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Show Missionaries Does a mission say anything about maturity level? Page 4 Th e Utah State University • Logan, Utah UtahStatesman Students, faculty predict the vote BY APRIL ASHLAND features senior writer Six political science classes and five political science professors have predicted the outcome of Tuesday's presidential election, with no consensus between the two groups as to the winner. The predictions are a part of an assignment and competition within the department to bring realworld political examples into the classroom. The assignment originated in Lecturer Kristen Dawson's introductory political science class over the summer, where she said she hoped students would learn to use class material in more than the abstract. "I wanted something that students could use to apply all the information that they learned in class, and the reason why is because the classes that I enjoyed the most were the ones that used basic knowledge or theory of an area and then applied it to something that was important: Something that you could actually see results or effects of," she said. In Dawson's summer class, students looked at 13 swing states and were sent to do research. Students were asked to look at the voting history in the state, demographics, public opinion polls, how the newspapers were covering the election, key issues and other factors. Dawson was approached this fall by Associate Professor Michael Lyons about making the assignment a department-wide option for classes. Now, involved in the competition are both sections of United States Government and Politics and four other classes in the department. Angie Batista, a junior in International Business, said a swing state is a state that doesn't have a specific alliance. "Swing states are states that define the election," she said. "I bet they probably like it that way." Batista, who is in Dawson's class, said she looked at Indiana for the assignment but as she looked into it, she found it had already been called. "I think at the beginning of the election it was a swing state, but it's clearly Republican now," she said. The six classes varied in the number of swing states the assignment covered, ranging from 8 states to 11 in the reported predictions. Each of the classes was assigned to at least Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin, although Dawson said there are typically 13 states considered swing states. She said some of the states are no longer considered "swing states." The classes predicted Obama will win the election in the electoral college, but the margin of win varies from 12 electoral votes to 42. Within a win are several swing state wins which tended to match closely among the class predictions. The classes unanimously thought Romney will take Florida and Virginia, while unanimously predicting Obama will take Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin. The professors did not have a unanimous decision on the winner, with three of the five predicting a national win for Romney despite having mostly similar predictions for swing states. The professors predict the margin of a win for Romney to be between 12 and 52 electoral votes. The professors unanimously predicted Romney will take Colorado, Florida, Missouri and North Carolina, and Obama will take Iowa and Mich. Dawson predicted Romney will win by the margin of 12 votes. She said she based a lot of her decision on Ohio. Poli scifaculty predict the electoral vote count Obama CANN LYONS (290-248) (281-257) intevanney al1111111•11," DAWSON HERZBERG MCNAMARA (275-263) (285-253) (295-243) ►See VOTE, Page 3 Diwali brings cultures together BY STEVE KENT editor in chief The Indian Student Association mixed contemporary and classical Indian entertainment during this year's Diwali celebration Nov. 3 in the TSC Ballroom. Hundreds of students and community members attended, many wearing traditional Indian attire. Palak Vasudeva, president of the ISA, said the holiday celebrates the victory of good over evil in Indian mythology. For many in her generation, the holiday is celebrated among friends and family. "For youngsters, it's all about getting together, having a night of cultural events and simply sitting and enjoying a warm evening," Vasudeva said. The night's 14 performances included a variety of dance and vocal performances. Performers included USU students as well as other members of the Indian community. The first half of the performances predominantly featured traditional Indian dance and song. Near the beginning of the evening, children from the Cache Valley Indian community performed the Ganesha Vandanam dance. Swathi Swaminathan, one of the hosts of the event, said the symbology of the dance was an invocation of the blessings of Ganesh, the Hindu god of wisdom. The second half introduced more contemporary More than 200 expected to drop housing contracts BY JERA WOOD staff writer ASHWIN KUMAR AND MARY HUBBARD, vice provost for international education, light a lamp at Diwali, a annual event hosted by the Indian Student Association. JESSICA FIFE photo Indian performances with Bollywood karaoke, a rock concert and Bhangra, a style of music and dance combining Punjab and hip-hop influences. Former ISA President Ashwin Kumar said the event was organized with the traditional performances first and the more contemporary presentations came in the second half. The latter performances were not only a mix of Indian and Western cultures, but a mix of modern and classical. "The second half is pretty much us kids trying to have fun, and it's just about us in America and having fun," Kumar said. Adam Frandsen, a USU alumnus who graduated in the spring, performed in the rock concert as a vocalist. Frandsen said he was approached to perform in Diwali through Indian friends he had met in his neighborhood. Frandsen said only one of the songs the band performed was American — Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" — and the rest were from India. He said despite the difference in language and culture, he felt pretty comfortable performing the songs. "It didn't really seem like a different language, because I had most of the lyrics explained to me in advance," Frandsen said. "They're actually really pretty similar in terms of content. Most of the songs are about the feel of rocking out, or something to do with love or relationships." Frandsen said the show was so high-energy, the drummer broke both his drum sticks during "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Frandsen said Ahsish Raj, another band member, got two marriage proposals after the show because his performance was so scintillating. Halfway through the night, USU Catering served a dinner of Indian dishes. Goldee Jamwal, a sophomore studying computer science, said he found the ►See INDIA, Page 2 USU Housing could lose more than 230 oncampus contacts this spring from students who will take advantage of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' new missionary age requirements. Shortly after the LDS church announced men could serve missions at age 18 and women could serve at age 19, USU President Stan Albrecht asked James Morales, the vice president for Student Services, to put together a task force. "This task force would be charged to determine the impact on enrollment, the effect on revenues and to create strategies to mitigate any negative impact the change could have while capitalizing on any positive alternatives," Morales said. Among those on this task force was Steve Jensen, executive director of Housing. Jensen said the numbers they found as a task force will impact on campus housing. Based on "Intent to Vacate" forms, Jensen estimates housing will lose 229 more students than last year. The task force found that two weeks after the LDS church made the announcement, mission applications increased by 471 percent. "In a given week it used to be that the Church would get 700 applications," Morales said in a Board of Trustees meeting. "They received 4,000 in a couple of weeks. The numbers are pretty dramatic." There are 25,676 students enrolled at USU as of Fall 2012. Out of this number, 15,034 indicated they were part of the LDS faith and 2,176 indicated other faiths in their records. Morales said the rest reported they were unaffiliated with a particular religion. Morales said out of the 15,034 USU students who have declared a LDS preference, there are 1,058 males and 4,787 females who have turned 19 or will turn 19 between Sept. 1 of this semester and Dec. 31, 2013. "That gives us 5,845 students or about 21 percent of our current enrollment that could poten►See AGE, Page 2 |