FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2010 • PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY • VOLUME 64, ISSUE 89
Event of the day Check out a free presentation by author Elinor Langer who will discuss her work-in-progress, In Search of Lili’uokalani When: 7 p.m. Where: SMSU, room 236
WWW.DAILYVANGUARD.COM • FREE
INSIDE OPINION
A one-horse race After candidate disqualifications, pres and VP are now uncontested
I’m feeling lucky Google has nation clamoring for super-fast Internet PAGE 3
ARTS
(Don’t) let them eat cake A breathtaking portrayal of the French Revolution in Lady and the Duke pAgE 5
Vinh Tran Vanguard staff
Within hours after Jil Heimensen had her first public debate against her opponent for ASPSU president, she learned that the Elections Board decided to disqualify both her and her vice-presidential candidate Johnnie Ozimkowski. As it stands, Heimensen’s opponents Katie Markey and Selina Poulsen are running uncontested for president and vice-president for next year’s ASPSU, respectively. The decision was reached by the E-Board at a special meeting held Wednesday night, according to its chair, Debra Porta. In an e-mail sent to Heimensen, Porta said that there were three complaints of rule infractions brought against Heimensen and Ozimkowski that were reported to the E-Board.
The untold story of Queen Lili’uokalani Elinor Langer shares her research about the end of independent Hawaii pAgE 6
All photos by Marni Cohen/Portland State Vanguard
From closet hymn to electro groove Botanist crafts music with a mellow sound and a modest attitude pAgE 7
NEWS Katie Markey and Selina Poulsen Meet the candidates running for ASPSU pres and VPs pAgE 8
SPORTS
Vikings and the great outdoors A new face for a new defense Q&A session with Eric Jackson, PSU football’s new defensive coordinator PAGE 10
Ultimately, the board ruled that two of the complaints were grounds for disqualification and dismissed the third. The candidates have the opportunity to appeal to the ASPSU Judicial Board. Their names will still appear on the ballot but any votes cast for them will be considered invalid. The first infraction included Heimensen’s use of an ASPSU copy machine to make copies of the signatures she gathered in an effort to apply as a late registration candidate. Porta said such use violates the E-Board’s prohibition of the use of student resources for the purposes of an election. This complaint was brought against her by current ASPSU communications director, Laura Morency. Heimensen said she was shocked by the decision. In a letter to the E-Board, Heimensen said she did use the ASPSU copier to make a copy of one particular signature from her application for personal reasons. “The first signature I received [for my application as a late registration
Commenting on budget caps, Gent said, “Do I agree with everything? Not necessarily…I’m in favor of some caps, and others, not as much.” This year, Gent said he saw student groups with funding that had “untapped potential,” as well as groups with budgets that were threatening to rise to “grossly absorbent” amounts. “I do not want to see the fee at $500 a term while I am a student here,” he said. —Stacy Austin
James Gent James Gent, the current vice chair of the Student Fee Committee, is running for the position of next year’s chair. Gent is also the former president of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity and an active member of student opera. Gent aims to not raise the student fee by working through his current relationships with student groups and by holding them “to an extremely high level of integrity and accountability.” “[Working with the SFC] has been a long difficult process and amazing learning experience to absorb,” Gent said. Working from the current legislature, his primary goal is acting in a “viewpoint neutral manner” and continuing to get “to know every student group.” In addition, Gent wants to further improve the communication between the SFC and students by improving “transparency” between the two. According to Gent, this includes improving the SFC meeting minutes. Gent also said “a public forum would be an invaluable service.” He hopes that forums could be held one or more times a month. According to Gent, student fee-funded groups provide students with additional learning opportunities that they are unable to receive from the classroom.
Krystine McCants Krystine McCants is an undergraduate student studying Economics and Theater Arts who is running for office in the hopes of spending her senior year as Student Fee Committee chair. McCants has over six years of experience working with two owners of small businesses. As one who works in real estate, she said, “I understand that allocation of dollars is extremely important.” She has had prior involvement with the SFC as an intern. McCants said she enjoys the benefits of other groups, including the theater and the publication, the Spectator. “PSU is a huge campus. It is easy to feel lost on campus,” McCants said. She wants students to use the groups to get to know people and make friends. Various groups serve different roles.
candidate] was from Soloman Trimble, an actor…so I wanted to [keep] my original copy… that has his signature on it so I could keep [it] as a memento,” Heimensen wrote. Heimensen said as late registration candidates, she and Ozimkowski were prohibited from campaigning on campus, which put them at a disadvantage. Porta said the candidates were made explicitly aware of the rule and its applications at candidate orientation sessions. In the second infraction, the E-Board said Heimensen’s posting of campaign information on her Web site, www.psusfc.com, violated the no-campaigning rule for late registration candidates and is also not allowed because of the site’s links to the Student Fee Committee, on which Heimensen currently serves as a member. “The implications of the damage to ASPSU and to the university as a whole weighed heavily upon us in these deliberations,” Porta said. “New candidates are traditionally expected to make the odd misstep in an election. We explicitly told candidates that, if unsure about a course of action they were thinking about during their campaign efforts, to ask before acting.”
VANGUARD
STUDENT ELECTION COVERAGE 2010 Porta said she made Heimensen and Ozimkowski aware of the rules on more than one occasion. In a response to the E-Board, Heimensen said that the Web site had been in use since last year when she ran as a candidate for chair of the SFC. In last year’s election, Heimensen received a similar complaint from her opponent last year over the name of her Web site, which they claimed gave her an unfair advantage, as it may have
ASPSU continued on page nine
SFC CHAIR CANDIDATES “There are as many roles as there are groups,” McCants said. Groups can provide “resources, outreach…and give students an experience they would not otherwise get in a classroom,” McCants said. PSU is known as a less traditional university and McCants can relate to students with children. She said she had to leave once the debate ended to pick up her child. “A lot of student groups don’t understand how decisions were made in regards to the budget,” McCants said, referring to this year. McCants said she looks forward to working as a liaison, as each SFC member has groups to work with intimately. She questions the use of blanket policies and caps for all groups. “There is diversity amongst groups,” McCants said. She said she was concerned that caps would “undermine [the] objective” and caps “need to be specific for each group’s need.” “If a group passes the process and their mission is approved, then your job is to fund it for its mission statement,” McCants said. As SFC chair, she wants to further increase communication between students and the SFC, and to make sure decisions and processes are understood by both. —Stacy Austin
Syed Qasimuddin SFC chair candidate Syed Qasimuddin has worked at a public relations firm, managed a successful business and was involved with student government at his previous school, where he helped establish various student groups’ presence on campus. He was unavailable for an interview with the Vanguard. “These experiences equipped me with the essentials for facilitating and conveying, with precision, the important aspects of any given project or decision and progressing towards the [project’s] goal,” Qasimuddin said in his statement of candidacy. According to Qasimuddin, his goal is to “aid and abet the interests of students at PSU.” Although this is his first year at PSU, Qasimuddin said it would allow him to bring a fresh perspective to the SFC. “Ultimately, I intend to stand apart from my fellow candidates in offering the right set of expertise and experience in collaboration with an invigorating perspective that will best serve the students’ needs,” Qasimuddin said. —Corie Charnley