Issue 82, Volume 78

Page 1

Tuesday, February 26, 2013 // Issue 82, Volume 78

THE DAILY COUGAR

T H E

O F F I C I A L

S T U D E N T

N E W S PA P E R

O F

T H E

U N I V E R S I T Y

O F

H O U S T O N

CANDIDATES AT A GLANCE

S I N C E

1 9 3 4

OPINION

Alcoholism in college LIFE+ARTS CEDRIC BANDOH (PRES) & RANI RAMCHANDANI (VP)

EDUARDO REYES (PRES) AND MAGGIE McCARTNEY (VP)

PLATFORM

PLATFORM

The UH Redvolution team of incumbent Cedric Bandoh and Senator Rani Ramchandani campaigns under the slogan “service above self.” They will work to better communication through the online town hall forum ImproveUH and the UH Mobile App. It will improve security by bringing back Cougar Patrol, a buddy system program, and installing more 24-hour watchtowers. Bandoh and Ramchandani hope to work with the city to expand their bike-sharing program to UH and continue to make the rebuild of Cullen Boulevard a priority. They also want to ensure students are continually informed of the new stadium’s progress and the Service Fee Memorandum of Understanding is followed. The team wants to increase student

organization involvement by bringing campus leaders together under a Council of Presidents. Senators on the ballot: At Large: Tanzeem Chowdhury, Sebastian Agudelo, Somtoo IkIjeofor; Bauer: Sunil Motwani, Shadi Rafeedie, Juan Lerma; Education: Crystal Brumfield; Engineering: Ever Javier, Taisia Sturza; Honors College: Samantha Joseph; CLASS: Dominique Champion, David Ghably, Elliot Kauffman, Catherin De Montaigu, Jonathan Garcia, Tatiana Lutomski, Andrew Knop; NSM: Nancy Shenoi, Samantha Matthew, Trent Fuller; Technology: Fola Alabi

The Reyes-McCartney team hopes to bring the Student Government Association back to the students by re-instituting traditional town halls and building a better a connection with students. SGA vice presidential candidate Maggie McCartney believes SGA needs to focus on solving the University’s problems. “We want to bring SGA back to simple solutions and bring it back to the student voice and student complaints,” McCartney said. “We want to actually be liaisons for the students.” The platform of the “back to basics, back to students” campaign focuses on improving safety and security — ensuring advisers are helping students, beautifying

VS

campus and simplifying the process for organizations to fundraise or do other activities. “We are really just working hard to bring the student government back to the students,” said Eduardo Reyes, SGA presidential candidate. “We want to change the culture of this campus and make it a place where students are engaged.” Senators on the ballot: At large: Nicholas Stallman, Cynthia Orobio, Kirby White; Bauer: Christopher Holly; Engineering: Daniel Sanchez, Clint Kirchhoff; Honors College: Nick Fox; CLASS: Clement Agho-Otoghile, Fizza Raza, Guillermo Lopez, James Lee, Leonel Mata, Yesenia Chavez; NSM: Gregorio Ayala-Guerra, Enrique Martinez; Technology: Brianna Mills, Bashar Shamma

Paradise Hotel turns up heat SPORTS

Written by Kathleen Murrill | Photos from candidates’ campaigns | Graphic by Andres Garcia

Cougars win in San Marcos

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Presidential candidates face off Katherine Morris Contributing writer

Safety was the hot topic at Monday’s debate between Student Government Association presidential candidates. Both Senator Eduardo Reyes and SGA President Cedric Bandoh claim that their strongest issue is safety and security. “You can’t expect students to be unsafe on campus,” said Reyes, an economics sophomore. “You have to walk half a mile to the nearest call box and if you’re ever in a situation where you need one that’s scary, that can be life or death.” In response, Bandoh said he wants to bring back a student program that came out in the early 2000s. “It’s unacceptable to have any

of our emergency equipment not working,” Bandoh said. “But something that’s big on our platform this year is that I think it’s time to bring back Cougar Patrol.” “We currently have a similar program but there are many complaints about wait times. The flip side is that student organizations need to take a hold of this, and it’s a great way to bring the campus together.” Another issue addressed was the Reyes-McCartney opposition to the UH phone app and ImproveUH, the new virtual town hall. Bandoh made it clear these were decided on as a group within the senate. “One thing that I’ve learned is that any time you attempt to

GET SOME DAILY

thedailycougar.com

TOMORROW Baseball team takes on Houston Baptist University at home.

ONLINE POLL Eduardo Reyes (left) and Cedric Bandoh (right) discussed student safety on campus in Monday’s presidential debate. | Shaimaa Eissa/The Daily Cougar

change the status quo is that you’re going to have people that aren’t happy,” Bandoh said. “I’ve looked over some of the things on the other party’s platform, on things they may or may not be happy about, but what we do in SGA is

done as a team, we’ve always done things together as a group. Everything that we’ve done has been in connection with our senators.”

DEBATE continues on page 3

Who are you voting for in this year’s SGA elections?

COUNTDOWN

13

Days until Spring Break.

Have you picked out your swimsuit? Or are you going buy it from the bookstore last minute?


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