Voters say 'Yes' to Student Union By Rudy Enriquez News Editor Construction will soon be under way for UTPA's Student Union. Despite the speculation and controver sy, the smoke has cleared and the student union pro posal has been approved by the student body. The vote was 388 to 284. This means that once con struction is completed a $30 fee will be added to those attending UTPA at that time to support union costs. The proposal, which was defeated by 16 votes in 1994, made a come back this semester after changes, which may have led to a successful victory. One of the changes was adding the fee to tuition cost once con
struction was complete as opposed to adding it imme diately after the election, as suggested in 1994. "I know this was a diffi cult decision for many stu dents," said Elvie Davis, Dean of Students, "but I am glad they made the decision they did. It shows great maturity and vision." Davis said it will provide students with a deserved opportunity for the future. "It's exciting to look for ward to a brighter and bet ter campus life for the stu dent body." The next step now will be to conduct surveys of the student body in order to find out what they want the building to contain.
Romeo Diaz and Monica Trevino
Who won the SGA election??? Norma Castillo
Editor
Who will lead the Student Government Association (SGA) during the next academic year remained undecided last night. Neither SGA ticket received the 321 majority of votes required by the SGA Constitution to declare a winner. Election results totaled 306 votes for the Diaz-Ogle ticket and 302 votes for the Trevino/Nelson ticket. Sixteen votes were cast for nine different write-in candidates. Election rules of the SGA Constitution state that write-in ballots will be valid if the write-in
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Library Jeff Owens
candidate followed election rules. In this case, the write-in candidate did not file before voting took place. "It's very simple according to election rules. Those votes are invalid," said Romeo Diaz, SGA presidential candidate. "It seems that Romeo's party got the majority of the vote even with the write-ins," said Carlton Nelson, SGA vice president candidate. The certification of election results, accord ing to the Constitution, will be determined by the Dean of Students Office today.
expansion proposed
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The proposed library expansion will include a three floor addition to the existing building.
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The Campus Planning Committee will meet in Austin with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board April 1718 to recommend construction approval of a 49,000-square-foot addition to the University Library. Plans are for a three-floor structure integrated into the existing library build ing, so that access is possible from each floor of the addition to the current build ing. The first floor will contain the state of the art computer instruction classrooms which can also be used for teleconferenc ing and distance education. The classrooms will seat 24 and 36 stu dents. The first floor will also house the library's technical processing (ordering,
receiving, cataloging of library materials) materials nf nIT n rtrtan rtffi /-* am staff in an open office environment. "The addition will be a great asset to the University Library, because there will be more book space and study areas and two state of the art computer classrooms. With the advances in technology, this will be a tremendous asset to the student body of the University", said Dr. Elinor Foster, Director of the University Library. "I think that the new expansion to the library is great. The computers and refer ence room are always busy and the new facility will allow more room for students to access the new technology resources available to the students", said Yesenia Trevino, sophomore Psychology major. If approved, construction is expected to be completed by the latter part of 1998.