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By JULIA RYAN
EDITORIAL
Eagle Staff Writer
PHILLIP OCHS / THE EAGLE
Alex Priest tells Democrats how to capitalize on their success page 3
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SPORTS GROUNDED Women’s lax brings Lehigh back to Earth with win at home page 8
ROUGH DAY — Class of 2011 Senator Nirvana Habash, center, Class of 2013 President Jose Morales, left, and Class of 2013 Senator Brett Atanasio, right, listen to proceedings at Sunday’s Undergraduate Senate meeting. The Senate voted to certify the results of the election, despite calls to nullify the presidential race.
Senate debates, certifies election By STEFANIE DAZIO Eagle Staff Writer Amid raised voices, flared tempers, an executive’s suspension and a resignation, the Undergraduate Senate voted to certify this year’s election results. The Senate voted 10 to 9 to certify the whole election by secret ballot, after defeating a motion 7 to 12 to nullify the presidential race alone. A two-thirds majority was needed to certify the entire election, while a three-fourths majority was required to nullify a single race. Problems mainly surrounded the presidential race, where a Board of Elections ruling forced Nirvana Habash, a class of 2011 senator, to run as a write-in candidate. Habash still finished in third place, only 30 votes behind second place-finisher Anthony Dunham.
Caps’ Carlson shows he belongs in the NHL page 8
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Debate raged around several different topics. Voter disenfranchisement was a major concern for College of Arts and Sciences Senator Victoria Glynn. “They’ve sat through this process once,” Glynn said of voters. “They’ve made their voices heard, maybe imperfectly, but I think that’s beside the point, because they do not want to vote again, they do not want to be told to vote again.” The logistics of a second election worried Phil Cardarella, a senator-atlarge who formerly served as President-elect Nate Bronstein’s campaign manager. “We don’t know how we’re going to do it,” Cardarella said. “There’s no idea on how we’d actually re-hold elections. Would we have campaigning again?” Class of 2013 Senator Brett Atanasio wondered what exactly should be
fixed. “What’s going to change, what’s going to be different, why should we bother de-certifying an election if we don’t have an answer to the problem that sank it in the first place?” Atanasio said. The Senate heavily debated the ideas of ethics versus convenience. “I think that if you choose to certify these elections just for convenience you are undermining the integrity of the race in general, the race in the future, the dignity of this body,” argued Class of 2010 Senator Garret Martucci. Class of 2011 Senator Meg Miraglia, who was part of Habash’s campaign staff, felt convenience was the easy way out. “I think that it’s irresponsible for people to stray away from doing this even if they acknowledge that things n
see ELECTION on page 4
Student Government Vice President Alex Prescott was suspended until April 25 — the day new SG executives transition — at a meeting of the Undergraduate Senate on Sunday for his mishandling of the Founders’ Day Ball. Prescott was suspended in a vote of 12 to 4 for his inability to secure a contract for the Ball and the event’s cancellation on Friday. Senator for the School of Public Affairs Eric Reith made the motion to suspend Prescott. “There have been questions throughout the year about his actions as vice president,” he said in an e-mail. “It culminated in the gross mismanagement of the planning for the Founders’ Day Ball.” SG President Andy MacCracken stressed that Prescott is, in name, still the SG vice president. He will still receive his compensation, but he is temporarily suspended from all of his duties. SG Secretary Colin Meiselman may take on some of Prescott’s responsibilities, but Prescott will not officially be leaving his post. Prescott said earlier in the day that the Ball was canceled this year due to a number of issues with contracts, staffing and availability. Student Activities Program Adviser Andrew Toczydlowski said that members of the SG were told Founders’ Day Ball could not be held this year after they “repeatedly missed deadlines for contract and event proposal submission.” Toczydlowski noted that events like the Founders’ Day Ball usually take months to plan in advance. “While Student Activities extended the deadline for submission of the necessary information a few times for this year’s Founders’ Day Ball, we eventually reached a point where the
university ... would not be able to process the necessary paperwork in time for this event to take place this semester,” Toczydlowski said. Prescott and Founders’ Day Director Jacque Martin canceled the ball Friday morning after discussing the matter with Student Activities and the Office of Campus Life. The SG was also told that the most realistic option at this point for an event to replace Founders’ Day would be a large-scale event in an on-campus venue, specifically the Tavern, according to Toczydlowski. Prescott said he is disappointed that the Founders’ Day Ball could not be successfully held this year. “I’m very upset,” Prescott said. “[Founders’ Day Ball] is something that I really wanted to see come to fruition. I apologize to the campus for the inconvenience this has caused. But I am optimistic for next year’s Founders’ Day Ball.” The Senate’s power to suspend was only created at last week’s meeting. Class of 2011 Senator Steve Dalton proposed a bill that outlined procedures for any future impeachment hearings and also gave the Senate power to suspend SG members. Dalton said that the power to suspend gave the Senate an option between two extremes — the power to impeach and remove from office and the power to censure, which Dalton called a “slap on the wrist.” The money that was supposed to be used for Founders’ Day will be reallocated to fund events going on throughout April, such as Eagle Nights and Spring Fling week, Prescott said. SG Secretary Colin Meiselman said members of the SG did make an effort to bring Founders’ Day back after it was initially postponed in February. A proposal to hold the event on April 3 was rejected because the proposal was missing vital information. Meiselman said after Spring Break, n
see FOUNDERS’ on page 4
Greek Week goes smoothly despite fight By SARAH RUDNICK Eagle Staff Writer
UP AND COMING
VOLUME 84 ISSUE 43
Founders’ Ball canceled, VP suspended
NEWS
DEMS, FIGHT ON
MARCH 29, 2010
A fight took place during the Greek Olympics on the Tenley field Saturday, marring an otherwise well-received Greek Week event. Over 500 people attended the event, with every greek organization present, according to Inter-fraternity Council Vice President Carter Gibson. All of the events went smoothly, until two individuals — one from fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa and the other Pi Kappa Alpha — got into an argument, eventually escalating into a physical fight, he said. “We had all the frat brothers from
every organization risk their own safety to pull these students apart,” Gibson said. However, Gibson said before the incident occurred, the respect and enthusiasm exhibited from the rest of the greek community impressed him. “We showed unity, and it’s unfortunate that two organizations conducted themselves the way they did [on Saturday],” he said. The remainder of the event was canceled around 1:50 p.m., according to Gibson. Coordinator of Greek Life Curtis Burrill said overall the events were well-planned and better organized than in previous years. Additionally,
he said calling the greek Olympics incident a fight “is over-emphasizing it.” “[Greek liaison] Alana [Rudkin] and [Gibson] have done an amazing job,” he said. Greek Week concluded last night. The winning team “China,” was comprised of sorority Sigma Delta Tau and fraternities Sigma Phi Epsilon and Delta Tau Delta, according to Gibson. They will receive over $1,000 each to donate to their preferred charities, The Eagle previously reported. PSK and Pike were expelled from Greek Week, and their points were nullified, according to Gibson. The IFC has not taken any immediate action against the fraternities, but e-mails
were sent out to their presidents, according to IFC Public Relations Chair Adam Tager. Judicial charges will be discussed, but no decisions have been made, he said. PSK President Mike Kaufman and Vice President Brendan Asta were home for the weekend and not present at the event, according to Kaufman. He released the following statement to The Eagle: “The events of this weekend were unfortunate. It is regrettable that the actions of a few individuals resulted in the cancellation of the Greek Games; an event that takes countless hours of planning every year,” the statement said. “It would be a mistake to look
at the actions of a few individuals as a larger reflection of the greek community as a whole. While we cannot comment on how the organizations of the other involved individuals will react, we are already working to rectify this matter internally.” Pike President John Sonsalla was personally involved in the fight. “I can confirm that I was directly involved,” he said. “I was just trying to resolve the situation, and I feel bad.” Pike was doing well with points throughout the previous Greek Week events, Gibson said. Sonsalla said he knew this and regrets not being able to finish n
see GREEK on page 2
AU students in Chile explore devastated countryside By MARISA KENDALL Eagle Staff Writer SANTIAGO, Chile — Though by now both the aftershocks and news coverage have subsided considerably, AU students studying abroad in this city continue to experience the effects of Chile’s devastating earthquake. The epicenter of the 8.8-magnitude earthquake was about 200 miles southwest of Santiago, but most AU students said they could feel the ground shake. While some students were in bed, several others were leaving a nightclub when the earthquake hit. The quake began at around 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 27, and by 11:15 a.m. of the same day, Study Abroad Adviser Brita Doyle had sent out an e-mail to all students and parents of students in the Santiago program. Only nine of the 13 students were accounted for
at that time, due to power and phone line outages that made communication difficult. At around 1:00 p.m., Doyle sent a follow-up e-mail stating that all students were safe. The earthquake struck at the end of AU students’ first week in Chile. Laura Perkins, a junior in the School of International Service currently abroad in Santiago, said she keeps wondering what the country looked like before the earthquake. “Was that rubble there before the ‘terremoto,’ or had the roof not been there before also?” she asked, using the Spanish word for earthquake. “Clearly, Chile wasn’t a pristine country full of nothing but solid walls before the earthquake, but there’s no way to tell from looking.” On March 19, AU students took an all-day bus trip through the Maule region of Chile, which was much closer to the epicenter and therefore more af-
fected by the earthquake than Santiago. During the trip, the students spoke with staff members from Fundación para la Superación de la Pobreza, or the Foundation for Overcoming Poverty — a non-profit organization run by one of their professors — to learn how the organization functions and to determine the specific needs of the earthquake survivors. Students drove through Iloca, a small fishing village completely destroyed by a tsunami that struck about 20 minutes after the earthquake. The residents had all fled to the hills, leaving nothing on the beach but dirty Chilean flags atop heaps of rubble that had once been their homes. One house had been thrown into the street by the wave. All that was left of another was a square of tile floor and a toilet. Anna Gallos, a junior in SIS and currently abroad in Santiago, said the n
see CHILE on page 4
MARISA KENDALL / THE EAGLE
COUNTRY IN RUINS — Buildings on the coast of Chile were swept off their foundations by tsunami created by Chile’s Feb. 27 earthquake. While the infrastructure of this town was devastated, all of its residents fled and survived.