Photo courtesy of Daniel McNabb
BATS LEAD WOLVES TO SERIES SWEEP page 9
theJournal
Volume 14 Issue 17 | Friday, April 25, 2014
by Allison Opson Clement News Editor This year, there are six candidates for a total of four positions in ASWOU, with no candidates on the ballot for the volunteer positions of student senators, Incidental Fee Committee (IFC) members (the elected chair receives a stipend), judicial board justices or the paid position of senate president. “We’ve never had one of the major branch heads go uncontested,” said Megan Habermann, a five-year adviser for ASWOU, but there is usually at least one uncontested position every year. She said that this ebb and flow is a natural part of student involvement, and that interest in leadership involvement is different for everyone, and Any student for every group of students. “Every year it’s like a can do it and I new pot to try to pull from,” would said Tyler Crawford, the current senate president, of encourage the shifting of the student any student to community, with incoming freshmen and graduating get involved. seniors. According to HaberThere’s ample mann, without any candiopportunity to dates as the elections finget involved ish today, Friday, April 25, the election will rely first and your voice on write-in nominees, who is welcome and often do not accept the position. Crawford says that encouraged. someone must call these people, even if the name MEGAN HABERMANN was written in as a joke by ASWOU Adviser a friend. With so few candidates available, they have to follow through with everyone. If no write-in nominee accepts the position of senate president, an emergency election will be held. Other positions for senate, IFC, and justices will be filled by elected student leadership, pulling in other individuals. “This year is definitely kind of a lot drier,” said
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Crawford of candidate turnout. He said it varies: “Each year it’ll change.” According to Crawford, last year there were about four candidates for president, and two for the senate leadership. ASWOU must try to raise awareness, Crawford said. He wants new students to hear about the organization, for a broader range of people to draw from for positions and to spread more knowledge and increase involvement. “You don’t usually get someone who is completely new running for ASWOU,” said Crawford. Crawford would like to see volunteer positions be paid at some point in the future, but that has already been attempted and would be very difficult to make happen. “Other than that, it’s just trying to make yourself [the individual branches of ASWOU] as appealing as possible.” “We’ve tried to keep everyone updated,” Crawford said of what he and ASWOU are doing right now. However, he said that it’s mainly “up to the candidates to raise awareness for the polling.” On Tuesday, April 22, and Thursday, April 24, there was a table set up in the Grove outside of Ackerman Hall providing free coffee, with a computer set up for students to vote. “We struggled to find people to serve on the elections committee,” said Habermann. “That negatively affected the whole process.” She added that it wasn’t the fault of any individual, but rather that it just took a long time to find the right people, and they didn’t anticipate that struggle. Habermann said Judicial Administrator Jenesa Honda worked hard to arrange the elections committee, chaired by Greg Cronk and Ryan McBee. The minimum number of voters required to make an election official is about 10 percent of the population, said Crawford; they are aiming to get about 500 students to vote. He said of electronic voting, “that’s definitely a big help” in the past few years. “All the students on the [elections] committee are doing a good job,” said Habermann. “The student government, I feel, accomplishes a lot.” Habermann said that with plenty of other opportunities to get involved on campus, student leadership may have a fair amount of competition for attention. She said that it is important to know that student leadership need not be a huge time commitment and isn’t as scary as many people imagine. For example, senators receive training, and only have to attend about one meeting a week during the school year. “Any student can do it and I would encourage any student to get involved,” Habermann said. If people have a complaint about how something is going, she said, they should get in a position to change what they think isn’t working. “There’s ample opportunity to get involved and your voice is welcome and encouraged,” she added.
21st annual powwow page 4
reminder The last day to drop a class without receiving a grade is TODAY (Friday, April 25). If you wish to drop a course without grade responsibility, go to the registration office before the end of the day.
parking lot closure Lot E (across from the OPE and behind West House) will be closed to all vehicles from 6 p.m. Friday, April 25 until the WOU Triathlon finishes on Saturday, April 26. There will be high traffic on Jackson Street and College Street for the day.
ASWOU election Don’t forget that TODAY (Friday, April 25) is the last day to vote for next year’s ASWOU candidates for the 2014-15 school year. Make your voice count! Go to your WOU Portal and look on the left under “Programs” for “ASWOU Election - 2014.”
www.wou.edu/student/westernjournal www.wou.edu/student/westernjournal
Photo by Allison Opson Clement
Lack of ASWOU candidates may require emergency election