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April 18, 2011 |VOLUME 48, NUMBER 28
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University of South Alabama’s student newspaper
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‘Biggest Oozers’ come to out play USA’s ‘biggest oozers’ showed up in 60 teams of eight all day Saturday to compete in oozeball, or volleyball played in muddy courts. To see more pictures from the competition, turn to p. 3.
USA gets new WAVE bus stop By Amber Beasley STAFF WRITER
USA welcomed a new WAVE bus stop April 11 to its campus near the Student Recreation Center. “The new WAVE stop was incorporated into the new JagTran stop on Stadium Boulevard at the Student Recreation Center,” USA Transportation/Vehicle Maintenance Superintendent Charles Montgomery said. For students who live on campus or don’t own a vehicle, this new WAVE stop will provide transporsee WAVE | 4
inside
Daniela Werner | Editor-in-Chief
Al-Greene wins runoff for presidency By Alex Whalen MANAGING EDITOR
With a margin of victory of only 22 votes, Colin Al-Greene has won the SGA presidency for the 2011-2012 academic year. Al-Greene had 379 votes to Troy Shephard’s 357. The Vanguard spoke with Al-Greene after his victory about his plans for next year. “I graduate next May, and I want to leave South Alabama better than I found it,” AlGreene said. One of the main sources Al-Greene will use to help guide next year’s Student Government Association (SGA) is his past experience. With both positive and negative experiences, AlGreene says he can better identify positives as well as pitfalls. One major goal for next year, according to Al-Greene, will be to extend the Main Campus Library’s operation to a full 24 hours during finals week. “I want to explore all the options, but the first step is to meet with the Director of Libraries to see what needs to be done,” Al-Greene said. Campus involvement is another big topic for President-Elect Al-Greene, who said he feels that education and awareness of how to become involved is key within the first few weeks of school. As the Student Center begins a lengthy renova-
IPolice Blotter p. 2
tion process, getting information to a large number of students could be more challenging. Al-Greene says the Humanities Buildings and Dining Hall are becoming the best places to reach large numbers of students. One idea, which Vice President-Elect Jessica Byrd has proposed, is to send out a survey to all incoming students to gauge their interests and connect them with clubs they might be interested in. When asked about this initiative, Al-Greene said “I don’t care whose idea it is, as long as it works.” He added he thought this was a great idea. As communication has also been a hot topic throughout this election, The Vanguard asked AlGreene how he plans on improving communication within the SGA, as well as to students. While Al-Greene he offered no specifics, AlGreene said he is keeping open every available option. “We’re going to have to reinvent how we communicate,” he said. “It’s not going to be one big step that’s going to fix things – it’ll be a bunch of little steps.” Meanwhile, Alan Waugh, the presidential candidate eliminated from the runoff by 10
Happenings p. 2
Weather p.5
votes, is still pursuing a protest over election results. Information is mostly unavailable because of a pending SGA Supreme Court hearing over the matter. The Vanguard learned from Waugh that he is filing a second appeal after his initial protest was rejected by the Elections Rules Committee. Last week, The Vanguard reported that Waugh filed a protest based on the voting percentages that were posted with the elections results. This latest appeal is motivated by student complaints that e-mails containing the links to the voting survey were either never received or reached inboxes after elections had closed. Because the case is still pending, The Vanguard has been unable to receive any official comment from administration on the matter. Current SGA President Kim Proctor stated at last week’s SGA meeting that after going over their records, officials in Institutional Research said that all students had received an e-mail in their Jaguar1 e-mail accounts before elections closed, provided they hadn’t configured their accounts to reject e-mails containing Zoomerang surveys. Zoomerang is an online survey software tool. No further information could be gained because of individuals’ involvement in the hearing scheduled for this week. Campus Pulse p.6
Distractions p.14
Opinion | page 7 The Great Debate What should the final ruling be in the pro-choice vs. prolife debate?
Etc. | page 8 USA Bass Team The USA Bass Team could be ranked fairly high, but lack of support has hindered that.
Arts & Entertainment | page 11
‘MythBusters’ at USA Grant Imahara from ‘MythBusters’ talks with The Vanguard.
Sports | page 12 Softball Best Ever Coach Becky Clarks discusses the team’s best record in franchise history.
JagLife p.15