Sports
C-USA and Mountain West merge p. 4
Variety
“Eat, Pray, Love” sequel review p. 6
Opinion
a student newspaper of the university of tulsa
New international house isolates foreign students p. 8
february 21, 2012 issue 18 ~ volume 97
Voter turnout:
2% Uncontested Senators take office This semester’s SA Senate elections boasted a voter turnout of just 88, out of 4,092 students enrolled. This uncontested election places the representative qualities of the Senate in a questionable light. J. Christopher Proctor Sports Editor
T
his week, nine bright-eyed new senators begin their first tasks as representatives of the University of Tulsa’s student body. With the 2012 national elections in full swing, voters have come to expect long, competitive and sometimes nasty campaigns. TU’s student elections, however, are a far cry from the barb-trad-
ing of U.S. politicians. In fact, the voting on Feb. 9 came and went not with a bang, but a whimper. In the Student Association’s spring Senate election, every candidate who entered the race was admitted to the legislative body. Of these, six ran uncontested for their seats. All eight candidates were informed that they were running unopposed. Due to a communication error, however, the Greek Housing seat was actually contested, with Emily Stern defeating Matthew Kniowski 15 votes to six. Though he lost the race, Kniowski was immediately appointed to an open seat by SA Vice President Kyra McNamara, and confirmed by a consensus of the Senate, a fairly common practice following contested elections.
Another senator who decided not to run in the general election was also appointed in this manner, bringing the total number of students joining—or rejoining—SA Senate to nine. In all, fewer than 100 TU students voted, at a university with over 4,000 enrolled. “I think that I’m a pretty accurate representation of the student body in the fact that I don’t know anybody who did vote,” said freshman Joe Daniel. Also on the ballot was a proposed constitutional amendment that would have given the vice president the power to recommend the removal of senators, and given the Senate the power to expel members for “malfeasance or misfeasance.” While the amendment had over
90 percent support—with a vote of 80 to 8—it failed to pass, as the total voter turnout for the amendment fell far short of the 10 percent of the student body required by the SA constitution. After an effectively uncontested election with an abysmal turnout—roughly two percent of the student body—it may be fair to ask just how well SA Senate represents the views of the student. A Senator’s Story I was one of the uncontested candidates in this race, and was elected by 29 votes to represent the College of Arts and Sciences. With no one opposing my election and fewer than 30 people voting for me, it is hard to fully convince myself that I truly represent
more than my own thoughts and interests. After experiencing the formality of a process by which TU chooses its senators, I began to doubt that the body is a “legislative representative” of the students, as the SA Constitution indicates, but rather a club that is open to anyone with an interest in joining. There seem to be two factors that minimize competition in elections: a lack of interested individuals and an excess of available seats. Returning Senator Ben Chong touched on the first problem after a three-hour Senate meeting, saying, “We’d like to see more (involvement), but it’s a matter of the interest actually being there.” “I think it’s the responsibility
See Senate on page 3