04 02 2009

Page 1

Book Person Seeking Skills Art and design student looks overseas for class project SEE TRENDS PAGE 8

NFL scouts watch Texas State football players on annual pro-day SEE SPORTS PAGE 12

Defending the First Amendment since 1911

www.UniversityStar.com

April 2, 2009

Thursday

Volume 98, issue 68

asG sENaTE rEsuLTs The current number of ballots submitted: 4730 Candidate

Votes

Percent

College of Applied Arts Xavier A Garza 129

100%

College of Business Administration Russell D Garcia 326 38.6% Joe E Koenig 226 26.7% College of Education Ariana M Vargas 336 Justin W Collard 293

53.2% 46.4%

College of Fine Arts and Communication Colter D Ray 348 35.1% Allison L Birk 211 21.3% College of Health Professions Sarah A Cruz 162 100% College of Liberal Arts Daniel A Burrow 401 Asha C McElfish 374

51.5% 48.1%

College of Science Austin R Weisinger Jon M Riggs 180

194 48%

On Campus Melanie F Ferrari 825 William C Fox 711 Temitayo A Gidado Cody Lee DeSalvo Patrick B Samuels Zachary D Gonzalez Jonathan P Moldenhauer Cameron L Tanner Dallen M Terrell 642 Meredith K Gatewood Kristopher M Infante Morganne E Montalvo Cristina Solis 622

9.4% 8.1% 707 696 673 671 666 652 7.3% 636 632 631 7.1%

Off Campus Cameron J Kincaide Laura C Carhart 746 Lisa S Paulson 736 Griffin F Taylor 735 Matthew C Posey 712 Fidencio Leija 706 Ashley R Hanrahan Luke P Cagle 674 Michael K Florer 673 Julia E Barnes 672 Joseph L Doyle 653 James T Flink 616 John C Nesselhauf

746 8.3% 8.2% 8.2% 7.9% 7.9% 691 7.5% 7.5% 7.5% 7.3% 6.9% 607

8.3%

At Large Brandon M Guerra Tommy L Aguilar 1244 Cameron J Johnson Kristin N Guerra 1202 Rebecca R Flores Lindsay J Dabbs 1116 Gordon F Taylor 1113 Chrystah R Carter Krista L Tucker 999 Blake W Millican 933 Maria Olicia 908 Sara M Darby 896 Andrew P Gonzalez Lakeisha R Houston

1245 5.9% 1230 5.7% 1135 5.3% 5.3% 1105 4.8% 4.4% 4.3% 4.3% 894 840

5.9%

51.7%

ASGelectionresultsnamestudentgovernmentexecutives

8.1% 7.9% 7.7% 7.6% 7.6% 7.4% 7.2% 7.2% 7.2%

7.7%

6.8%

5.9% 5.4% 5.3%

4.3% 4%

College of Applied Arts College of Business Administration Kathryn A Morris 1 50% Martin Hardis 1 50% 100%

College of Fine Arts and Communication Jason A Estes 2 66.7% Richard V Lopez 1 33.3% College of Liberal Arts Roel Elizalde 11 Robert C Fyrst 7

By Amanda Venable News Editor Chris Covo and Tommy Luna will sit in the highest offices students can achieve at Texas State as ASG persident and vice president, respectively. Covo gained 62 percent of the votes cast, 1,909 more than opponent Trenton Thomas, who came in second place. “I feel like I’m in a dream kind of, but I’m very excited,” Covo said. Almost 4,730 people voted in this year’s ASG elections, just over 6 percent of the student body. Last year’s election had the highest voter turnout, with approximately 4,770 ballots cast. Covo was embraced by supporters and campaign rivals alike upon learning he will be the next student body president. He described the moment before the announcement was made as“the most humbling ex-

39.3% 25%

83˚

Precipitation: 20% Humidity: 26% UV: 9 Very High Wind: NW 24 mph

of the campaign. I was very impressed with all of the candidates.” Thomas got 20 percent of the votes, 4 percent more than opponent Brice Loving, who entered the race later than the other candidates. “I can’t really describe how I’m feeling,” Thomas said. “Of course, I would have loved to have been able to serve the student body in that capacity, but I think Chris is going to do a great job. I think if anyone other than myself was going to get in the office, it should be Chris. I do not see any drawbacks. It was a good campaign, a clean campaign.” Thomas is not the only one to note sportsmanship. Election Commissioner Austin Shelton said it was the first campaign Sara Strick/Star Photo “in a long time” that has not had WALKING AWAY: Trenton Thomas and any violations. “I think people actually read Brice loving, former AsG presidential candidates, shake hands after the election results Wednesday.

See COVO, page 5

By Megan Holt News Reporter

University officials are considering compensating students affected by the weeklong hotwater outage. Rosanne Proite, director of the department of housing and residential life, said she will meet with university officials to discuss the matter. “We’re going to be reviewing this situation and one of the topics is how we can find a way to provide some compensation,” Proite said. “I can’t give you any more information than that, but we are looking at that issue. It’s my hope that we can provide some kind of compensation. There’s no way for me to know what the end result will be.” Proite and Pat Fogarty, associate vice president for facilities,

spoke to and took questions from the Residence Hall Association Wednesday. Fogarty started with an apology. “First off, how sorry I am that the student body had to go without heat and hot water for this past week,” he said. There are two boilers on campus that will replace the permanent ones, which do not work. Fogarty said he is negotiating with a contractor to try expediting the process, which is expected to take a month. “Our contractor has until May 31, but the contractor has been very good at working with us and the contractor has made a commitment to get the first permanent boiler done by the end of April and the second as soon after as possible,” he said. See WATER, page 5

The battle over $1.8 million between the Texas State and Texas Tech university systems is now in the hands of the Texas Legislature. According to a state audit report, the Texas State University System received more than $1.8 million in student housing revenue after selling Angelo State University’s Texan Hall dormitory in June 2006. Angelo State, originally a part of the Texas State University System, transferred to the Texas Tech system in September2007.Thedormitorymoney was transferred to the Texas State University System instead of the Texas Tech system after the sale of the dormitory, according to Charles Matthews, chancellor of the Texas State University System. The Texas Legislature is now deciding which system is the rightful owner of the funds. “The attorney general and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board investigated the sale and issued a letter sayingtherewasnomoneyowedtoTexas Tech,” Matthews said. “We thought it

Two-day Forecast

Today’s Weather Partly Cloudy

perience” of his life. Covo joked the first thing he plans to do is get his grades back in order, then said he would“figure out how much work he has to do, which is a lot.” Luna, who ran unopposed after opponent Edwin Maldonado dropped out of the race last week, cinched 97 percent of the votes. “I am ready to start,” Luna said. “The first thing I am going to start working on is senate training. I am working on the training they will have and the objectives we want them to meet. We are elected to the seat, and now it is time to live up to what it means to be a senator.” Covo’s parents and oldest sister, who came from San Antonio to hear the results, were among his campaign supporters. “We are so proud,” Angela Covo, Chris Covo’s mother, said smiling. “To be honest, I have been following every minutia

dorm sale raises issue Officials discuss on-campus student concerning owner of funds reimbursement By Allen Reed Assistant News Editor

Graduate House of Representatives

College of Education Shaun T Owen 1

Karen Wang/Star photo

Covo, Luna 2009 WINNERS: 2009 AsG winners, Chris Covo and Tommy luna, celebrate their victory Wednesday at the lBJ student Center.

was over. Then, in December 2008, the Texas Tech chancellor (Kent Hance) was urged to sign a settlement agreement, which at the end (of the document) in a small paragraph included a money agreement.” David McClure, assistant vice chancellor for communications for theTexas Tech University System, said because the $1.8 million came from the student boarding fees, “Obviously, that money belongs to ASU (Angelo State).” “Nobody knows if the money will be returned to Angelo State,” McClure said. “It’s still all up in the air.” According to the audit, the Texas State University System did not maintain sufficient financial records, which resulted in an error with the Texan Hall closing documents drafted during its sale. The Texas State University System used part of the money it received from the sale to make a partial interest payment on the Series 2006 bonds issued by the system itself, according to the audit. “In June 2006, the system sold bonds on behalf of (the system universities)

Inside

Friday

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News ..... 1,2,3,4,5 opinions ............ 6 Trends .......... 7,8,9

Texas State University-San Marcos is a member of the Texas State University System

Diversions...........10 Classifieds..........10 sports............11,12

See DORM, page 5

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