WHAT’S INSIDE? Sterling should be suspended for racist rant “Hair” opens and captures emotion well Softball drops series, sit second in SLC
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HI: LOW:
BASEBALL SWEEPS LIONS, THIRD IN SLC
72o 48o
Alex Broussard | The Houstonian
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Volume 125/ Issue 28
Facebook.com/ TheHoustonian Tuesday, April 29, 2014
CAMPUS
Ashbins covered in smoke-free move CONNOR HYDE Editor-in-Chief Sam Houston State University is taking the next step of enforcement to its tobacco-free policy after adopting it in 2012. According to Scott Dolezal, Custodial and Ground Services manager, the university has begun putting stickers over the holes in the smoking bins that are part of some of the campus’ trashcans. Dolezal said all 80 of these cigarette bins will be inaccessible within the next month. Dolezal tested the stickers’ effectiveness on the south side of the Chemistry and Forensic Sciences Building early last week. “This is kind of our first step of solving the problem and the most cost effective way of dealing with it,” he said. “We got to figure out a way to plug the hole so people
don’t poke their finger through it.” The cost to install the stickers is $500, according to Dolezal, with the alternative to replace each trashcan without an ashbin pushing approximately $28,000. However, despite the effort to enforce the policy, Dolezal said it will put strain on SHSU’s custodial and ground services. “It is likely there will be more cigarette butts on the ground as a result of the cigarette trays being unavailable,” he said. “More time will be consumed by Ground Services removing the additional litter. Ground Services already devotes more than 4,600 hours of labor annually to trash removal. This figure will most likely go up once the stickers are in place.” Although the stickers are designed to remove a disposal resource for smokers, freshman chemistry major Breanna Ethridge said the measure isn’t
Connor Hyde | The Houstonian
BUTT-OUT: Sam Houston State University has moved to make ashbins inaccessbile for on-campus and off-campus smokers to use. All 80 trashcans are expected to be covered at the end of the month.
enough to make SHSU a tobaccofree campus. “It’s not going to stop anyone from smoking,” Ethridge said.
“They’re going to just throw it on the ground. I think [smokers] should be fined. If you get a parking ticket, you’re not going to
park in the same spot. If people get fined for smoking, they won’t want to do it on campus.” According to the policy, if an observer sees an individual smoking he or she should report it to “appropriate management,” which includes supervisors, program coordinators, directors, vice presidents, professors, department chairs, deans, residence hall directors, building liaisons or university police officers. However, according to University Police Chief Kevin Morris, to his knowledge no one has complained to UPD. The policy doesn’t clearly define repercussions for smoking on campus but, according to Morris, if the student or non-student doesn’t cooperate and voluntarily dispose of their cigarette “they could be asked to leave campus.”
Alex Broussard | The Houstonian
CLASSIC RIDES: The inaugural Rescues and Rides Charity Car Show debuted Saturday in front of McKenzie’s BBQ. The event was free to the public and featured classic cars and pets from the Rita B. Huff Animal Shelter.
CAMPUS
Copeland named president-elect JAY R. JORDAN Associate Editor Student government is finally 100 percent sure of the student body presidential election results. Junior criminal justice major Spencer Copeland is the student body president-elect. After being passed the buck by the Student Government Association Supreme Court on making the decision of allowing another presidential election Wednesday, the election commission decided to stick with the initial results from the April 9 and 10 election. Copeland won with 54 percent of the student vote. The election results were called
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into question when presidential candidate Oseremen Emmanuel Omoegbele filed a petition to the election commission April Omoegbele claimed he lost students’ votes because they didn’t recognize his legal first name, which was put on the ballot instead of the name he goes by, Emmanuel. “I’m relieved,” Copeland said. “I felt both decisions were very fair, that both the court and the commission during the second time around listened to the facts and ruled in accordance with the constitution and election code.” According to court documents, sending the matter back to the commission was “in the interest of fairness and justice.” The commission’s decision hindered
on that same fairness, according to election coordinator and student body vice president Kolby Flowers. “Commissioners asked [Omegbele] if, besides the name issue, if he felt the election was fair and he said yes,” Flowers said. “The commission also questioned why he waited so long after the results came out to file his protest. He never attempted to contact the commission to ask why his name was different than what he thought it would be.” Although the dust has seemingly settled with Copeland rising victorious, one expert said this whole issue could have been avoided with a professionally written election code. American Student Government Association
executive director Butch Oxendine said the name controversy could lead to more issues down the road. “Of course you’re your legal name on the ballot,” Oxendine said. “I can’t say I’ve ever even heard about that being an issue. This kind of stuff has got to stop.” According to Oxendine, ASGA reports a national average of a four percent voter turnout for college elections. This puts SHSU’s turnout above the average for student governments, with 6.8 percent of the student body voting in this year’s student body presidential election, but below the national average for public institutions, which ranges from 10 to 15 percent, according to the —
After tensions peaked with concerns of who was elected student body president, current Student Body President Ramiro Jaime, Jr. alleged election coordinator and student body vice president Kolby Flowers was corrupt in a letter to the Supreme Court, saying he did “everything he can in order to help Senator [Spencer] Copeland get elected.” However, Flowers denied the allegations of a fixed elections. “The president has been saying and will continue to say whatever he can to make sure Senator Copeland never takes office as president,” Flowers said. Jaime’s full letter can be found on houstonianonline.com.
SGA, page 3
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