SPORTS
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Tide’s David heads to NCAA Championships
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
LIFESTYLES Missing Ink to host horror film contests
Serving the University of Alabama since 1894
Vol. 115, Issue 101
SGA ELECTIONS BOARD
Board to address alleged violations By Victor Luckerson Senior Staff Reporter
This week the Elections Board and University administration will arrive at a decision regarding possible repercussions for campaign violations in last week’s SGA elections. A press release issued Monday stated, “We have reason to be concerned over what we believe to be expressions of incivility and non-collegial behavior during the elections process. We have received complaints alleging campaign violations and plan to investigate each of these claims in the coming days.” Ben Harmon, chair of the Elections Board, said the board convened in an
emergency meeting on Tuesday to look at complaints filed during last week’s election, in which Steven Oliver defeated Kendra Key by 261 votes. Today the board will submit a list of complaints and recommendations for action to Mark Nelson, vice president for student affairs. Nelson will approve or disapprove of the board’s recommendations, and these decisions will be handed down to the Key and Steven campaigns on Thursday. “We got a lot of duplicate complaints,” Harmon said. He said they had whittled down the large volume of complaints to specific problems that they can issue recommendations on. However, he said the exact the nature of the complaints and
Alpha Phi becomes full chapter By Patty Vaughan Staff Reporter
One-hundred-ninety-four women were initiated into the Alpha Phi chapter last Friday making it an official sorority on the UA campus. Each woman signed a charter that will hang in their house, said Gentry McCreary, director of greek affairs. On March 7 there was a banquet that was a celebration of the installation. Students, staff, faculty members and friends made up the more than 500 people who attended the banquet. “They’re extremely excited and it’s a very big deal,” McCreary said. “This installation is the largest in the history
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INSIDE Today’s paper
Spring time on campus
Honor societies to reselect members By Victor Luckerson Senior Staff Reporter
CW | Marion R Walding Top: Colin Whitworth, a freshman majoring in English, draws with sidewalk chalk on the Quad Tuesday afternoon. Whitworth and his friends said they were bored and decided to go chalk. Bottom: UA alumnus Dustin P., left, and Zac Tavel, a junior majoring in studio art, relax as Rusty, Tavelʼs dog, plays on the Quad Tuesday afternoon. “I just came out here to play with the dog and relax in my hammock,” Tavel said.
The Mortar Board and Blue Key, two senior honor societies, will be reselecting their members for next year in the coming weeks. The decision comes after last week’s discovery of a flaw on the Coordinating Council of Honor Societies Web site that allowed current members to view the personal information of applicants during the selection process. This flaw compromised the blind selection process of these honor societies. “We want to make sure we get it right,” said Patty Ann Green, Mortar Board president. “We just want to ensure the integrity of the process is maintained. The system has been improved.” She said Web masters had gone into the online system to ensure that the same problem would not arise again. Green said the Mortar Board would go through its reselection process the week after spring break. Blue Key also experienced problems with members being able to view applicants’ personal information and is in the midst of a reselection process. “We just decided it was definitely the most fair and ethical way to do a reselection process that did not expose
see HONORS, page 5
Canada Chief Justice spoke Monday..........2
TUSCALOOSA CITY COUNCIL
Creative Campus internships available.3
Bookstore’s historical designation nullified
Opinions: Outsourcing more than jobs.........4
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ʻThe Missing Inkʼ hosts horror film contest ....6
Friday
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Columbia music professor lectures tonight ........7
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certain actions.” “I think people took the online voting as a license for behaviors that were uncivil,” Harmon said. He said some people were “pushing the limit,” doing whatever necessary to get votes. Harmon said other factors besides the new online system also contributed to the intensity of the campaigns. “It was two strong candidates this year,” he said. Despite problems, Harmon said he felt this year’s election was a success in many ways. “We saw voter turnout increase 290 percent,” he said. “A lot more students were vocal about their ideas. The online system was easy to use and students liked it.”
see CHAPTER, page 2
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said. “We’ll look at what the Elections Board has said and we’ll work with administration to see what needs to be done. We want to move past this as quick as we can so we can get the campus united and accomplish some good things for this school in the next year.” Key expressed hope that future elections will remain honest. “I hope the Elections Board will be able to bring some integrity to the elections process and ensure future participants in elections will know the process will work for them,” Key said. “This election cycle gave a lot more access to voting, but there were some unanticipated events that occurred because of not having rules to prevent
of the UA as well as the Alpha Phi as a national sorority.” Not only is Alpha Phi the largest chapter in the national organization but it is also the only chapter in Alabama. Alpha Phi’s first installation at Alabama was in 1932, and lasted until 1963. However, due to dwindling membership the sorority closed, McCreary said. At the banquet, however, a few members of the original installation were there to celebrate. “Women in their seventies and eighties came back and were able to finally feel that their home that had been on campus when there were here as students was now back,”
CW | Norman Huynh Alpha Phi is the Universityʼs newest sorority, however, its first installation was from 1932 to 1963.
UA weather
the Election Board’s recommendations could not be revealed until they had been reviewed by Nelson and assessed by both campaign teams. Harmon said the board received complaints in roughly equal volume concerning both the Key and Oliver campaigns. Last week The Crimson White reported widespread campaign violations concerning inappropriate sidewalk chalking, vandalism, coercive use of laptops and inappropriate soliciting of votes inside University buildings. Oliver said he stood by the fact that he and his staff had run a fair campaign. “We were all aware of the rules,” he
Womenʼs golf set for spring season......... 10
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
By RF Rains Assistant Photo Editor A mix-up in notification procedures nullified the Alabama Book Store’s historic building designation. The council voted Feb. 17 but had to reapprove the designation again. More business from Feb. 17 was revisited tonight. Rather than make “30 or so separate phone calls,” city councilman Lee Garrison summoned constituents with an interest in the controversial College Park Historic District together to explain that the council had no jurisdiction to make the designation. “Everybody makes mistakes,” he said. “This was one.” The council can’t originate
proposals for historic designations. An area has to be recommended by the Historic Preservation Committee. In the
“Everybody makes mistakes. This was one.” — city councilman Lee Garrison
case of College Park, they did not. The Committee was hung up on some things — for example, the empty lot owned by Gene Carpenter, who sent lawyers to speak against the designation on Feb. 17. For an area to be “historically significant” it has to have a structure
that is architecturally significant, linked to a historical figure or part of history. A development plan for more Bluff Apartments was approved unanimously tonight. Jason Walker from Almon Associates described the complex to be built on Seventh Avenue East at the site of the old water woks as a “top-of-the-line, highend student apartment community.” The 24 units will overlook the Black Warrior River and cost around $100,000 each. The final vote to approve the plan will be next Tuesday. Walker said they could break ground as soon as that Thursday. Minutes from all city council meetings can be found on the Tuscaloosa City Web site.