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SG, candidates prepare for spring elections Candidates encouraged to reach out to students, limit spending for campaigns News Editor
Candidate filing for Student Government elected officials ends Monday at 5 p.m. Campaigning will begin when students return from spring break. According to Elections Commission Chair Lindsey Pullum, it should be a heated race as there are more people running for the positions of student body president and treasurer, among others. “Seven people are running for student body president. It’s going to be really competitive,” she said. Pullum said this means a lot of money will be used on this year’s campaigning, with each presidential candidate allowed to spend close to $1,000 of their own money. “Students don’t realize all this money is being spent to represent them,” Pullum said. “The combined spending on campaigning is a lot, but voting turnout is still less than the national average.” According to Pullum, SG recently increased the spending cap for candidates running for elected office, but will also be stricter with those who put too much money into their campaign. “A common phrase is ‘whoever
spends the most money wins,’ and to an extent it’s true. Most of it goes into name recognition and that’s what the majority of the vote is based on,” Pullum said. “This year if someone is overspending ridiculously they will be disqualified. We don’t want the most recognized, we want the person best for the job and for the majority of votes to be well informed.” Kyle O’Donnell, a junior in nuclear engineering, said it is impossible to crack down on violators of the spending cap. “I wish the cap was enforceable because, regardless, candidates always disregard the cap,” he said. “It’s very difficult to quantify the amount each person spends.” O’Donnell agreed victories are largely determined by name recognition instead of truly informed voters. “I think it’s whoever puts their name out to the most students and that few students actually evaluate the positions,” he said. “There is a lot of apathy towards elected positions in SG and other student organizations.” O’Donnell said it is important for candidates to reach out to students during their campaign to get publicity and to get students more involved. “Based on past years of voting we’ll probably have relatively low turnout,”
O’Donnell said. “Candidates should seek more effective ways to get their platform out to students.” Jonathan Coburn, a freshman in nuclear engineering, said he probably wasn’t going to vote and usually doesn’t anyway. “I don’t really pay much attention to these things,” he said. “They have to do something better to get the attention of the students.” Coburn said the traditional methods of chalking the campus and posting signs don’t really constitute a campaign. “I don’t really like the idea of posters and fliers and I normally just glance over them,” Coburn said. “A video presented online would be better, or more opportunities for students to see more of the candidates and what they represent.” Student Senate President Kelli Rogers said this race will be very competitive and that is usually good for campaigns. “We have more competition within the races this time around, especially for the treasurer and president, and the majority of the candidates are really passionate about serving students,” Rogers said. “The more competitive a race is the more candidates have to work to get votes.”
By the Numbers: candidates Student body 6 president 3
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In honor of senior forward Dennis Horner, Alex Eder, a freshman in engineering, holds up a photo of Horner’s shoulder tattoo while showing off his own “tattoo” during the team’s senior night game against Boston College at the RBC Center Sunday. “D-Horn’s persistent excellence demands fans’ support,” Eder said. “In the words of William O’Donnell, ‘He has given so much and asked for so little.’” Horner and the men won the game against Boston College 66-54.
State bested in title game
The Wolfpack women lost the title game of the ACC Championship to Duke at Greensboro Coliseum 70-60. See page 8.
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With March Madness just around the corner, some students have already begun filling out their brackets, but instead of college basketball, the brackets are full of Cookout milkshakes. Ali Thomas-Hollands, a junior in animal science, Christine Nguyen, a junior in civil engineering, and two of their friends have made it their goal to find the best Cookout milkshake flavor. “We got the idea to do a milkshake bracket one day when we were talking about our favorite milkshake f lavors,” ThomasHollands said. “Some people had come up with some interesting mixes, and everyone was arguing for their favorite.” The four girls decided to make the discussion official by design-
$6.00 T-Shirt Sale @ NC State Bookstores All Soffe brand t-shirts Reg. 2 for $20
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Contest determines best Cookout milkshake
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IT Student Advisory Group presents new input and collaboration option for improving IT resources
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According to Rogers, it’s important for candidates to get a lot of face-time and to get to know their constituents instead of spending a lot of money to try and win by popularity. She said candidates are obligated to abide by the rules and that an elections commission exists to maintain the rules and punish violators. “I think there’s always room for improvement with regards to how candidates campaign and con-
Jose Tapia/Technician
Four N.C. State students sip their way through Cookout’s menu in search of the best milkshake flavor
OIT centralizes feedback with student group
ing a milkshake bracket similar to those created for March Madness. “We picked sixteen milkshakes and paired them off so that we had eight first-round battles,” Nguyen said. The girls go to Cookout about once a week to taste-test the two milkshakes side-by-side and the winner is decided by vote. Milkshakes that made the bracket came from across the Cookout menu, from blueberry cheesecake to peanut butter fudge. Nguyen and her friends tried to pick a mix of old-time favorites and new flavors. Thomas-Hollands said her favorite milkshake f lavor had to make the list. “Strawberry Oreo is the best,” Thomas-Hollands said. “Unfortunately it lost to banana pudding fudge in round two.” Sara Cohen, a junior in food science and one of the milkshake judges, said she made sure cappuccino double brownie was in the running, but was skeptical of a few other flavors that made the
SOURCE: Student government
Lindsey Brill, a freshman in psychology, receives her Oreo mint milkshake at the Cookout on Western Boulevard Sunday night. Brills said she had been “studying all day and wanted to get out of the room.”
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The Office of Information Technology recently formed an Information Technology Student Advisory Group to allow students to share their thoughts and ideas about the ways technology is implemented at the University. The founding of the group is expected to improve IT governance on campus and ensure input and collaboration on decisions for IT. According to the recent IT Governance draft, many existing IT governance processes and structures at the University involve a confusing hybrid of centralized units, autonomous colleges, departments, independent research teams, individual leadership and committee consensus, resulting in conflicting policies and an inefficient use of resources. Marc Hoit, vice chancellor for information technology and CIO, said the idea is to create a single representative body for each group to which any and all committees can present ideas and proposals and receive feedback, advice, recommendations and concerns. “The goal is to bring services that have real impact on students,” he said. According to Hoit, historically it has been difficult to recruit faculty or student membership in IT committees. A single member to a committee often does not represent the full diversity or needs of the respective groups. By creating a standing committee for each, a diverse and representative group can be developed to provide the full spectrum of ideas and input. Hoit said one of the major failings of current structure is communication between students, faculty and OIT. “Part of my dilemma is that I don’t have much student contact and I have to hear through second and third parties,” he said. “The idea of this committee is to give me and my staff more connection with students and to hear from them.” Hoit said a group of students has the ability to make better decisions than staff and faculty. “Research shows that students do make good decisions if the proper information is put in front of them,” he said. By having a student group, Hoit wants to find out what IT issues are priorities for students. “One of the challenges I have is understanding the needs of everyone on campus and trying to meet those needs within our budget,” he said. “We have limited money, and we can only make certain decisions. We want students to help us make the decisions that will impact their learning and time here on campus. It’s a more collaborative solution process.” Hoit said, however, there is a little apprehension that students will not take the effort seriously. “The fear on our side is that students will go with the latest craze or whim,” he said. “The faculty and staff on the other hand tend to make decisions that are rooted in their beliefs of what is needed and don’t always reach out to get the information of what students need. The dilemma is that acting on it isn’t always easy.” The IT Student Advisory Group held its first meeting March 4 where it addressed a number of topics including student computing labs, the use of the Educational Technology Fee and the new Google e-mail system. Many students attended the meeting to see what their ETF was being used for. According to Hoit, the ETF is a separate fee students are charged in
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