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Show Wsmsiiy/kis* c Up udent 3 tf-M Soccer opens Big Sky play 1-1 page 6 AT A GLANCE 2 EDITORIAL 3 FEATURES SPORTS 6 JOBS 9 • VOL 83 ISSUE 20 EMBER 26,2012 USIGNP0ST.COM WSUSA encourages voting PHOTO BY TYLER BROWN I THE SIGNPOST Yousef Alawaelhi, Trevor Wessman and Abe Weeks register to vote at the WSUSA booth on Tuesday, Sept. 25, which is National Voter Registration Day. In one day, 652 WSU students registered to vote. By RaychelJohnson news editor I The Signpost With the assistance of the Weber State University Student Association, Wildcats on campus celebrated the first-ever National Voter Registration Day. WSUSA members could be seen encouraging students to sign up to vote at various booths and tables set up around campus. Although WSUSA has been pushing for voter registration all month, Tuesday was the major day to urge students to register. A total of 652 WSU students registered to vote on Tuesday, which is almost dou ble the amount of students who have registered since the beginning of September. College students are more likely to vote than other 18-25-year-olds, who also belong to the smallest represented demographic of registered voters. Gary Johnson, a political science professor who teaches constitutional law and public policy, said he believes young people in America are disadvantaged in many ways by what politicians pay attention to. He said he believes that voting now and voting locally is more See Voters page 5 WSU starts Environmental Ambassadors By Thomas Alberts news reporter I The Signpost The new Environmental Ambassadors are testing the waters to make Weber State University campuses more sustainable. Leroy Christensen, who is part of the Environmental Club, is trying to become one of the Environmental Ambassadors. "The Environmental Ambassadors are solely focused on creating a more sustainable campus," Christensen said. This is a somewhat narrower focus compared to the Environmental Club, which also advocates in the community and at the state, national and international levels. A primary objective in this mission would be educating students on how to be more sustainable. "There are probably some things that they'll be able to do that we won't," Christensen said. One of the first projects the Ambassadors have planned is to go through trash at the WSU residence halls and show students what is recyclable and what is not. This will be followed by a trivia questionnaire for students in attendance. "The Environmental Ambassadors are probably going to get real down and dirty in the residence hall and see what they can do to educate students there," Christensen said. Other activities the Ambassadors have planned include a tour of waste management and recycling facilities, participation in Campus Conservation Nationals, a clothing exchange, and collection of pledges for energy reduction. WSU student sustainability coordinator Hannah Rice led the creation of the Environmental Ambassadors, which is tied to the sustainability fund WSU just gained. "Hopefully, 1 see it growing into a course for the university," Rice said. See Ambassadors page 5 Senate discusses making campus smoke-free By Laurie Reiner asst. news editor I The Signpost Justin Neville, the former Student Senate president, spoke to the senate on Monday to give an update on the initiative to have a smoke-free campus. The Environmental Issues Committee will be presenting at the Faculty Senate meeting about emissions and air quality issues. The smoke-free campus initiatives will be a part of that. The Utah State Board of Regents has considered this issue before and is thinking about bringing it up again. "We are actually behind on this process on a state level," said Andrew Gardiner, the Weber State University Student Association president. "It's probably going to become a statewide issue. That's good news for us, because that means our process will be a lot easier to push through." If the Board of Regents passed something that banned smoking on cam puses, it would apply to all colleges and universities in the state. Neville said students first approached the Student Senate in 2010, asking if anything could be done about the smoking, particularly between Elizabeth Hall and the Shepherd Union Building and a few other places. "The main reason is health issues," Neville said. He also said that more than 7,000 large companies have restrictive smoking policies. "If the university is here to prepare us for the workplace and prepare us for our professional lives, then we came to the conclusion that the university is doing us a disservice by not having such a ban here at the university," Neville said. The current smoking rules say people can smoke 25 feet away from a building on campus. The initiative was first started in 2010, when 381 col- See Senate page 5 WSU Greek organizations hold community service By Tyler Saal news reporter I The Signpost As a part of Greek Rush Week activities, on Tuesday afternoon the two Weber State University Greek organizations hosted a community service project in Ballroom C of the Shepherd Union Building. The event lasted from 3-5 p.m., and members, prospects and pledges tied fleece blankets to donate to St. Anne's Center, an Ogden shelter that provides assistance to the poor, needy and homeless. Alysha Sutton is a junior studying public relations and communications and the philanthropy chair for the Delta Chi Nu sorority. She coordinated much of the project and said they liked the idea of helping the homeless. "We did it last year, and we really enjoyed it," Sutton said. "Last year we did a service project with the Community Involvement Center, where they informed everybody about the statistics of homeless people in the Ogden area, *WJ • PHOTO BY TYLER BROWN | THE SIGNPOST Taylor Kipp, Josh Long and John Chamberlain tie blankets that will be donated to St. Anne's Center. The service project was a collaborative effort put on by the Greek organizations on campus. and we went through a little seminar, and one night we spent the entire night at the bell tower in a cardboard box, kind of just experiencing having to sleep outside for a night." Sutton said the turnout for the event was great, that the attendants seemed to be loving it and the organization was glad to have the opportunity to help the community. The service event was put on as part of Rush Week, going on Sept. 24- 28. It's the biggest week of the year for the organizations, said Lexie See Greek page 5 |