PAGE 4 | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 | THE BALL STATE DAILY NEWS | BSUDAILY.COM
NEWS
STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION
INDUCTION: SGA president says platform points to be completed by January | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Alyssa France was also inducted as vice president, and she said she is ready to “realize her collegiate dream.” She said the biggest difference between the original members of the executive board and herself is her four years of SGA experience. She worked as the board’s campaign manager when they ran for elections last year, which she said gives her a close working relationship with the group. Following the inductions were nominations for SGA Senate president pro-tempore. Three senators were nominated: Jack Hesser, Jason Pickell and Bryan Kubel. Elections are open to anyone and will take place at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday at the SGA Senate meeting in L.A. Pittenger Student Center Cardinal Hall B.
France, the former protempore, said she has spoken privately with all the nominees and said they are all very qualified. She said she will work to help them keep the platform they promised. Despite the transition period, Anagnos said she has been working over the past week to repair relationships that may have been damaged after the insensitive tweets. “I haven’t stopped since [Randolph resigned],” Anagnos said. “I just did stacks of apology letters.” The letters were sent to university faculty. She has also been sending emails to the presidents of student organizations asking what she can do to fix any issues. Response has been appreciative, she said. Anagnos said she plans to have spaghetti dinners for student organization execu-
tive boards so they can talk and learn more about each other’s needs. Next Anagnos said she is ready to begin working on her board’s platform points. She also said there will be several special projects her platform has worked on, such as a project with the Campus Cyber Council for the National Cyber Security Awareness Month of October. Anagnos said during her platform’s elections, several people asked why their platform points were so vague. She said they were intentionally vague in order to allow her platform to work on special projects that organizations bring to SGA. She said at the current rate, they will complete all of the platform’s points in December or January to give her executive slate time to work on more special projects.
DN PHOTO COREY OHLENKAMP
Chloe Anagnos, president of the Student Government Association, talks with other members during council meetings. Anagnos, along with Alyssa France, were inducted into their positions Wednesday during the weekly senate meeting.
BUDGET: Estimated costs in categories total more than expected overall funds | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The following is a breakdown of what each category is used for, and how much is budgeted for each category of expense.
TOTAL BUDGET: $91,697
WAGES
The wages allotment is spent on the stipends for the executive board and wages for the office receptionist.
Breakdown:
Wages: $46,000 Co-sponsorship: $37,447 Community & Publicity: $12,400 Executive: $10,800 Student Senate: $3,300 Telephone: $1,000 Recognition: $750 Expenses for the seven categories add up to more than the expected total budget.
Undergraduate stipends total at $36,000 and receptionist wages are allotted $10,000.
CO-SPONSORSHIP
SGA uses this money to aid other groups on campus with their programming. Mullaney said during first semester, Homecoming is the biggest expense in this category. According to SGA co-sponsorship guidelines,
all requests for funds must be approved by the co-sponsorship committee, which consists of the treasurer and one member of each of the four SGA caucuses. Events must be free of charge, take place on campus and be open to the entire student body to secure SGA co-sponsorship funds.
Breakdown:
Homecoming is the largest expense during first semester. Second semester, most of the money goes to events like Dance Marathon, McKinley Mile and Greek Week. The budget will be updated each month
with what organizations are granted funds requests.
COMMUNITY AND PUBLICITY
This money is used for the promotion of SGA events. Two primary expenses are the Pride Guide and money spent on advertisements in the Daily News.
Breakdown:
The top expense is the Pride Guide, at $9,400, which has already been distributed for the year.
EXECUTIVE
The executive board spends this money to accom-
plish their platform points.
Breakdown:
The top four expenses listed are the leadership fund, T-shirt trade-in, spaghetti dinners and discretionary allotment. These allotments total $6,500.
STUDENT SENATE
The student senate budget is primarily reserved for discretionary expenses, used to run senate programs and help enhance senate experience. These expenses have not been outlined at this time. They have $800 reserved for inauguration catering and senate retreats.
TELEPHONE
This is a non-discretionary expense for SGA; they must spend this money to pay for the three phones used in their office.
RECOGNITION
This money is spent on plaques and certificates to be used for the recognition of senators, executive members and advisers.
Breakdown: $250 is spent on awards, and $500 is granted to the Senator of the Year.
SOURCE: SGA treasurer Kevin Mullaney, SGA budget, SGA Co-Sponsorship Guidelines
Russian prestige, diplomatic effort on the line in Syria UN members meet, talk options to take chemical weapons | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — The White House tried Wednesday to pin the success or failure of a diplomatic option to secure Syria’s chemical weapons on Russia rather than the United States as Secretary of State John Kerry headed for Geneva to work on a Russian proposal for international inspectors to seize and destroy the deadly stockpile. On a different diplomatic front aimed at taking control of the stockpile away from the Assad government, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council met Wednesday at Russia’s U.N. mission to consider goals for a new resolution requiring Syria’s chemical weapons to be dismantled. They left without commenting, but whether a U.N. resolution should be militarily enforceable was already emerging as a point of contention. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an opinion piece for The New York Times, called for caution in dealing with Syria, saying that a potential strike by the U.S. would create more victims and could spread the conflict beyond Syria as well as “unleash a new
| REMEMBERING 9/11
wave of terrorism.” Rebels who had hoped U.S.led strikes against the Syrian government would aid their effort expressed disappointment, if not condemnation of the U.S., over President Barack Obama’s decision to pursue diplomacy in the wake of a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs last month that the U.S. says killed more than 1,400 people. “We’re on our own,” said Mohammad Joud, an opposition fighter in the war-shattered northern city of Aleppo, via Skype. “I always knew that, but thanks to Obama’s shameful conduct, others are waking up to this reality as well.” With the American public focus on diplomacy rather than military might, Vice President Joe Biden and senior White House officials summoned House Democrats and Republicans for classified briefings. The sessions followed up Obama’s nationally televised address Tuesday night in which he kept the threat of U.S. airstrikes on the table and said it was too early to say whether the Russian offer would succeed. White House spokesman Jay Carney declined to put a deadline on diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff but said bringing Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile under international control “obviously will take some time.”
« The United States
leads in these situations. And it’s not always popular and it’s not always comfortable. » JAY CARNEY, White House spokesman
MCT PHOTO
Secretary of State John Kerry testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Syria at the Rayburn House Office Building on Sept. 4 in Washington, D.C. The United States has announced its intentions for Russia to take the lead on the chemical weapons disarmament in Syria.
“Russia is now putting its prestige on the line,” he said. Asked whether U.S. prestige also was on the line, Carney said: “The United States leads in these situations. And it’s not always popular and it’s not always comfortable.” On Capitol Hill, action on any resolution authorizing U.S. military intervention in Syria was on hold, even an alternative that would have reflected Russia’s diplomatic offer. Senators instead debated an energy bill. “The whole terrain has
changed,” Sen. Dick Durbin, DIll., told reporters after a meeting of Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We want to make sure we do nothing that’s going to derail what’s going on.” That didn’t stop Republicans from announcing their opposition to Obama’s initial call for military strikes and criticizing the commander in chief. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., accused the president of engaging in “pinball diplomacy.” However, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., an outspoken
advocate of aggressive U.S. military intervention, said he was concerned that the Russian plan could be a “rope-a-dope” delaying tactic while “that the slaughter goes on.” In the column posted on The New York Times website Wednesday, Putin asserted that it is “alarming” that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries “has become commonplace for the United States.” “Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it,” Putin wrote. “Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan ‘you’re either with us or against us.’” Putin said he favored taking advantage of Syria’s willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control and welcomed Obama’s interest in continuing to discuss Syria with Russia.
“If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust,” he wrote. “It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.” Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke by phone in advance of their meeting in Geneva on Thursday. “They discussed the outlines of the schedule and their shared objective of having a substantive discussion about the mechanics of identifying, verifying and ultimately destroying Assad’s chemical weapons stockpile so they can never be used again,” the State Department said in a statement Wednesday evening. Obama said the United States and its allies would work with Russia and China to present a resolution to the U.N. Security Council requiring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up his chemical weapons and ultimately destroy them. Russia and China, both permanent Security Council members, have vetoed three Westernbacked resolutions aimed at pressuring Assad to end the conflict. That has left the U.N.’s most powerful body paralyzed as the war escalates and the death toll surpasses 100,000. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier this week called the council’s paralysis embarrassing.
DN PHOTOS BREANNA DAUGHERTY
LEFT: Sophomore political science major Hannah Basford lights a candle in a bag at the 9/11 memorial at Shafer Tower. College Republicans and University Democrats hosted the candlelight vigil. ABOVE: Students gather for the candlelight vigil to honor those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The students commemorated the anniversary with candle bags at the base of Shafer Tower with a brief moment of silence.