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Show The THE ©2006 Opinion Sports , -: Page 4 I'agc 6 Page 7 ' Hello? Hellooooo?... AlitoonPCP The pits Chris Bellamy explains why "When a Stranger Calls" exceeded his expectations but still stinks. Christina Coloroso and Jessie Fawson engage in a point counter-point on Alito's appointment to the Supreme Court. The New Mexico Lobos down the Utes in The Pit this. weekend. A&E Today's weather University o fU t a h ' s I n d e p e n d e n t S t u d e n t Voice . Since 1890 DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE VoL 115 No. 124 Monday, February 6, 2006 \vw\v.dailvulahclironicle.com Women's leader advocates electoral reform Going... going... gone Ubay postponed, replaced by auto show Patrick Muir Chronicle Asst. News Editor Andrew Kirk Chronicle Asst. News Editor Kay Maxwell, president of the League of Women Voters of the United States, discussed the need for reform in the electoral process in a lecture at the Hinckley Institute of Politics Wednesday. "Democracy is at risk today," she said in her lecture, "Grassroots and Effective Government." "We think years of government 'BandAid' solutions have damaged crucial elements of the electoral system," she said. Democracy is at risk when long lines and a faulty process prevent people from voting and prevent good elections from being held, she said. Maxwell said that polling places have too few volunteers, and the staff is commonly under-trained. "They do a remarkable job, but the system is failing them as it is voters," she said. The organization's first of three top agendas is to promote reform in election administration. It needs to be run by more professionals, Maxwell said. "It's not rocket science—it's basic management," she said. Money is also a factor in reforming the administration. "You get what you pay for, and we're paM ng for our miserly approach to the elecroral system," she said. This includes the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, including two key elements that protect the rights of minorities to participate in the process. The second agenda is to stop unethical. redistricting. "Voting districts exist where the outcome of an election is already known before a single ballot is cast," she said. Gerrymandering threatens our democracy. The people are locked out when decisions are made not by the electorate, but by the politicians manipulating the electorate, Maxwell said. The third agenda is to decrease the power of lobbyists and special interest groups. "He who pays the piper calls the tune," she said. There are politicians who have tried to increase the size of contributions lobbyists can make and create more loopholes for contributions, Maxwell warned. At the end of her comments, Maxwell encouraged U students to volunteer during elections and for women to join the league. "I think people volunteering at the voting polls is very crucial," said Sara Jane Niederhauser, a sophomore in communication. "People need to get out and help, and that's something young people can do. Her comments on this really stuck out to me." Zoraya Gappmaier, a junior in political science, said it was interesting that all the things Maxwell said needed to be fixed should never have been broken. "The reforms (she suggested) were so standard and basic," she said. "That's really sad." The League of Women Voters is a bipartisan educational organization and advocacy group that emerged from the suffrage movement after women were granted the right to vote. a.kirk@chronicle.utah.edu Utah senior Shona Thorburn tosses up an off-balance shot in the lane during the Utes' 75-62 upset of New Mexico on Saturday. Thorburn scored 28 points to give Utah its 15th win of the year. SEE P A G E 7 F O R F U L L STORY The development board of the Associated Students of the University of Utah is organizing an auto show instead of completing the project Ubay, changing a campaign objective of the current administration. The Ubay program is an online auction Web site at which students and staff will be able to bid on items donated from bi|s-£ nesses. Those who purchase items can donate their money to a student g r o ? their choice. John Poelman, student body vice dent, said that as a result of legal issues stalling the project, the decision was made to put on something that could hapgen this year. •; • The legal concern was about copyrighl infringement since "Ubay" is a similar name to "eBay." Nic Metz, development board direct tor, said the name Ubay would change to. "Ubuy" to avoid copyright infringement, • He said his understaffed board could not run the Web site and that is the main reason his board put Ubuy on the back burner. "It will probably be looked at by the development board next year," Metz said. Instead, the development board is finalizing details to put on the first annual U auto show April 20. Metz said the purpose is to educate students on all aspects of vehicles, including purchasing, upkeep, aftermarket value, installments and loans. No sales will take place at the event. "I don't think a lot of students know what goes into buying a car and maintaining it, getting insurance, and I think for a lot students, it's intimidating," Metz said. The auto show will take place outside the Union in the free speech area, where cars will line the walkways. Larry H. Miller is sponsoring the event and contracts are being finalized with Audi, Volkswagen, Car Concepts, the Utah Highway Patrol, Custom Car Design and 97.1 ZHT. The board is also working on signing food vendors, insurance companies, banks and gas stations to help educate students. "We decided (to put on an auto show) because, using hardly any student funds, we could provide a big entertainment festival that would serve educational purposes as well," Metz said. For more information, log onto www. ustudents.com. p.muir@chronicle.utah.edu Indian student comes to U to study journalism, reconnect with brother H. Rachelle Graham Chronicle Writer Santanu Chakraborty, a graduate student in communication and former journalist in India, came to America last year to get a better sense of international news. "If you operate from a single country, you are pigeon-holed, and you don't have much opportunity to expand and see other points of view," he said. He chose to study journalism in America because he believes "the university standards are the best in the world." Chakraborty came to Utah from India for the Fall Semester. He has worked for the United News of India, the sixth largest news agency in the world. He completed his master's degree in mass communication from Guru Jambeshwar University, Haryana in 2003. In February 2002, he interned for CNBC business news channel in New Delhi, writing and editing television news stories. A few years before that, he was a reporter for All India Radio in Calcutta where he did voice-overs and interviews for stories. In addition, he worked with the Association of Renewable Energy Devices Manufacturers (ARDEM) for two years writing research summaries on air and water pollution, rainwater harvesting and hospital management projects in eastern India. Julia Corbett, associate professor of communication, had Chakraborty in an environmental communication course. "I could see that he was passionate about wanting to apply what he was learning to environmental issues in India," Corbett said. "He wrote a paper about the communication strategies of a grassroots movement of Indian activists concerned about dam building and the effects on ordinary citizens." Chakraborty came to the U for two main reasons. First, the U offered him up-front funding and a position as a teaching assistant while taking classes. He is currently the teaching assistant for Jim Fisher in a Mass Communication 1500 course. He also chose the U because his brother, Indranil Chakraborty, is a See JOURNALIST p ^ Can U hear me now? used by departments to help the university save money. The need for two different allowances based on previous university plans comes from cell phone bills would be giv- "goofy" IRS guidelines that en to employees choosing the categorize cell phones as listfirst plan. ed property, Taylor said. This "Employees can choose means that un-reimbursed from any service plan that personal calls are considered will allow them to conduct to be taxable income. university business," she said. "The crux of the whole issue "A lot of vendors have existing is that any U paid or owned contracts with the U and of- service is classified as propfer employee and department erty," Taylor said discounts." "Employees would have to North said Cingular, T-Mo- substantiate the use—both bile, Verizon and Sprint are business and personal. This service providers that have would require a level of docucontracts with the U. She ex- mentation that is not practipects employee discounts as cal." well as mobile-to-mobile plans The new policy also pro- U employees under revamped cell phone policy Jed Laylon Chronicle Writer University employees will now be held under a revised cellular phone policy created to ease confusion over the payment of personal and business calls. Kevin Taylor, director of the office of information and technology, said the policy—which went into full effect yesterday—allows staff members to choose from either personally or university owned phone plans. He said employees must first meet with a supervisor who will determine whether an employee needs a cell phone for business use. After that one of two plans can be adopted: Employees can either obtain their own cellular phone and receive compensation from the university for business call expenses, or they can acquire a university-owned phone and pay back the university for personal calls. However, this plan would require extensive documentation. Kathy North, associate director of the office of information and technology, said Jan Lovett, an employee at the office of information technology, sayS the new cell phone policy will give the faculty more options because of the many different companies that they can choose phone plans with. vides for a regulation prohibiting the use of a cell phone while operating a vehicle. Taylor said this would help keep employees safe and the university out of liability. j.layton@ chronicle.utah.edu |