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April 25, 2012 Issue 111, Volume 77
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Bandoh: SGA must ‘clean house’ Joshua Mann
THE DAILY COUGAR
Cruz, who competed in 2011 but was not able to this year because of her position, is already planning to compete next year. “I love the experience,” Cruz said. “I remember the feeling of waiting to hear your trader name and hear that you pass to the next and final round.” Sameed Gagai, Alyson Quintana, Ben Barr, Pete Watson and Lateef Frierson were the other five Bauer students who placed in the top 10. The members chosen to compete began practicing in the fall. “This is a once in a lifetime experience,” said Perez who is also the treasurer of the Finance Association. “When can you say you hung out with traders of the New York Stock Exchange?”
The Student Government Association senate will take a look at the first code reform bills by the task forces set up by the SGA President Cedric Bandoh. This bill, written by Chief Justice of the SGA Court of Appeals Taylor Kilroy, deals with the fact that some of the students on the SGA Court of Appeals also sit on the University Hearing Board. “Most of the time that’s cool,” Kilroy said. “It fails, though, when you have election complaints go to the dean of students.” Students disqualified from SGA elections because of fraud could appeal to the University Hearing Board if they think university rules were broken during their original hearing. If this happens, Kilroy said, some of the students who heard the original fraud case would be on the bench at the next court. “Fundamental ideas of unbiased tribunals and fair hearings are implicated when the same student members judge two different stages of the same matter,” the bill says. The bill will be the first of many reforms to the SGA’s various codes and bylaws, but the rest of the reforms may not be so quick to appear, Kilroy said. “We’re trying to make sure these are good changes and lasting changes,” Kilroy said. “It’s better to do a good job then a quick job.” Bandoh set the task forces to work on the reforms partly in response to the problems SGA experienced during the last two election seasons, but they cover much more than the election codes; Bandoh said he wants SGA to “clean house.” “Part of it does stem from elections … (but) we’re doing a complete overhaul of SGA,” Bandoh said. “If we’re going to be effective in the things we do, we have to clean up internally.” The three task forces are going over the SGA constitution and bylaws, which govern the general operation of SGA: the election codes and procedures and the judicial codes. When the task forces finish their work, they will package the reforms together in one bill, which will be presented to the SGA senate sometime in the summer, Bandoh said. “Hopefully the senate will pass it and send it to my desk to sign,” he said.
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Students learned hand gestures, terminology and the way to react to the fast-paced atmosphere of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s trading floor. Blythe Perez, above, won third place in the competition. | Courtesy of Amanda G. Sebesta
BAUER
Cougars learn market moves, lingo CME simulation gives students opportunity to meet industry professionals, test their skills Miriam Villalta
THE DAILY COUGAR Bauer School of Business students took six of the top 10 spots in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group Commodity Trading Challenge, a competition mimicking the world of energy trading on March 31. The two-phase competition, organized by the Finance Association at the University of Houston, gives students the opportunity to simulate the CME’s trading floor, using hand gestures, shouting trading terminology and reacting to the fast-paced energy market. The second portion of the competition gives participants the opportunity to meet with representatives of the industry. “We put this event together so that students who are interested in commodity, options and equity trading industry can have a hands on feeling and meet companies and professionals who are currently in this industry,” said Yvette Cruz, finance and entrepreneurship junior and corporate relations officer for the association. The first phase of the competition
I love it because while getting to compete, you also get to network with traders and listen to what their job is really like behind all the glamour and money ... This is a once in a lifetime experience ... When can you say you hung out with traders of the New York Stock Exchange?” Blythe Perez, on her experience at the CME Commodity Trading Challenge gives teams the opportunity to experience real-time electronic trading, and the second phase uses the open-outcry method commodity traders use when executing orders on their clients’ behalf. “I love it because while getting to compete, you also get to network with traders and listen to what their job is really like behind all the glamour and money,” said Blythe Perez, pre-business sophomore and the third-place winner. The competition judges participants based on how well they execute their clients’ orders and also awards scholarships. “I personally met representatives from OTC Global Holding, Topstep Traders, Flow Traders, Shell, CME group (and) BP,” Cruz said. “I learned about the different jobs in the commodity industries.”