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ELECTIONS VOLUME 96, ISSUE 81

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ELECTION

Weather

GRADUATION

SMU announces 2011 commencement speaker

WEDNESDAY High 65, Low 48 THURSDAY High 79, Low 58

A SIDE OF NEWS

By ASHLEY WITHERS Associate News Editor awithers@smu.edu

Ke$ha tickets go on sale Tickets go on sale Wednesday at The Mane Desk for the Program Council sponsored Ke$ha concert. Student floor seats cost $15 and the student bleacher tickets are free. Guest floor seats cost $20 and guest bleacher seats cost $10. Each student can purchase up to five tickets. The doors open at 7 p.m. and the concert starts at 8 p.m.

Contest brings food to hungry Lyle, Dedman, and Meadows are hosting a canned food drive and building competition this week. Each school will be collecting cans through Saturday and building structures with the cans on Sunday at 3 p.m. Contact Jennie Rhodes at jmrhodes@smu.edu for more information.

Gaddafi holds onto hometown Gaddafi’s forces have held on to his hometown of Sirte after the rebel forces’ recent offensive attack. Rebels began advancing westward on Friday, capturing key oil towns along the way. However, rebels say they are now hampered by low and outdated munitions.

Cabinet resigns in Syria The Syrian cabinet stepped down Tuesday amidst protests calling for democratic reforms. President Bashar al-Assad, the country’s dictator for 11 years, hoped the action would work to quell the demands of demonstrators.

MICHAEL DANSER/The Daily Campus

Student Body Vice Presidential candidates Roza Essaw, from left, Joseph Esau and Alex Ehmke participated in the Student Body Officer debate on Tuesday afternoon in the Hughes-Trigg Student Forum.

Student Body Officer candidates duel during annual debate By MEREDITH SHAMBURGER Online Editor mshamburge@smu.edu

Student Body Officer (SBO) candidates gathered amid a packed room for the annual SBO Debate Tuesday evening in the Hughes-Trigg Forum. Candidates gave four-minute speeches and then were crossexamined by one other candidate in their category. The debate ended with a 30-minute session of questions from the audience.

Student Body Presidents Student Body President candidates stressed their leadership experience and desire to represent all students. Candidate Austin Prentice, current student body vice president, cited his many pieces of legislation that he’s written while in Senate. Candidate Katie Perkins, current student body secretary, asked Prentice to cite other things he’s done, because she said “there’s a lot more to Senate than just writing legislation.” Prentice defended himself by citing his job as SBVP, saying he made sure the Senate meeting went smoothly. He also added that he implemented one-on-one sessions with individual senators and encouraged people and organizations to come speak to Senate.

Iraqi violence escalates

Perkins told the audience that her plan involves organizing Senate. “If the administration doesn’t take us seriously, if the student body doesn’t take us seriously, how are we expecting anyone to take us seriously? We have to organize,” she said.

If the administration doesn’t take us seriously, if the student body doesn’t take us seriously, how are we expecting anyone to take us seriously?

— Katie Perkins Presidential Candidate

Fellow candidate Austin Prentice challenged Perkins, saying that was the job of both the student body vice president and student body secretary. “You don’t have anything on your platform the actual student body president is supposed to be doing, which are tangible things to get done on campus,” Prentice said. Perkins disagreed with Prentice’s assessment. “I think that it’s the president’s job to make sure that everything is

running smoothly in Senate,” she said. “Also, I do have some things on my platform that contribute to the entire student body and would be the president’s job.” Perkins’ platform does include working to create more social events on campus. Perkins asked Mansfield to comment on one of his campaign platforms, transparency. She asked him what he had done during his tenure as senator to increase Senate transparency. Mansfield said he had met with individual students in Dedman College.

Index News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,3 Arts & Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . 6 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Health & Fitness . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2011 as it enters a new chapter of service upon graduation.” SMU expects to award nearly 2,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees in the commencement ceremony. The ceremony will be held May 14 at 9:30 a.m. in Moody Coliseum. For more information on this year’s ceremony, visit smu.edu/ commencement.

INTERNATIONAL

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President Barack Obama delivers his address on Libya at the National Defense University in Washington on Monday.

Involvement in Libya significant for Americans

TATE

By ASHLEY WITHERS Associate News Editor awithers@smu.edu

President Obama spoke Monday night presenting his case for United States involvement in Libya. He defended his use of military action saying that the U.S. had to intervene to save the lives of our fellow human beings. “And as president, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action,” he said. “I am convinced that a failure to act in

Federal investigators are considering charging BP Global managers with manslaughter for The Deepwater Horizon disaster. The rig explosion killed 11 people and is a part of a criminal investigation. If charged, convictions could carry sentences of up to 10 years.

Newsroom: 214.768.4555 Classified: 214.768.4554 Online: smudailycampus.com

Photo courtesy of SMU

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn will be the commencement speaker at the May 2010 graduation.

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SMU announced Tuesday that U.S. Senator John Cornyn will speak at this spring’s commencement ceremony. The second term senator currently sits on the Senate Armed Forces, Finance, Judiciary and Budget committees. Before becoming a senator, Cornyn served in Texas as a district judge, a member of the Texas Supreme Court and as Texas Attorney General. According to the university press release, the senator is a passionate believer in open government through public service. Student Body President Jake Torres feels that this is what makes him a good choice for his class’s commencement speaker. “Senator Cornyn’s history of public service on both the state and federal levels shows his commitment and dedication to Texas and the country,” Torres said. “His passion for service is shared by those within the SMU community, and makes him a perfect choice to address the SMU class of

The student body vice president candidates grilled each other on what they had done in and out of Senate. Candidates Alex Ehmke and Roza Essaw both took credit for extending dining hours on campus. Essaw, one of the co-authors of a dining hours extension bill that

At least 15 people were killed Tuesday in Saddam Husein’s hometown and dozens more wounded, when gunmen stormed a government building in a north Iraq town. The attackers wore police uniforms but were actually fighting members of the local police force, and were reportedly assisted by a suicide car bomber.

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2011

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Libya would have carried a far greater price for America.” However, in his speech he also claimed that though he does not support the Gaddafi regime, he will not use American troops to dismantle it. This claim met criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. Democrats still believe the operation looks very similar to George W. Bush and the Iraq situation, despite

See LIBYA on Page 3

SENATE

VP candidate Ehmke cleared after election complaint filed MICHAEL DANSER/The Daily Campus

Former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, from left, Dallas Morning News Vice President Keven Ann Wiley, and Harlem Children’s Zone President Geoffrey Canada look at the audience response when asked whom had seen the documentary “Waiting on Superman,” which Canada was cast in, during the Omni Hotels lecture as part of the Tate Lecture series Tuesday evening inside McFarlin Auditorium.

Speakers say americans must innovate to improve education reform By SARAH KRAMER News Editor skramer@smu.edu

With the education budget issues the nation is currently facing, former U.S. Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, and founder and CEO of The Harlem Children’s Zone, Geoffrey Canada, shared their concerns about

education in America during the Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series Tuesday. Keven Ann Willey, editorial page editor for The Dallas Morning News, moderated as Spellings and Canada tackled the issue, “How will we teach America’s children?” to a sold-out audience in McFarlin Auditorium.

Willey began the conversation by saying the current education issue is the “civil rights issue of this century.” In order to see any change in the education system, both Spellings and Canada believe the U.S. must be

See TATE on Page 3

By MEREDITH SHAMBURGER Online Editor mshamburge@smu.edu

Student Body Vice President candidate Alex Ehmke was found not guilty of an election complaint filed against him by a hearing of the Membership Committee on Monday. The complaint, filed by fellow SBVP candidate Rosa Essaw, alleged that Ehmke slandered her by saying she did not care about the Greek community. The hearing found that his actions did not violate the Election Code. When asked about the incident, Membership Chair Katherine Ladner told The Daily Campus, “It is not my place to make a statement about this event, but it has been taken care of,” and later directed questions to Ehmke and Essaw.

The complaint revolved around a candidates’ meeting with the Interfraternity Council. Essaw was unable to attend the meeting because she had a night class, where she had a paper due. Ehmke used her absence to make the point that Essaw did not care about the Greek community since she had spoken to several dozen organizations in the three days before, and that “this was the kind of attention that they could expect from a Vice President if she was elected.” “I still maintain that I did not lie,” he said. “I expressed my opinion that she did not care about the Greek community.” But Essaw told The Daily Campus

See COMPLAINT on Page 3


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