APRIL 2013 PAGE 1 Bolden elected new student body president With a majority vote, Damani Bolden, junior in ACES, was elected as the student body president at the Illinois Student Senate’s internal elections on Tuesday. The elections were held at the Illini Union and members voted on four executive positions: president, vice president internal, vice president external and treasurer. Current president, Brock Gebhardt gave the opening speech for the presidential candidates and wished them all the best of luck. Gebhardt said that the ideal candidate needs to be resolved, understanding, patient and willing to make the school a better place. Bolden beat three other candidates: current vice president-internal and historian Shao Guo, senator- elect Ryan Gleason and senator-elect Mo Johnson. None of the four candidates received the majority vote during the initial vote, so a run-off was held with the three candidates with the highest percentage of votes. Bolden says that he wants to serve his peers, the campus and the community. “The senate is lacking leadership, ethics, communication and the ability to problem solve,” Bolden said. “It is the job of the president to give [the senators] guidance to help [them] grow as leaders.” Bolden plans to shape members of the senate by utilizing the Illinois Leadership Center and also hopes to change the culture of the senate. The ISS elected Jenny Baldwin, junior in LAS, as the vice president-internal. Baldwin currently serves as the vice president-external and previously served as the chief of staff. Timmy Knudsen, law student, was elected vice president-external and Kevin Seymour, graduate student, was reelected as treasurer. The newly elected officials will be sworn into office April 17. The Senator The official newsletter of the Illinois Student Senate. The Illinois Student Senate serves as the “Official Voice of the Student Body” at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. THE NEWLY ELECTED OFFICIALS Melissa España Director of Communications [email protected]Jenny Baldwin Vice President -Internal Timmy Knudsen Vice President -External Kevin Seymour Treasurer
Transcript
! APRIL 2013
! PAGE 1
Bolden elected new student body president With a majority vote, Damani Bolden, junior in ACES, was elected as the student body president at the Illinois Student Senate’s internal elections on Tuesday. The elections were held at the Illini Union and members voted on four executive positions: president, vice president internal, vice president external and treasurer.
Current president, Brock Gebhardt gave the opening speech for the presidential candidates and wished them all the best of luck.
Gebhardt said that the ideal candidate needs to be resolved, understanding, patient and willing to make the school a better place.
Bolden beat three other candidates: current vice president-internal and historian Shao Guo, senator-elect Ryan Gleason and senator-elect Mo Johnson.
None of the four candidates received the majority vote during the initial vote, so a run-off was held with the three candidates with the highest percentage of votes.
Bolden says that he wants to serve his peers, the campus and the community.
“The senate is lacking leadership, ethics, communication and the ability to problem solve,” Bolden said. “It is the job of the president to give [the senators] guidance to help [them] grow as leaders.”
Bolden plans to shape members of the senate by utilizing the Illinois Leadership Center and also hopes to change the culture of the senate.
The ISS elected Jenny Baldwin, junior in LAS, as the vice president-internal. Baldwin currently serves as the vice president-external and previously served as the chief of staff.
Timmy Knudsen, law student, was elected vice president-external and Kevin Seymour, graduate student, was reelected as treasurer.
The newly elected officials will be sworn into office April 17.
The SenatorThe official newsletter of the Illinois Student Senate. The Illinois Student Senate serves as the “Official Voice of the Student Body” at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
! Join fellow alumni, students, staff and friends as they head to the capitol in Springfield to speak out in support of the University of Illinois. Participants will be briefed by Alumni Association and University leaders, and then will meet with their districts’ legislators and staff.! The state legislature's decisions will impact the future of the University of Illinois, so it’s important that your elected officials hear from you. You can make a difference! We hope you will join us on this important trip.
11:30am: Lunch Briefing (Governor's Mansion)1:30pm: Meetings with Legislators
! Illinois Connection can provide you with a note verifying your attendance - absences must be worked out directly with instructors.! Transportation WILL be provided for students from the Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield campuses.! Register by Friday, April 5th! For more information and to register, visit: http://www.ic.uillinois.edu/lobbyday ! Sponsored by Illinois Connection; University of Illinois Alumni Association, and co-sponsored by the student governments at UIUC, UIC, and UIS, and the UIUC and UIC Student Alumni Ambassadors.
Did You Know? After the 2005 internal elections, the
Illinois Student Senate decided to name Josh Rohrscheib (left) and Ryan Ruzic
(center) as co-presidents.
Student safety should be above all
My fellow students, I write today to you about the storm that laid about a foot of snow on the ground on Sunday. This storm eventually led to a cancelation of classes on Monday. However, this cancellation came very late. It came almost 12 hours into the storm and after many of us attempted to get to campus. Though, like many of you, I have no fine understanding of what all it takes to cancel classes and the repercussions such moves will have as far as union contracts, labor and other university business related things. I do however, know what can happen if classes are not cancelled in a timely manner. Although, I agree with the administrations final decision and have some understanding as to their hesitation to cancel classes. On Sunday, this delay was appalling. We saw interstates being closed and the state police asking for the university to make some form of statement to keep us off the roads. This came only at 9:30 p.m. and the cancellation at 1:30 a.m. In that time period, students under the impression of classes taking place on Monday traveled in conditions that no person should feel forced to; conditions that did result in accidents, and injuries. This is unacceptable. The first and foremost thought that should reside with the administration is that of our safety and no other; not contracts, not labor problems, and not money. I ask students to reach out not only to your student senators, but you yourselves to the administration asking that they set in motion plans and a clear path that can quickly advert another situation like that on Sunday evening. Let us be rid of any future where a student gets stranded, or harmed in the effort to attend school. For we the students are what make up the University not our classes and we above all should be protected.
Newly Elected SenatorsThe senators-elect will get sworn into office April 17 at the Illini Union Pine
Lounge.
New Budget Page Due to the excellent work of our webmaster, the website now has a dedicated section for the budget. On this page you will find all of the budget information from this assembly and the submission form for financial requests. The last day to make a request for this assembly is April 7. Please let me know if you have any questions. Visit our new budget page at http://iss.illinois.edu/findocs.asp
Most students don’t know me. Most students don’t know “Modaddy.” However, when 12,000 students logged on to vote in the student elections, it was obvious that “Modaddy,” and two other candidates with the nicknames “Buck” and “Neville,” caught the eyes of the student body in a race of 15 candidates. All three were elected. These candidates were not the first to use facetious nicknames on the ballot. In previous years, there have been a handful of candidates that use such nicknames, and they’re elected year after year. There is no doubt that the way names appear on the ballot influence voters, even if it’s part of their legal name. For example, a former senator with the middle name “Macaroni” won over 1,000 votes for three years in a row. It’s obvious that using facetious nicknames on the ballot provide an advantage to candidates, and it’s the responsibility of the Illinois Student Senate to ensure that elections are equitable for every candidate, regardless of whether or not they have a nickname. Therefore, I’ve authored a resolution that will recommend the Urbana-Champaign Senate to amend the rules for student electorate. If passed by the ISS and the Urbana-Champaign Senate, candidates will only be able to run on the ballot using their full or shortened legal name, the
romanized version of their legal name if it’s of international origin, or an alternate name if their legal name conflicts with their gender identity. It ensures that no candidate can use a nickname that may prove advantageous in the polls, even if it is a nickname they’re commonly known by. Quite frankly, this resolution is 11 years late. In 2002, Shachar Meron ran as “Gordon T. Gnome Meron” for Student Body President, and Brian DePriest ran as “Hail T. Snail DePriest” for Student Body Vice President. Both candidates received the most amount of votes. The fact that the student body elected these two individuals as their leaders, whose “nicknames” referred to Daily Illini comic strip characters, proves that nicknames on the ballot greatly influences voter behavior. Voting is one of the most crucial processes of any democratic entity, so it’s imperative that students are not simply voting for candidates based on their appearance on the ballot. Strictly regulating the use of nicknames on the ballot will help eliminate this problem and further safeguard the integrity of student elections.
The Senator is the official newsletter of the Illinois Student Senate and serves to inform the student body of the Senate’s work. The
Senator is published monthly and is overseen by the Vice Presidents, Director of Communications and Chief of Staff.
Senate in Print The Illinois Student Senate is a guest columnist for the Daily Illini and has a column featured online or in print every Friday. In addition, reporters for the Daily Illini cover the weekly general meetings and publish articles regarding the Senate’s work every Tuesday and Thursday in order to keep the public informed on what to expect at each general meeting and the results thereof.
Executive Officers Executive Staff
The Executive Board meets every Sunday night in the Illinois Student Senate Complex (second floor of the Illini Union, past the RSO cubicles) at 5 p.m. Meetings are open to the public and everyone is encouraged to attend.
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