TECHNICIAN
thursday may
31 2012
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Egypt holds free elections, at a price
University
Egypt holds its first free election in 30 years, but some wonder if “free” equals “fair.”
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Jessie Halpern
go green
News Editor
Egypt is in the midst of holding its first free election after 30 years under an oppressive regime, led by Hosni Mubarak. Akram Khater, director of the N.C. State Middle East studies program, said this election has the potential to change the face of the Middle East. “The example of fair and free elections is an incredible new step and sets a tone. It applies pressure on other countries that don’t have elections or have rigged ones,” Khater said. Under the authoritarian rule of Mubarak, Egypt’s elections suppressed the voice of the Egyptian UPI/AHMED JOMAA people, automatically re-electing Egyptian woman casts her vote at a polling station in Zakazik, Egypt, 50 miles north of Cairo, May 23. Egyptians the leader many feared. It was not went to the polls on Wednesday morning to elect a new president after the fall of ex-President Hosni Mubarak last until Jan. 25, 2011 that the people year. spoke up with protests that were not be more different. Morsi is run- be the best leader,” Khater said. what went wrong with Mubarak,” While these elections are free, Ibrahim said. ning as a representative of the Musheard worldwide. During the first day of upheaval lim Brotherhood, an organization some don’t agree they are fair. She isn’t the only one. Karim GhaDaniel Zaki, senior in engineer- nem, senior in biological sciences, is of what became the Arab Spring, standing on the platform of socially thousands of people who showed conservative values and economic ing, said local Arab news is depict- voting for Shafiq. up to demand Mubarak’s regime freedom. Ahmed Shafiq was Prime ing a different story of the elections. “I have dual citizenship, and I’m “They’ve released a bunch of voting for Shafiq,” Ghanem said. be removed flooded Tahrir Square. Minister of Egypt under Mubarak’s Just one week later, millions chris- regime. Khater said those who vote people from prison to go vote in “Either way, both candidates are for Shafiq will the elections just because they are pretty good, though. I’m glad to see tened the location vote for security Muslim and will vote for Shafiq,” these elections come from the revoa s “Liberat ion and safety in the Zaki said. “Technically it’s free, but lution and all the people who died.” Square,” according it’s still a very biased election.” country. to Khater. Despite opinions on the candiZaki, whose family is Egyptian, is dates themselves, the fact remains: “The candi“Those incredibly d at e s r e f l e c t not pleased with either candidate. courageous men The 2012 presidential elections in “They’re both pretty different, but Egypt are changing the history of t wo d i f ferent and women, elderly trends amongst I don’t like either,” Zaki said. “It is the Middle East. and children, peowhat it is. There’s nothing you can Egyptians,” ple from all walks “Each country is individual, so Karim Ghahem, senior in biological sciences K h a t e r s a i d . really do.” of life, who risked you can’t generalize and say how In Zaki’s opinion, if Morsi wins long the Middle East will take to “We mustn’t be their own lives—it is they who opened up the possibil- too quick to discount that whoever the Muslim Brotherhood is going change as a whole,” Khater said. ity of the free elections we are seeing wins will indeed shape the direction to “turn the country upside-down,” “Change depends upon the type of though he feels Morsi is still the government and resources availof the country itself.” now,” Khater said. Khater said there is no doubt these lesser of “two evils.” The elections began on May 23, able to that country’s government, with two candidates in the running. elections will change Egypt’s history Salma Ibrahim, senior in math- as well as the education of the popuMohammed Morsi and Ahmed as a whole. ematics, said Shafiq shouldn’t be a lation. “ “This is the first time that Egyp- “scary” candidate just because of his Shafiq share only one quality: They Khater said countries like Saudi are running for president. Aside tians can freely go to the polls and association with Mubarak’s regime. from that, the two candidates could vote for the person they think will “I think he’s learned a lesson from EGYPT continued page 3
Deputy News Editor
Artistic oxidation PHOTO BY CHARLIE HARLESS
N
icole Russ, senior in zoology, works on a fish bowl for her summer ceramics class. Russ decided to emphasizing etchings she had made earlier by painting them in with liquid rust. Each student get to make 5 pieces of pottery in the class offered over the summer. Despite having to work a lot outside of class hours, Russ said, “More people should take this class, it is really cool. Its difficult and a lot of work, but its definitely fun.”
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North Carolina accompanies New York as one of two states that still automatically prosecute all 16- and 17-year-olds in the adult court system without regard to the type of crime the teen is charged with. A bill in the N.C. legislature is hoping to change the law so no one under 18 could be prosecuted as an adult for nonviolent misdemeanors. Brandy Bynum, a spokesperson for Action for Children N.C., said 80 percent of 16- and 17-year-olds who find themselves in trouble with the law are involved in minor, misdemeanorlevel offenses. “These minor offenses have permanent marks on these young peoples’ criminal records. When they go on to apply to higher education or employment, even housing, that mark
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on their record could bar them from those opportunities,” Bynum said. “We as an organization obviously think that is bad public policy on the part of our state.” Teresa Shirley, an advocate for the Raise the Age issue and a mother personally affected by the current law, said the law doesn’t make sense because an offense as small as littering could end up following a teen for the rest of his or her life. “In North Carolina, a judge has the ability to try a young person as young as 13 in the adult system, if they wish. But if you have a 16-yearold who commits a misdemeanor, they’re automatically put into the adult system and there’s no way to put them back into the juvenile system,” Shirley said. Shirley, a mother of three, said she did not know about the law until her daughter got into a pushing match at school one day. The incident ended with her daughter handcuffed in a police car on the way to the county jail to sit in a holding cell with adult offenders. “[The law] discriminates against
Group works to change sentencing of teens in N.C. What do New York and North Carolina have in common? Their prosecution of teenagers as adults.
Lindsey Rosenbaum Fostering a push for environmental responsibility on campus, the University sent a team to compete in the ACC Clean Energy Challenge, in an effort to foster research, development and innovation. The ACC Clean Energy Challenge is a competition sponsored by the United States Department of Energy. Here on campus, the Office of Technology Transfer’s new venture service division organizes participation in the challenge. While the final goal is to start a green business, the competition is divided up into smaller challenges centered on understanding the green movement and its applications. Thomas Miller, senior vice provost for academic outreach and entrepreneurship, said the regional challenges are occurring across the country. “The goal is to stimulate student innovation and entrepreneurship in the area of clean energy,” Miller said. For each regional competition, the winning team is awarded $100,000 to be used in the creation of their own clean energy business. The participants in the challenge consist of all ACC schools and a few others who accept invitations to attend. In the inaugural challenge held at the University of Maryland, nearly all invited schools were in attendance. Teams were paired off against each other in a type of bracket format. Dreier Carr, recent graduate in electrical engineering and computer engineering, was part of N.C. State’s team. “The initial round was one between all of the teams from a particular school, and there were probably 10 teams from the University,” Carr said. “The first application was a summary report one to three pages long of a review and a video pitching an idea or product, conceptual or business orientated, that conveyed the goal of clean energy.” Carr’s team, GEMS, created a green energy management system, where they infused electronic intelligence into electrical sockets. “The goal of the GEMS is to monitor and control power being used around the house.”Carr said. “You can log onto a computer and see household usage of energy, or the energy usage of a singular appliance.” GEMS came in second place for the University, but the team sent to Maryland, PowerUp, made it to the semi-finals, known as the “Elite 8+2.” They did not, however, make it to the “Final 4.” The teams competing in the “Final 4” will be competing for the prize money. The challenge teams began preparing for the competition in January, according to Wade Fulghum,
“I have dual citizenship, and I’m voting for Shafiq.”
THROUGH CHARLIE’S LENS
An N.C. State team competed in a regional challenge to encourage environmental responsibility.