OCR Text |
Show CampusNews Page 2 Thursday, March 7, 2013 ASUSU: Presidential voting open to all USU campuses for first time ►From page 1 dents and 151 ballots cast from Regional Campuses Distant Education students. Kristin Johnson, Student Involvement and Leadership Staff Assistant, said RCDE can only vote for president. President is the only position that carries over to affect RCDE. All other posi- tions are independent to each campus. Zimmerman said this is the first year in which only the position of the president was carried throughout all USU campuses. According to the 2012 final elections results, a change to the constitution which would make RCDE and main campus VP's and senators seperate was placed on the ballot. This change was put into place after receiving 4,147 "yes" votes and 698 "no" votes. The final elections results were posted Thursday evening on the window of room 326 in the TSC. The results showed Doug Fiefia won 2,180 votes, 2,099 from main campus students and 81 from RCDE students. His opponent Luke Ensign received 1,555 votes, 1,485 from main campus students and 70 from RCDE students. Fiefia also won the most votes for president in the primary elections despite having 30 votes deducted because of a grievance. "We were told that they took 30 votes away from Doug for whatever complaint was filed against him," Zimmerman said. She said the student involvement and leadership center does not find out what the grievances were. All they do is carry out the consequences. A hearing board is set up for grievances and decides what the punishment should be. This hearing board is kept separate from the student involvement and leadership center. "We definitely want a separation from the grievances and elections," Zimmerman said. – jerawood@aggiemail.usu. edu VOTING BUTTONS litter a table during the ASUSU elections last month. DELAYNE LOCKE photo HEARING: Officials won't release records ASUSU Officer Compensation ►From page 1 Position: Scholarship/Semester Stipend leadership in ASUSU, a combined $69,400 in scholarship and stipend money will be awarded for the 2013-14 school year, according to the official elections packet given to candidates. Members of the Hearing Board — seven students drawn from a Hearing Board Pool selected by the ASUSU President — can also be called to serve on the Honor Board to hear issues of academic integrity violations and discipline ASUSU officers. Eric Olsen, associate vice president for student services, said he doesn't see a difference in between the two types of hearings in terms of how accessible they should be to the public eye. "Just the nature of what they're doing in my mind falls under how we handle other grievances at the university," Olsen said. "Whether it's an employee grievance or an academic citing grievance, all of those things are closed and private. The outcomes are not, and in this case, the outcome — a disqualification — is public. But how (the Hearing Board) got to that, currently we do not believe is public." Krysten Deschamps oversees the Hearing Board as part of her responsibilities as student conduct coordinator and assessment specialist. Deschamps said she trains the Hearing Board members to make sanction decisions based on the ASUSU elections bylaws. "The bylaws do not state if X violation occurs, then Y sanction will be applied," Deschamps said. "The Hearing Board has discretion to determine if a violation was committed, and if so, what the sanction will be." During this year's elections, the Hearing Board fined Science Senator candidate Kellie Erickson $50 after a grievance was filed against her for campaigning in a campus classroom. "It was because I stood up in class and said 'Hey, elections are going on, you can read platforms and bios online, but I can't really say much more than that so you guys should all vote," Erickson said. "I thought I was being pretty neutral when I did it, but I was found to have broken an election rule by campaigning in the classroom. Erickson ran against Zach Anderson, who said two grievances were filed against his campaign to become Science Senator. One grievance was filed because one of Anderson's advisers sent an email that said Anderson was running and encouraged students to vote. The second was for announcing his candidacy much like Erickson said she did. Erickson was disqualified from the race. "When the opportunity presented itself to get up in front of a classroom, I didn't think twice about it," Anderson said. "I thought (the Hearing Board would) be a little more understanding, but they weren't. They obviously disqualified me. I thought at most I'd have a few votes taken away because it was an honest human mistake, but they treated it much more seriously than I had." Fiefia however, was elected ASUSU President despite a number of grievances filed against his campaign — he said he thought there were four or five. "I lost 30 votes in one of them and I couldn't use an electronic device during one of the days of campaigning," Fiefia said. "Other ones were dismissed and that was the only one I was penalized for." Luke Ensign, who ran against Fiefia, said his campaign filed a single grievance against Fiefia early in the race because of concerns about handing out fliers off campus. "We just raised that concern that we had to the grievance board and they explained to us that there was just a miscommunication," Ensign said. "We didn't worry about it too much. We didn't really bother after that, once we kind of understood what he had been told." Olsen and Deschamps each said they could not disclose any details about specific Hearing Board meetings involving elections grievances. Olsen said he did not want to disclose anything he legally isn't allowed to and is waiting on legal advice from the Utah Attorney General's office before releasing any new information. "At this point, until the attorney general's office tells us different, it's a closed meeting and a private meeting," Olsen said. "The details of that meeting are not public record or public knowledge." Deschamps said she would be open to the idea of opening the meetings to the public eye. "I would argue that people deserve to know," Deschamps said. – tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu Twitter: @StuckiAggies HELLS:ME M AMOR rgewgy remodeled gmzmry apat.tmezts • 8 Private Bedrooms, Fully Furnished • Desk, Bed and Bookcase in each Bedroom • TV, DVD, VCR • 2 New Modern Kitchens • Laundry Facilities • • • • • • • President: $3,000/$300 (10 Months Total) • Executive VP: $2,500/$200 (8 Months Total) • Student Advocate VP: $2,500/$200 (8 Months Total) • Athletics VP: $2,500/$200 (8 Months Total) • Programming VP: $2,500/$200 (8 Months Total) • Diversity VP: $2,500/$200 (8 Months Total) • Service VP: $2,500/$200 (8 Months Total) • Administrative Assistant: $2,500/$200 (8 Months Total) • Public Relations Director: $2,500/$200 (8 Months Total) • Activities Director: $2,400 • Traditions Director: $2,400 • Arts & Lectures Director: $2,400 • Ag Senator: $2,300 • Arts Senator: $2,300 • Business Senator: $2,300 • CHaSS Senator: $2,300 • Engineering Senator: $2,300 • Education Senator: $2,300 • Natural Resource Senator: $2,300 • Science Senator: $2,300 • Graduate Studies Senator: $2,500 • Senate Pro Tempore:* $2,500 *Will be elected by Academic Senate HAVE YOUR OWN FRATERNITY OR SORORITY Large Living Room Cable TV Jacks in each Bedroom Wireless Internet Service Air Conditioning No Parking Hassles Across the Street From Campus Accepting Applications for Summer and Next School Year FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL DARLA (435) 755-8525 • (435) 770-0900 • darladclark@pcu.net 9r)winti 676 EAST Goo NORTH |