The Baylor Lariat

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Baylor men’s tennis player climbs to top ranking

see Sports, page 7

No. 1 junior Julian Lenz pushes himself and his teammates to continued success.

The Baylor Lariat baylorlariat com

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WE’RE THERE WHEN YOU CAN’T BE

Honest Men, a local band, will perform at Diadeloso on Tuesday. Check out the A&E section for a rundown on this year’s Day of the Bear.

Friday | April 10, 2015

In the running for...

Student Body President

For more: The Lariat editorial board sat down with each candidate this week. Candidates shared their goals, platforms and qualifications for the positions during their interviews. Check out our video coverage online at baylorlariat.com. Also: The Lariat endorsed one candidate for student body president. Find out who on page 2.

Story by Shannon Barbour Reporter Photos By Skye Duncan Photo Editor

Pearson Brown

Lawren Kinghorn

James Porter

Houston junior Pearson Brown, junior class senator, is running for student body president this spring. Brown said he has learned a lot during his time in student government, and is ready to run for student body president on a platform of “Ignite, launch and soar.” “Ignite deals with helping to make Baylor more affordable,” Brown said. “Launch deals with your time at Baylor. To graduate closer to Christ than you were when you

Katy senior Lawren Kinghorn, student body internal vice president, has been in student government since her freshman year and hopes to become the next student body president. Kinghorn plans on bringing big changes Baylor’s campus. “I have four different initiatives on my platform, and the first one revolves around scholarships,” said Kinghorn. “My second initiative revolves around entrepreneurship.

Frisco sophomore James Porter is pushing for a safer, more connected campus in his campaign to become student body president. “Be safe, be proud, be connected,” Porter said. “Be safe is an off campus initiative. I don’t think a single one of us can agree that the off campus living infrastructure is really where it should be. It’s not necessarily safe. Be connected is a jobs initiative. Be proud of your organization, be proud of student life

SEE

BROWN, page 4

Internal Vice President

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KINGHORN, page 4

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Houston sophomore Steven Newcomb, chief of staff, is running for student body external vice president. Along with his plans to grow Waco businesses by creating incentives for students get involved in the community, Newcomb wants to repave campus roads and advocate on behalf of the student body. Newcomb said he hopes to increase Baylor’s connection to the community and areas like Austin and Washington, D.C.

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Steven Newcomb

By Amanda Hayes Reporter

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Vol.115 No. 90

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Legos link women to STEM related fields

Steppin’ Out to turn 30 Saturday marks the 30th anniversary of Steppin’ Out, and Rebecca Langford, a member of the external committee for the event, said the Baylor community will serve Waco, rain or shine. The committee is keeping an eye on weather conditions, but service at the indoor sites will continue regardless, Langford said. The decision on whether or not the outdoor events will be postponed or cancelled, will be announced on the event’s social media accounts at noon on Friday. Steppin’ Out is a program that provides service to the greater Waco community, by coordinating volunteer service days once each semester. It is one of the largest community service projects on American college campuses and is nationally recognized for its commitment to service, according to its website. This semester, the program is partnering with environmental nonprofit Keep Waco Beautiful to host a Trash-Off from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Pecan Bottoms. Keep Waco Beautiful program director Ashley Millerd said under the leadership of student director Tyler Couch, the event has been more organized this year, compared to past years. Event coordinators have a better idea of what to expect, Millerd said, and they anticipate about 500 volunteers at the Trash-Off. Millerd said Keep Waco Beautiful normally helps clean the Brazos River or donates supplies to Steppin’ Out, but will operate from six locations this year. “This past fall at Steppin’ Out, we picked up 13 tons of trash,” Millerd said. “I would

PORTER, page 4

External Vice President

Port Barre, La., sophomore Lindsey Bacque, sophomore senator and public relations committee chair, is running for internal vice president. “Invest in the youngest members of student government,” Bacque said. “We need growing years, and I’m prepared to do that.” Bacque said she wants to prepare the younger members to run student government once the upperclassmen leave. Bacque said she wants to work on relationships within student government to

Lindsey Bacque

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By Amanda Yarger Reporter

Kevin Freeman | Lariat Photographer

The Society of Women Engineers held an event, Ladies and Legos, Thursday. The event invited female engineers to have fun with legos and listen to a talk about how more women should be encouraged to enter STEM fields.

Lego of your doubt, girls—these toys aren’t just for boys. As part of a nationwide effort by universities to increase the number of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics related fields, Baylor’s School of Engineering and Computer Science received a grant to sponsor “Ladies and Legos” programs this month to attract more women to the school. Donated by one of the world’s leading

oil suppliers, Halliburton, the grant will encourage open dialog among women interested in or involved in science and technology. Emily Sandvall, assistant director of engineering and computer science initiatives, said Halliburton provided the donation because of the program’s intention to recruit women to the fields, among other qualifying criteria. “I think it’s a great chance to build communication,” Sandvall said. “This type of SEE

LEGO, page 4

Senate overrides student body president’s veto By Reubin Turner and Madison Miller City Editor and Reporter

Student Senate voted 39-12 on Thursday, to override a veto by Arlington senior Dominic Edwards, student body president, on a bill relating to changes in the Electoral Code. The veto would have restricted student government candidates and campaign workers from posting to their personal social media accounts. Edwards said at the meeting before the vote to override took place, that he felt the Senate could set a dangerous precedent if the bill were to go into effect. “Student Senate is setting up a dangerous precedent of just changing a document just because they don’t agree with the interpretation,” Edwards said.

Edwards was referring to the Senate’s response to make changes to the code after they felt Electoral Commissioner Sarah Parks, a senior, incorrectly interpreted the Electoral Code as previously reported by the Lariat. “If executed, this legislation merely further complicates an already distorted set of policies and procedures and really the electoral process.” Edwards said he recommends for the Senate to look at the bigger options, rather than changing multiple clauses that introduce a combative spirit within student government. Port Barre, La., sophomore Lindsey Bacque, who authored the bill, said she disagreed with Edwards on his opinion that changes to the code were “combat-

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ive” or biased. “I don’t necessarily think it was combative,” Bacque said. “The way that some of the things that were interpreted by the commissioner and members of the commission body as a whole, not just one person, were not consistent with what had been done in the past.” San Antonio junior Chase Hardy said during the meeting that he didn’t feel like the legislation passed by the Senate was biased, rather it cleared up several misconceptions about the code. “Every single person in this room looked at this legislation and said ‘wow, this is a great idea,’ they voted for it, it passed,” Hardy said. “Saying that it is somehow biased doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Other senators suggested that it was not the appropriate time to put this bill into place because of the fact that Baylor is in the midste of elections. Edwards rebuttled in his closing statement that his reasons for vetoing the bill had nothing to do with time or a bias, but because it could infringe upon the integrity of the elections. In addition to overriding Edwards’ veto, the Senate also tabled a measure to consider revisions to the Student Body Constitution. Old River Winfree freshman Senator Joel Polvado made the motion to suspend the bill indefinitely. “It took us three years to effectively SEE

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