Monday, April 14, 2014
Volume LVII, Issue 24
sbstatesman.com
JESUS PICHARDO/ THE STATESMAN
Stony Brook students celebrate the Hindu festival of colors, Holi, on Sunday, April 13, 2014. More photos on page 12 and sbstatesman.com.
Southampton Hospital on the way Uncontested USG election results unsurprising
By Elsie Boskamp Staff Writer
Stony Brook University Hospital is close to an agreement with Southampton Hospital that will join the two facilities and build a medical center on the university’s Southampton campus. The Stony Brook Hospital has rapidly expanded throughout recent years, including the current construction of a new Medical and Research Translation building. This agreement presents an opportunity for the university to expand its Southampton campus after budget cuts caused much of the campus to close in April 2010. According to “Newsday,” Stony Brook’s chief executive Dr. Reuven Pasternak said the complex agreement took a long time, but he hopes it will be ratified in the next few months by the SUNY board of trustees. Stony Brook University Hospital media relations could not be reached for comment on this subject. In October 2012, the hospitals signed a non-binding letter of
intent stating that Southampton Hospital would join the Stony Brook Medicine healthcare system and operate under the university’s state license. The medical centers have been affiliated since November 2008. Dr. Samuel Stanley said in October 2012 that the proposed affiliation would allow the medical centers to provide “more complementary, efficient and effective” care and provide more opportunities for education. “Southampton Hospital can provide a valuable teaching and research environment for Stony Brook University students, contributing highly trained healthcare professionals to meet the East End’s needs as the population grows and ages,” he said. Also in this statement, Dr. Kenneth Kaushansky, dean of the Stony Brook University School of Medicine, said the possibility of a new facility on the Southampton campus “has the potential to provide a tremendous learning environment for students in the
News
Continued on Page 5
By Will Welch and Ryan Wolf Assistant News Editor and Staff Writer
Undergraduate Student Government elections closed on Friday, officially establishing junior biology major Garry Lachhar as the next president of USG and making the $99.50 student activity fee mandatory for undergraduate students for the next two years. Very few students voted in this year’s elections compared to last year. The activity fee ballot initiative received the most votes—808 students were in favor of keeping the fee mandatory and 369 were against it. Lachhar received 839 votes compared to the 1,260 votes current USG President Adil Hussain received last year. A total of 2,162 students voted in last year’s presidential race. But Lachhar, who ran unopposed, would have won the position with only one vote, as would the six other candidates running for executive council positions and the three candidates running for class representative positions. The number of uncontested election this year was a result of the petitioning process, which
Arts & Entertainment
requires candidates to submit as certain number of signatures from students to appear on the official ballot. Though many students filled to run in the elections, few actually turned in the petition form. “I had originally received 60 intent forms,” USG Elections Board Chair Jacqueline Wall said. “When it came time for the petitioning forms to be handed in, I was surprised when only 36 students had completed the process and turned them in to us.” To her knowledge, USG has never seen such a large number of uncontested elections before. The petition process requires 600 signatures from students to run for President, Executive Vice President or Treasurer. It requires 400 signatures to run for Vice President of Academic Affairs, Vice President of Student Life, Vice President of Communications or Vice President of Clubs and Organizations. Despite the number uncontested positions, the USG Elections Board does not have provisions for write-in candidates or votes against candidates on the ballot. Opinions
“There was never any concern raised to us about having the ability to write in for elections,” Wall said. “Since there is no precedent on such a procedure, we didn't investigate the possibility. “The ability to do write-ins can be investigated further,” she continued. “But we will need to look into the feasibility of doing this from a technological standpoint." For the coming years, the Elections Board will try to make changes to avoid the situation from repeating itself. “Going forward, we would like to start the elections process earlier and see if getting the word out sooner has any effect on preventing this from happening,” Wall said. The USG election process allows for candidates to form parties. 34 of the 36 candidates who ran were part of “The Actual Party.” The two candidates who did not run with the party, Michael Lavina and Stephanie Kaczynski, did not win their positions. Current senators Vincent Justiniano and James Mutino, who did run with “The Actual Party” were not re-elected. Sports
Brookfest 2014: Estimated floor cost $28K
SBU students modernize Greek tragedy
Admitted Students Day facilitates delusion
Baseball sweeps Bearcats
MORE ON PAGE 7
MORE ON PAGE 11
MORE ON PAGE 16
MORE ON PAGE 24
USG issues apology to Athletics Department.
Theatre arts showcase revamped classic.
University beautifies campus to attract new students.
SBU now 7-1 in America East play.