State Bookstore.
Local state park home to rare plants See page 6
viewpoint features classifieds sports
4 5 7 8