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Show Wednesday, February 16, 2000 THE SIGNPOST Page 3 Student Senate following the election money By Preston McConkie asst. news editor-Tie Signpost Questions of legality, ethics and fairness are being asked by administrators and student body officers after a student senator's statement Monday that student fee money helped finance her campaign.Following heated, gavel-whacking debate in the student senate, a proposal to raise registration fees for student senate elections narrowly passed after Native American student senator Margaret Pilcher suggested that candidates could get help paying the cost. "The Multicultural Center paid my registration fee," Pilcher said. "If there are students who can't afford to register, they should go to their departments. I'm sure the departments have an interest in having student representation." The suggestion ended a debate over whether raising registration fees from $40 to $50 would exclude people from running. Despite objections from African American student senator Melvin Price, the new campaign rules were approved by 13 of the 17 senators present, just enough to form the necessary three-quarters majority. Georgette Perez, director for the office of Services for Multicultural Students, said she was aware that her office had paid Pilcher's fee the year before, but did not agree with what had been done. At the time Perez had been working in Student Activities, and it was there that she learned that Pilcher and another candidate had been financed by a campus office. T.R. Khan, vice president of last year's IMPACT council, ran last year for Weber State University Student Association academic vice president in April. After the campaign he asked to have part of his registration fee refunded as cash. That was when Perez learned Khan's fee had been paid for by the Diversity Center. "I didn't agree with that," Perez said. "Last year he wanted that money to go to him when technically it needed to go back to the department." Pilcher, on the other hand, did not attempt to collect the refundable portion of her registration fee. Perez said she didn't believe offices should be allowed to pay campaign expenses for particular candidates. Vice President for Student Affairs Anand Dyal-Chand said, The thing that bothers me is the legality of whether this is OK or not." WSU President Paul Thompson said, "I just don't know the legality of the issue." "Obviously we have an interest in having good student government and having a number of candidates and having a good cam paign and having students have the opportunity to vote for the people that they choose," Thompson said. Dyal-Chand said he wanted to find out what policies different departments might have regarding the matter. The question is, is there a common policy?" Dyal-Chand said. "If they do not have one we have to work on that." Steve DeVries, chairman of the WSUSA elections committee, said he didn't want to get involved in the issue, even though campaign rules written by the committee regulate the sources of most campaign money. "I think that's something we ought to leave for the different departments to decide," he said. Academic .Vice President Mike Chertudi raised the question of whether offices or area councils could be fair in using money to help finance campaigns. ' "I think the only way it could be equitable is if everyone had the same access to assistance," he said. Perez had a similar thought. "If every single student that runs can actually go to the department for support, then I would agree with it," she said. "I'm not sure I would think it would be appropriate," said political science assistant professor Marcy Everest. "I would definitely be more suspicious if it were an academic department paying for a candidate)." The difference, Everest said, is that academic departments are funded by tax money, and state law probably doesn't allow the money to be used for campaign contributions. Perez said that if the same privilege wasn't available to senators representing colleges and academic departments, then she would not support the multicultural center being able to sponsor candidates. Honors continued from front "Doc's Story" is part of a book Wideman is currently writing a book about basketball."But it's a different kind of basketball book," Wideman said. "It's not about who wins and who loses, but it's a book about basketball and race, and class, and the formation of the way Americans think about themselves and think about one another, using basketball as a focus." Wideman talked about the mixed influence of environment and heredity, whether people prosper because they work hard and take action or whether they have been "em powered by the group." Wideman said his own empowerment had come from his upbringing. "I think it began in the kind of household I was raised in," he said. "There was love in the house," he said. "I knew that if I was sick, someone would be there to take care of me. If I wanted something, even if people couldn't get it for me, I'd know that they'd want to get it for me they would if they could." Wideman said his family members looked out for each other. He also thanked good teachers who had introduced him to writing and encour aged his early efforts with praise and recognition. Still, Wideman said no one ever gave him anything. "I don't know whoever said they wanted to give me something," he said. "We give ourselves our rights and privileges. No one gives them to us." He said later, "Individual initiative, individual gifts, individual determination, have a lot to do with things." "You don't have to wait for someone to give you something, and you don't have to believe there's nothing out there for you to have," he said. At last, Wideman told the "You don't have to wait for someone to give you something, and you don't have to believe there's nothing out there for you to have." John Edgar Wideman, author audience that race categories were fictional inventions of Europeans to justify slavery. There are no races, Wideman said, but only cultures. About 200 attended the lecture in the Special Collections room of the Stewart Li brary. In addition to WSU students, faculty "and staff there were many community members, including a group of students from Ogden High School who attended a luncheon with Wideman afterward in the Lair. CTrYfviFo) f II wc muu naiK.ouffl FREE VIDEO 1-888 942-HAIR In the Wildcat Theater February 16th 8 p.m. $2 A.. ' V -(' t n f 7 v: r ' r - FINANCIAL AID 2000-200 1 PRIORITY DATE: MARCH 1, 2000 A copy of your completed, signed 1 999 taxes returns must be turned in with your financial aid application. The above priority date guarantees all applications receive J at the Financial Aid Office on or before March 1 , 2000 will be processed on time, and award offers issued early to provide students with the opportunity to plan and budget for the coming academic year. |