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The Alestle staff rates Mexican cuisine page 4
thursday, 01.26.17
Women’s basketball comes back after buzzer-beater page 7
alton — east st. louis — edwardsville
vol. LXIX no. XXIV
Students among thousands at Women’s March on St. Louis
Police investigate reports of driving under influence TRENT STUART Alestle Reporter
Right, freshman Samantha Bunn, of Belleville, holds a sign in support of Planned Parenthood at the Women’s March on St. Louis Jan. 21, in downtown St. Louis. In conjunction with the Women’s March on Washington, millions gathered around the world in support of issues affecting women. | Photos courtesy of Samantha Bunn
SIUE police officers pulled over and issued DUIs to 12 students on campus last semester, and toward the end of the semester, they found a non-student who swerved off the road into a wooded area near the university. In December 2016, officers issued Devin Burch, who is not an SIUE student, a DUI when they found him clearly under the influence of alcohol after driving off of the road, taking out a street sign and stopping at a wooded area. The accident occurred near the intersection of Stadium Drive and S. University Drive at around 1:45 a.m. on a Sunday morning in early December. SIUE Police Chief Kevin Schmoll said the accident could have had more dire consequences than it did. “He’s very fortunate that [no one else was hurt], and he was not injured either. He has to face the consequences of it, but it could’ve been a lot worse,” Schmoll said. According to Schmoll, Burch refused field sobriety tests at the scene and was issued an improper lane usage citation and a DUI at the police station. DRIVING | pg. 2
Student Government appoints new vice president MIRANDA LINTZENICH Alestle Reporter
Student Trustee Ryan Johnson will serve as the new Student Government vice president, replacing Kalie Penn-Eads, as voted on at the Student Senate’s regularly scheduled meeting Jan. 23. The senate also elected a new election commissioner, internal affairs officer and two new senators. The organization also presented non-traditional student awards and introduced a proposal raising the maximum hours for student employees. According to Student Body President Luke Jansen, Johnson has served as a senator, executive board member student trustee. “Last year, Johnson was originally a senator. Then, when [Penn-Eads] moved up to the vice president role, Ryan also moved up to the internal relations officer role. That is something that stood out during his interview because he talked about how he knows the transition from one [position] to another, especially mid-year,” Jansen said. According to Jansen, Johnson said he wants to take on this role to better Student Govern-
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ment and to also improve relations between Senates around SIUE. “When the vice president spot opened, it kind of came up in discussion that it was a possibility that I could potentially fill in that role and have a dual role as student trustee and student body vice president,” Johnson said. “It’s kind of just something that I thought was an interesting idea ... I think the success of Student Government starts with the success of its vice president.” Having a strong vice president can end up leaving the senate with strong senators, said Johnson. “One of the big things I want to work on through this position is scholarships, and not necessarily one specific scholarship, but our students’ academic scholarships as a whole. There’s been too many times that we’ve had to replace senators due to grades, and we have to shift focus from what SG is meant to be doing. I think if we can implement something to help our students would really benefit the senators.” SG also voted in senior applied communications major Ricky Rush, of Chicago, as elec@thealestle
tion commissioner and third year pharmacy student Jamal Sims, of Springfield, as internal affairs officer. According to Jansen, Rush has been a senator before and has run in two different student government elections. Rush wants to implement more town hall forums and get more students to vote for the SG elections. Sims is highly organized, a good communicator and has had five years of experience with SG, making him the best candidate for the position, according to Jansen. “Sims has had many leadership roles as well, so that gives him a good idea of how to lead, not only the way Student Government has been done, but how other organizations have done it and how we can improve,” Jansen said. Sims said he has plans to bring SG closer together. He would also like to survey the senate to figure out how they could make improvements regarding committees and the end-of-theyear banquet. “I’ve had a lot of experience with organizing events, and I would love to do something like [organized socials] with every@thealestle
one,” Sims said. “I’m like high on getting everyone involved. I’m excited about the transition.” The senate also voted in senior engineering major Pratik Lamsal, of Nepal, and junior premed major Jacob Summers, of Decatur. Lamsal said he wants to speak for other engineering students who cannot or are uncomfortable speaking for themselves as well as bridging the gap between the School of Engineering and SG. “We do not need to make any big changes in the School of Engineering, but I do think we could add some form of communication in talking with people, and letting them know there is a place they can talk to or go to express their ideas. That would be a very good thing because I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that until now,” Lamsal said. SG also approved the Student Diversity Council. Organization Relations Officer and senior French and Spanish major Chase Tiffany, of Robinson, will serve as the chair until the next election. Tiffany will head a committee of 15 students to explore diversity issues on campus that will The Alestle
meet twice a month. In other business: A travel request for National Association for Music Education Conference was approved for $600. A travel request for United Greek Council AFLV Central was approved for $600. A travel request for the National Pan-Hellenic Council was approved for $600. A travel request for Gay Straight Alliance was approved for $600. A travel request for Interfraternity Council was approved for $600. A travel request for Non-Traditional Student Association ANTSHE Conference was approved for $600. A travel request for Rho Chi Society-Delta Beta Chapter was approved for $600. A proposal to increase number of hours students can work on campus was tabled for the next meeting. Student Government will meet again Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. in the Goshen Lounge.
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