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INSIDE

Pick the right costume

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Partisans defend choices

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Victoria Justice talks new film

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Low stakes, big impact: Mavericks face Thunder PAGE 5

WEDNESDAY

OCTOBER 24, 2012

Wednesday High 86, Low 70 Thursday High 84, Low 52

VOLUME 98 ISSUE 30 FIRST COPY FREE, ADDITIONAL COPIES 50 CENTS

POLITICS

Associated Press

Youth voter turnout has been historically low in the United States.

Students weigh in on voting DEMI STANLEY Contributing Writer dstanley@smu.edu SIDNEY HOLLINGSWORTH/The Daily Campus

Students from different organizations attended Rock the Vote to support their homecoming candidates.

Homecoming Week rocks the vote in support of candidates TASHIKA VARMA Editor in Chief tvarma@smu.edu With Homecoming week activities going at full speed, students are gearing up for this weekend’s festivities with Peruna painting, banner competitions, float building and the race for Homecoming king and queen. Students filled Westcott Field Monday evening to support their respective homecoming candidates. Set up like a pep rally, Rock the Vote served as forum in which students could express their school spirit and pride for their organizations and candidates. This year’s theme, “Homecoming for the Holidays,” allowed organizations to chose a particular holiday as its individual theme. Dressed in their organization colors, students sported Santa Claus hats, St. Patrick’s Day clovers, flags

boas witch hats to match their organization particular theme. Holding balloons and noisemakers, each group cheered for their candidate who was out on the field. Michael Pittman, a member of Student Foundation, acted as the host. He introduced each candidate was introduced by name and organization, and asked anecdotal questions like “What is your ideal date?” “Rock the Vote is one of my favorite Homecoming events because you really see all the organizations’ spirit and support for their candidate,” Student Foundation President John Angle said. “RTV [Rock the Vote] is part of the larger spirit points competition that all-together is 25 percent of the overall candidate’s score. Organizations attendance and spirit is required to receive participation points.”

SMU moms and dads stood, cameras in hand, at the edge of the railings, waiting to hear their candidate speak. Additionally, everyone in attendance was reminded of Pigskin Revue — which is Friday night at 8:15 p.m. in McFarlin Auditorium at no cost. Put on by the Mustang Band, the revue is an event to promote school spirit and tradition. Also, Michael Graves, a representative of The Union, encouraged every organization to participate in the Homecoming Giving Challenge. All this week, members are asked to donate to SMU, and the organization with the highest participation will receive $1,000 to be given to the campus area of their choosing. Winners will be announced at the Homecoming football game on Saturday. Winners for field day, window painting, banner competition and Peruna painting were announced.

Kappa Alpha Theta and Pi Kappa Alpha took home first place in banner painting and field day. Field day’s second place and third place spots went to Association of Black Students and Asian Council and Pi Beta Phi and Phi Gamma Delta, respectively. Alpha Chi Omega and Beta Theta Pi took home first place for window painting, tied for first place in banner competition and received third place in for their Peruna painting. Kappa Kappa Gamma and Sigma Alpha Epsilon took home second place in window painting. Third and fourth place for window painting went to Chi Omega and Sigma Phi Epsilon and Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) and College Hispanic American Students (CHAS) tied for third place in window painting. MGC and Chas also tied for second place in the

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REPRESENTATION

A number of students will be casting their first ballots in the November presidential election. As Election Day approaches, students are finding themselves unsure of what they need to do in order to make sure their vote counts. Uncertainty about both the candidates and the process is turning some away from the polls. “I am not participating because I do not care for either candidate and I haven’t registered to vote. I also have no idea how to get an absentee ballot,” SMU junior Ross Peets said. If it is one’s first time voting in a presidential election, one might ask, “Why should I even vote?” College students represent a population known to shift an election. Every student comes from a different background and usually identifies with one of the two parties. But when voting, it’s important to think beyond party lines and consider your life after graduation. Whoever you vote for, their policies will have a very large impact on where you will go when you depart from SMU. “Students are absolutely important in American

elections. One of the things that helped President Obama get elected in 2008 was strong support and voter turnout among college students,” Matthew Wilson, an SMU political science professor, said. “Trying to duplicate that level of support in 2012 is one of the key emphases of his campaign.” The last day to register to vote was Oct. 9. “The registration deadline is always 30 days prior to the election,” Laura Granado, from the Dallas County Election Department, said. Students do not fret. There is still time left to make your mark. “Being passive or apathetic only negatively impacts the country. Further, being properly informed on the voting process would increase voter participation and awareness,” SMU junior Kevin McClendon said. Texas student residents still have a few options. Granado said students can visit the department website at dallascountyvotes. org to download and print a registration application. Students can also visit local post offices, libraries or the Dallas County Election Department Office for on-site applications. “It takes about a minute to fill out. But, it must be mailed back to our main office because it requires a signature,” Granado said.

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PRESIDENCY

Senators discuss trash services, parking, rechartering process TIM WELCH Senate Beat Writer twelch@smu.edu Three items of legislation appeared on the Senate agenda Tuesday: one regarding trash services in the graduate halls, another regarding game day parking in the law garage and the last regarding the rechartering process for campus organizations. Currently, there are no trash rooms in the graduate dorms — Hawk, Moore and Martin — in which residents can dispose of their waste. The resolution authored by Student Body President Alex Mace calls for Resident Life and Student Housing to designate trash rooms in those buildings in which trash cans and recycling bins will be placed. The second resolution was prompted by the Oct. 18 home football game. Usually on the day of a home game, all student parking is redirected from Binkley Garage and other lots on the

south side of campus to the Law Garage and lots on the north side. This system works reasonably well on weekends, but this past Thursday’s game was in the middle of the week, and caused much inconvenience to law students taking night classes since they couldn’t park anywhere. Law students already pay fees to use the Law Garage on the north side of campus. However, because of those spots being taken by many undergraduates, the law students were unable to park there, and thus had to pay to

park elsewhere. In some cases, classes were even canceled. The resolution authored by Sen. Christopher Cornell encourages the SMU Athletic Department to “manage on-campus parking in such a way that on the days of weekday home football games enough spaces are kept open for the use of law students.” The last resolution, authored by Sen. Emily McIntosh and Organizations Chair Jacob Watts, amended the process of rechartering an organization. Previously, if an organization had lost its charter, when it reapplied it would have the same standing as a completely new organization. This resolution amends the temporary status period to only one semester for an organization that has lost its charter within the past four years. These resolutions are to be voted on next week. During the speaker’s podium segment of the meeting, A’Rielle Gatlin, president of the National

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Associated Press

President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney debated in the final presidential debate of 2012 on Monday night.

Obama, Romney clash, stand firm in final debate KATELYN GOUGH News Editor kgough@smu.edu “Both candidates showed themselves to be presidential,” Ben Voth, chair of SMU Communications Studies, said.

According to Voth, Monday’s third and final presidential debate proved both candidates to have “strong argumentation skills that were more focused and substantiated than typical.” President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney faced off before moderator Bob Schieffer at Lynn

University during the final session of the debate series. “This series of four debates will likely stand as the largest ongoing audience of televised debates in 50 years,” Voth said. With “more than 50 million

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