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Thursday, March 5, 2009
Serving the University of Alabama since 1894
Vol. 115, Issue 98
Oliver wins close SGA race Oliver beats Key by 261 votes By Victor Luckerson Senior Staff Reporter Just before 1 a.m. this morning, two days of frenzied get-out-the-vote efforts came to a halt as Steven Oliver was elected president of the SGA. “I’m a little overwhelmed right now,” Oliver said immediately after the results were announced. “I’m excited to serve our student body because it’s going to be a great year. The student body has spoken in unbelievable numbers.” Oliver, a junior majoring in biology, defeated Kendra Key, a junior majoring in political science, by a total of
7,323 votes to 7,062. Oliver, a Tennessee resident, is one of only a few out-of-state candidates to be elected president in University history. Key, losing by 261 votes, said she did not regret any of the decisions she had made during the campaign. “I feel we did an adequate job reaching out to students,” she said. “We did a good job mobilizing students that had never been mobilized.” She said she felt some areas of the election were “unclean,” although she did not specify. “I feel our side remained optimistic,” she said. “We ran a
See OLIVER, page 2
Vegetarians struggle to find meals on campus By Josh Veazey Senior Staff Reporter When Brian Hubble reaches for a salad at the Ferguson Center Food Court, he notices something peculiar — most of them actually have meat in them. “If I absolutely have to eat at the Ferg, I usually get a veggie burger from Burger King, or go [to Zoca],” Hubble said. “My options usually boil down to those two.” Today, he decides to buy a burrito from Zoca. Hubble, a New College senior, became a vegetarian five months ago primarily for environmental
SGA Election Results PRESIDENT: Winner — Steven Oliver: 7,323 Kendra Key: 7,062
VP EXTERNAL AFFAIRS: Winner — James Fowler Collin Taylor
VP ACADEMIC AFFAIRS: Winner — Tyler Reed Trey Johnson
VP STUDENT AFFAIRS: Steven Oliver
Kendra Key
Winner — Tyler Valeska Austin Creel
SOFTBALL RECAP
No. 1 Tide tops UAB 8-1
concerns. When he pays for the burrito, the cashier informs him that he’s used up all of his Dining Dollars, and Hubble says that now that he’s out, he will probably rarely eat here. “It’s kind of weird eating vegetarian here, because in the end, you’re still putting money into a corporation that deals largely with meat,” Hubble said. “It’s a corporation that doesn’t cater to my interest, who treats their workers poorly, and has a terrible record.” According to a 2008 study
See MEALS, page 3
CW| Babatunde Ajilore
Kelly Eubanks takes a swing in the Tideʼs win over UAB Wednesday night. By Will Barry Senior Sports Reporter
Whitney Larsen hit a grounder to the pitcher, who threw to home plate in an attempt to throw out senior Brittany Rogers, who The No.1/4 Alabama softball team darting home from third base. Rogers got stuck in a pickle before the defeated in-state rival UAB Blazers 8-1 at home last night in six and a half innings, catcher threw an error to third base allowimproving its record to 14-1 on the season. ing Rogers to score and give Alabama the The Tide started to roll early in the bot- 1-0 lead. Later in the inning on a double steal, tom of the first inning when sophomore
freshman Cassandra Reilly-Boccia stole second base, later advancing to third base on the throw, Larsen headed from third to home increasing the Tide’s lead to 2-0. Next, freshman Jazlyn Lunceford hit a RBI-single to right field allowing Reilly Boccia to head home from third base and
See WIN, page 7
Students find easy ways to go green By Sydney Holtzclaw Contributing Writer CW | Katie Bennett Quick Grill on the strip offers a variety of vegetarian options.
UA weather
TODAY
INSIDE Today’s paper
Students prep to study abroad ....................3
Clear
Womenʼs Basketball: SEC tournament preview .6
68º/47º
Matthes looks to continue streak in Texas .........6
Friday
76º/50º
Visual arts exhibit starts tonight .....................8
Saturday
76º/54º
Underground cinema column ....................9
Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy
The Scene goes to the Opera ................... 12
P.O. Box 870170 Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 Newsroom: 348-6144 | Fax: 348-4116 | Advertising: 348-7845 | Classifieds: 348-7355 Letters, op-eds: letters@cw.ua.edu Press releases, announcements: news@cw.ua.edu
In the last few years, the green movement has exploded onto the scene, taking its place in everywhere from science to pop-culture. Last fall the greek community even got involved when Alpha Tau Omega turned their house “green.” “Working to preserve the environment is not a cliché or mainstream thing; it’s easy to think that with all of the ‘go green’ campaigns we hear about,” Mason Overstreet, a junior in New College and member of Alpha Tau Omega, said. “But, this is a serious matter that our generation needs to consider if we want our kids to have resources like we have today. We take a lot of things for granted, but we need to be aware that our non renewable resources are depleting and we need to do something about it now.” Overstreet has worked on several projects involved with becoming more environmentally friendly. One such project involved working to get his fraternity house to go green. Starting in the fall, ATO members began using environmentally friendly dinnerware such as biodegradable plates and cups, as well as energy efficient light bulbs. Since ATO’s change, Overstreet has received numerous phone calls from other greek organizations wanting to go green as well. “I think it’s great that everyone wants to make changes. It shows more people are becoming aware of the environment and our need to preserve it. And it’s a lot easier than people think, students living
CW | Drew Hoover Jacqueline Johnston, Will Coffman and Richard Sanders enjoy lunch at the Alpha Tau Omega house on Wednesday afternoon using environmentally friends cups, one element of ATOʼs new efforts to go green. in the dorms and apartments can do this too,” Overstreet said. There are five ways Overstreet suggests students can go green easily and effectively. The first thing he suggested students do to become more environmentally aware is to start recycling. If a student lives on campus their dorm has its own bins for paper, plastic and cans provided by the SGA. For those who live off campus, Overstreet suggests getting a trash can or a bag to collect recyclable items, which can be taken to several drop off locations around Tuscaloosa or placed
in a bin while a student is on campus for classes. “By recycling the amount of trash you have will decrease and will have a great impact on the environment,” Overstreet said. “I also suggest getting a reusable water bottle. They’re cheap and you can refill them so you won’t have to continue buying bottles of water.” Next, Overstreet suggested buying 100 percent recyclable paper towels and toilet paper. “A lot of people think going green is
See GREEN, page 2