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Show WWW.WSUSIGNP0ST.COM THE SIGNPOST WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBEB 26, 2012 Voters continued from front important than ever for young Americans. "Voting is an absolute necessity for any group in our society to have a voice in public policy," Iohnson said. "But for this generation, it is even more critical than it's ever been before that you need to have a voice and an understanding." Signs advertising an entry to win a free iPad were placed by the booths in an attempt to entice students to register. The booths around campus also featured music and free stickers. Leadership vice president Mandie Barnes and government relations chair Chase Reynolds worked together with WSUSA to bring National Voter Registration Day to the WSU campus. "We're just trying to reach out to every student," Barnes said. Barnes said she was pleased with the registration results and believes continued voter outreach is important. "I think it would mean that we have the most informed campus, or we have the most engaged campus interested in getting their voice heard, who is interested in making a change." Although the major push for voter registration by WSUSA is relevant to the presidential election this coming November, Reynolds said the registration forms are good for local elections as well. "It's really important to see how easy it is to be active and participate in these things, and ^^hese Feelings Won't Go Away then see the results of the things that you stood for and supported," Reynolds said. "The growth that we've seen in Ogden in the last 10 years is due majorly in part of the work that was done by our local leadership." According to Iohnson, voting locally is just as important, if not more important, than the presidential election. He said WSU students in particular are interested and have a very strong value commitment and organizational capacity to encourage students to vote and make it easy for them. "Who you vote for governor and who you vote for state legislation has a direct impact on your tuition, the quality of education you receive here," said Iohnson, in regard to Utah higher education. "Economic development issues in the state are very important." Students can sign up to become poll workers in the political science department, and the department also keeps guides to voting in Utah. As for the contest, WSU is ahead in online pledges. Two years ago, WSU won the Elections Campus Cup with around 1,700 points, according to Reynolds. The goal is to beat the old winning score. The entire process of registering takes less than two minutes, and WSUSA handles all the paperwork for the convenience of students. "The idea is just getting people more involved, getting people more educated on the whole process of voter registration," Reynolds said. "It really is simple." Students can visit www.nationalvoterreg- istrationday.org/rsvp for more information. Comment on this story at wsusignpost. com. Greek con tin uedfrom fron t Martinez, vice president and pledge educator for the Delta Chi Nu sorority. "It's a week full of free events that we throw for girls to come and get to know us and for us to get to know them. It's to see if we can click in the right manner, so we can invite them to join our sorority," Martinez said. "During the week we throw socials, dances and other fun things for them. Every Rush Week we do a community service project also." Chelsea Gannon, a freshman at WSU majoring in dental hygiene, attended the event as a prospective member of Delta Chi Nu. She said she liked how involved and friendly all of the women in the sorority had been to her so far and how service-oriented the event was. "I like it," Gannon said. "It exceeded my expectations, definitely. It's a lot of fun." WSU is home to two Greek organizations: Pi Theta Xi, a fraternity founded in May of 2008, and Delta Chi Nu, a sorority founded in 2007. "We were founded on community service," Martinez said. "On top of throwing events such as dances, trips to the haunted house, mixers with organizations on campus, different things like that, we do a lot of community service projects. We actually won an award last year for the organization that had the most community service hours." Some of the fabric used for the blankets was donated by Io-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores. The Greek council purchased the rest. The blankets will be dropped off at St. Anne's this week. Comment on this story at wsusignpost.com. ! continuedfromfwnt and universities had already banned smoking on campus. Neville said the senate originally wanted to go completely tobacco-free, but changed it to smoke- free. "Think of how many more would want to come to this campus because you can't smoke," Gardiner said. Some of the other senators said they wondered if admissions would go down if smoking was banned. "It's an issue we have been working on for quite a while," said Brady Harris, the legislative vice president. In addition to the discussion, the senate also filled another associate justice position. Gardiner picked Khristina Bills for associate justice, and the senate ratified the decision. "I think we can benefit from her experience and expertise," Gardiner said. Bills was the first person Gardiner interviewed for Ambassadors the position back in April. She has worked as a paralegal and is a senior majoring in social work. "What I would bring into this position is the idea that knowledge and access for students is extremely important," Bills said. "We become accountable to students for becoming their advocate for listening to their legal needs, to being able to respond to them." Bills said that, as associate justice, she plans to get a legal resource page on WSU's main website for students to find legal support outside of school for issues with housing or jobs. "If you don't have access to information, how can you defend yourself against something that is happening to you?" Bills said. The Student Senate also changed its meeting time to Mondays at 2:30 p.m. The meetings are open to the public, and students are welcome to come and voice their opinions. Comment on this story at wsusignpost.com. continued from front It might also turn into an employment opportunity for students. However, the program is still being vetted out, according to Environmental Ambassador Heidi Hidalgo. 'As of right now, they're just kind of testing the waters and recruiting a few people to carry out a few little projects on campus to see how it would work," Hidalgo said. The cunent program goal is to train a core group of students as environmental educators and activists. Hidalgo said the aim of the program is to change campus culture to get students direcdy involved in sustainability on campus. "It's supposed to be a group of students who are going to be canying out environmental projects on the campus," she said. Rice said the program has already seen success this semester. "Since we started, it's been really great and we've had a lot of interest and we've gotten a lot of committed students," Rice said. ". . .A student incentive is that they are able to get community outreach volunteer hours." The next goal is to increase overall student awareness of environmental actions and ways to effect individual change on campus. The core group of students participating in the program would reach out to other students who want to promote campus sustainability. Finally, the program hopes to institutionalize environmental stewardship within the student body in the long term. A number of projects and physical changes to campus, including solar panels and a natural gas station, have already done much to make the campus greener. The Ambassadors program aims to expand this type of green activity on campus. More information on the Environmental Ambassadors and sustainability at WSU can be found at http://www.weber. edu/ sustainability/ envi- ronmental_ambassadors. html. Comment on this story at wsusignpost.com. To find more information and to apply, go to: weber.edu/diversity/fund.html or contact Adrienne Gillespie at 801-626-7243 SiwviA/e' curvd/ Thrives Co-yvfe^ervoe^ Great speakers Awesom e prizes Master the Juggling Act of Parenting Alone Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012 8:30 am -2:00 pm Weber State University Shepherd Union Ballroom Lunch Included Cost: $15 WSU students & $20 non-students (early registration rate) Conference Scholarship Sponsor/s: Chris Redgrave, Sr. VP of Communications for Zion's Bank Workshops include: Child Safety, Parenting, Educational Resources, Motivation, Stress Management, Financial Resources and more. Sponsored by WSU Women's Center Register at www.weber.edu/womenscenter 801-626-6090 |