The University News A Student Voice of Saint Louis University Since 1921 www.unewsonline.com
Vol. LXXXIX No. 20
Students vote to Come Together rather than Unite
Ryan Giacomino / Photo Editor
Members of the Come Together ticket celebrate at their watch party on Feb. 22 after election results are announced, revealing their across-the-board victory for seats in next year’s Student Government Association.
Come Together ticket sweeps SGA executive board positions, uncontested Senate seats By KELLEY DUNN News Editor
and JONATHAN ERNST News Editor
One thousand nine hundred and thirty-three students came together to vote for the leaders of next year’s Student Government Association on Monday, Feb. 22. With more than 70 percent of the total vote, the Come Together ticket trounced the Unite ticket to win all seven of the SGA Executive Board seats. Cheers and hugs filled the Griesedieck Hall lobby as the final results came in at the Come Together watch party. President-elect Courtney Anvender stood up soon afterward to address the success of her ticket. “I love you all so much, we just won all the positions—guys, we just came together,” Anvender said. The events in the SGA office—the host of Unite’s watch party—were very different. A hushed silence came over the then-candidates as the results were announced. Though the results were not as former-presidential candidate JP Johnson had hoped, he said that he felt relief that the elections were over and the results were known. “It was all about the issues, we ran
because we believed in our platforms,” Johnson said. “[Anvender] will do a great job. … This just means I get to keep my hair and graduate in December.” Anvender said that she would start the first part of her Pius XII Memorial Library initiative to gather student responses for a renovation proposal to be in “really good shape next semester.” “I think the transition is going to be really smooth and that has a lot to do with how effective we can be next year to build on the progress from the Harriss Administration.” Anvender said that her executive board has a “really good relationship” with the current executive board, and that these relationships will also be important for this transition. Outgoing SGA President Michael Harriss said that he was pleased with the results, especially the voter turnout. “I think the Activity Fee brings out a lot of people to vote,” he said. Four hundred and thirty-eight more students voted in this election as compared to last year, and those elected were quick to take notice of this leap in voter turnout. “I think the greatest accomplishment right now is the 1,900 votes—that was
Thursday, February 25, 2010
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SGA Presidential Race Results
Activity Fee hike fails by 172 votes By KRISTEN MIANO Associate News Editor
In the wake of the Come Together ticket’s victory, a referendum to increase the Student Activity Fee failed to pass. The proposal to increase the fee by $10 was turned over to the student body to decide, and students elected to keep the fee the same by a vote of 1,009 to 837. “The vote was closer than I thought,” outgoing Student Government Association President Michael Harriss said. “But it’s a clear sign that the student body wants us to be more fiscally responsible with the money than we have [been].” If the Activity Fee increase had passed, it would have created a larger budget for SGA to allocate to Chartered Student Organizations. “Passing the Student Activity Fee would have been beneficial to CSOs,” outgoing Financial Vice President Robert Moehle said. “But the problem I see is that [a student] pays $45 a semester to the activity. Each student gives a full semester to attend an event, and people give more than the Student Activity Fee to attend.” Moehle expressed relief that the fee did not pass, as a limited budget puts more responsibility on CSOs and SGA to better dictate how the
25% 75%
Activity Fee Increase Referendum
55%
Ryan Giacomino / Photo Editor
45%
See “Election” on Page 3
837
1,009
A replacement cross now stands in for the original one that was stolen. Some worry its disappearance could represent potential discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Symbolic LGBT cross vanished overnight By NIHARIKA GOPARAJU Staff Writer
Demolition to displace Tucker-Tunnel residents By ROBERTA SINGER Op/Ed Editor
A small community of homeless people live in the tunnel beneath Tucker Blvd. During the winter, they keep a constant fire alive with wood scraps and empty food boxes. If they let it die, they freeze; nighttime temperatures dip below 30 degrees, and in that makeshift encampment there are no space heaters or REI goose-down sleeping bags. There is just the tin-drum fire and several warm bodies. “Being homeless makes you live in conditions you can’t imagine,” Diane Starr, who has lived in the tunnel since August of 2009, said. “You have to make sure you don’t freeze when you step out to go to the bathroom.”
Mama Cass, another matriarch of the tunnel community, agreed. It was a hard life. Cass cooked a frozen hamburger on a steel grate over the drum fire. It was one of the food provisions delivered to them almost daily by local outreach programs; on Mondays, a bike club delivers hot meals; on Wednesdays, school groups put together lunches for them. Once, they got a delivery of flashlights and windup radios. Sometimes, they receive bedding. The Tucker Tunnel is one of those havens that the homeless often flock to; it is located near agencies like the St. Patrick Center, and provides necessary shelter and privacy. People are always coming and going; according to Starr, some stay only days,
money they have is spent. Cuts will be made to certain aspects of CSO funding, including travel and speaker qualifications. CSOs will be encouraged to look locally for speakers and events. “We’re going to have to look at what we fund and what we don’t fund,” Harris said. Despite the referendum vote, both Harris and Moehle said that they felt the logistics of the Activity Fee were effectively communicated to the student body. “We had the Student Activity Fee Town Hall in the fall,” Moehle said. “We emailed the students and put up posters. Every single student on campus was notified that this was taking place. It’s their responsibility to know these things. We informed them the best we could.” Harris said he wanted the voting to be more “organic,” meaning that he didn’t want students to be influenced by SGA agendas, and to vote how they really felt. “It’s one of those things where [the students] know or they don’t,” Harris said. “Those who were informed probably voted for the increase, but in the long run, it’s better we didn’t push the initiate on the students.” “I feel like I’m spending enough money at this school as is,” freshman Allison Newburg said.
Ryan Giacomino / Photo Editor
Diane Starr currently resides in the tunnel beneath Tucker Boulevard. Tucker Tunnel is home to a small community of homeless people, but will be torn down in the near future. others for weeks and months. The flow picks up during the winter, when sleeping in parks becomes impossible. Starr and Cass and their friends could take advantage of shelters, but even this has its own hardships. According to Cass, the shelters only al-
low you to stay the night, and make you leave with your belongings at seven or eight in the morning. “Imagine having to carry a huge backpack full of [tightlypacked] things all over the See “Homeless” on Page 4
“The Original Cross Has Been Stolen.” Many students are coming across these words as they pass the wooden cross near the Quad. Saint Louis University Campus Ministry started the project where different chartered student organizations sponsor a cross and then decorate it with a current issue that relates to the students. This specific cross belonged to Rainbow Alliance, an organization that fights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. The topic that they had to parallel the cross with was condemned death. “I decided to create a cross that depicted LGBTs who are condemned in the world today,” Finni Finocchiaro, member of Rainbow Alliance and designer of the cross, said. “That’s why I based my design of the cross on three different ideas. The first is how, in some states like Uganda and Saudia Arabia, there is a state-sanctioned death penalty
for homosexuals. The second idea is based on the fact that there have been actual hate crimes against homosexuals, like Matthew Shepard in 1998, and Jorge Mercado in November 2009. Finally, the cross is based on the grief that people carry in their heart when people call them ‘gay.’” This design of the cross consisted of bullet holes, baseball bats and even chains that covered it. “The cross was very visually alarming, and it was meant to cause people to think outside of their comfort zones,” Juliana Hulee Heck, president of Rainbow Alliance, said. Unfortunately, Department of Public Safety thought that it was an action against the LGBT, and they took it down.” Although initially removed by DPS, the cross was replaced after a meeting with Rainbow Alliance, but, between the hours of 9 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. on Saturday, it went missing again. “There have been many See “Cross” on Page 4
Inside The University News »
News »
This SLU alumnus is a school principal by day and pep band director by night.
2
Opinion »
5
This week, the Ed-Board rues the failure of the Student Activity Fee increase.
Arts »
The Academy Award season is entering the home stretch.
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Sports »
11
Men’s basketball tries for its seventh in a row in the A-10.