The Stetson Reporter

wed apr-02 i N 5 I D E http://sx-p-x '.--. '.stetson.edu SPORTS: Baseball team clobbers the Gators page 5b Jl ULLlii'L/d.LiOil OX Hatter ceased ' J. Lvl Llilo j Cu.1 By Amy Rigdon NEWS EDITOR For the past 79 years, the Hatter has been producing yearbooks in an effort to document the events and people that the University has seen. Due to difficulties facing the yearbook in recent years, the Hatter is being discontinued after this year. "We have had so many problems with past editors graduating and not. finishing the book, with the publishing company representative being too busy with high school to have time for us, and with a lack of student interest," said Holli Berry, Staff Advisor for the Hatter and Associate Director of Student Life. The most recent difficulty was with last year's yearbook, which did not become available to the student body until this semester. Last year's editor-in-chief of the Hatter graduated and left the University with the materials for the unfinished yearbook. No one over the summer was able to contact her, and the yearbook was not finished. After that incident, Darald Stubbs,, Director of Student Life, told the current year's yearbook staff what to do to make it better. .."[Our.decision to cancel the.yearbook] has nothing to do with the current staff on yearbook," said Stubbs. "They have done nothing wrong; it has been a decision in the works." The decision to cancel the yearbook had been in question for a few years at the University until now. "I have been interviewing other colleges since I got here, and for two years all of our comparative schools nationally are in the same boat," said Berry. "Not many universities still even publish yearbooks. None of the state schools do," said Stubbs. "There is nothing nationally or regionally that supports college yearbooks," The decision to discontinue the Hatter was based upon a lack of student interest. "Under a lack of student interest, that includes no one to staff the yearbook, no one who cares to get pictures done, and no one who wants to pick up a free yearbook," said Berry. Stubbs agreed that the lack of student interest did not make the book cost-effective. "The history of the yearbook has always been whether there was enough student interest. We have always struggled to staff the yearbook. For the past four years, we have had trouble with editors graduating and not "finishing the book," said Stubbs. "The book is free to students because the costs are covered in the student activity fee, and we have never ordered enough books as there are students, see YEARBOOK, page 2a issue ..•ii' volume • .**. Florida's Number One PrivateCollege Newspaper^ OPINIONS: University should make Catters an organization page 4a ^Reporter Corrections 1. "Campus Life denies Catters as organization" NEWS, Issue 18. In the article we misstated Carl Harris's title, which is actually Senior Pest Control Technician. Contact Us 421 N. Woodland Blvd. #8409 DeLand, FL 32720-3751 386.822.7224 FAX 386.822.7233 reporter;; stetson.edu reporter_news,-, sietson.edu opinions;-, stetson.edu life.;; stetson.edu etcetera.■; stetson.edu sportSi'V. stetson.edu " online'', stetson.edu advertise-, stetson.edu can no longer c books9 poin By Amy Rigdon NEWS EDITOR As of March 25, the University implemented a revised policy on Student Accounts Receivable, which affects bookstore purchases, meal points, and registration. Student Accounts Receivable embodies the balance in a student's account that the student owes the University, essentially the amount not paid by scholarships, grants, and/or other forms of financial aid. "We felt a need for the revision because a year and a half ago, the Board of Trustees Finance Committee told us we needed to carefully monitor the Student Accounts Receivable, and they expected-us to implement a measure to do so. Our Student Accounts Receivable figure has been at an unreasonable level." said Jim Beasley, Vice President of administration and Chief Operating Officer. There have been six changes in the Policy of Student Accounts Receivable. According to the revised policy, a student's account must be paid in full before registration. Students with balances less than 5,000 dollars can pre- register, but one's registration will be canceled if one's account balance is not below 2,000 dollars the Friday before classes begin. Students will not receive transcripts or diplomas until their balance is paid in full. Students may not charge books to their accounts unless they have fully-funded scholarships. Students also may not charge additional meal points to their student accounts; .they can only purchase them with cash, check, or credit card. "This is really a change in operation," said Beasley. "We have always had this policy." Some of these revisions have been implemented in previous years or have not been formally stated until now. Others, such as the method to purchase books, are entirely new. "This is not an .isolated incident [students not paying balances] and actually happens quite frequently," said Beasley. see ACCOUNTS, page 2H; Indents elect Martin in SGA rano BALLOTS; Members of the Electorate Committee and volunteers from SGA count the ballots Wednesday, photo by wesley sun By Wesley Sun editor-in-chief After two elections and four weeks of campaigning, Jonathan Martin has finally been elected as the next president of the Student Government Association. For the first time in SGA's history, none of the original three candidates running was able to secure at least 51 percent ofthe votes needed for election. Despite a rainy day, over 600 students came to the front of the Carlton Union Building on April 3 to cast a vote for the next SGA president. , _^ ., Jonathan Martin led with 282 votes. Vo " V a c h " Vivacharawongse followed close behind with 276. Takeata King Pang took 68. "The turnout was definitely an --;"v"--;r- improvement over last year," said Amy Charpentier, chair of the electorate committee. "It wasn't as good as it probably could have been ... but it was definitely an improvement." One problem arising on the day of election dealt with a violation of Student Life policy by all three of the candidates. "During the day of elections, you're not supposed to have any campaign literature around the voting area," said Darald Stubbs, Director of Student Life. Each candidate hung posters inside the CUB, and Jonathan Martin also had chalk drawings on the sidewalk leading to the voting area. Amy Charpentier went through the CUB before the elections and began to take them down. "The only real penalization we can really do is to disqualify them from the race," said Charpentier. "It really didn't warrant it since all three candidates had them up there. We didn't have an option." Since there are no provisions in the SGA constitution or the electorate committee bylaws if none of the candidates secure a majority vote, the electorate committee convened to determine what to do. The committee decided to hold a runoff election for the following week. The committee also decided to increase the campaign budget by SI50 for the extra week. The candidates were originally allowed to spend up to $300 in campaigning for the original three weeks. ..__ "For the first election, what we did was just very basic," said Vivacharawongse. "We put up flyers. We did the ad in the Reporter", we talked to Greek organizations . . . we 1=:;=;===:;-;=:— stood OUt in front of the CUB to say 'hi' to people." After the close results at the polls, Vivacharawongse and Waters changed their campaigning tactics slightly. "We felt that people didn't come out and vote enough, so for the second time around, we did a door-to-door thing, which is where I'd meet people on the-personal level because that's what we're good at," said Vivacharawongse. "We went to a lot of buildings. We went to the dorms . . . just meeting people on a personal level." Martin and Chambers also modified their strategy during the extra week of campaigning. "There was only a five-vote margin of victor}' in the first election, and I realized that it was going to be really "I knew Vach was out there working his tail off...It was another week of stress, but it was a lot more exciting." close," said Martin. "1 talked to Takeata because she had pulled 68 votes, and I got help from her in making sure that she could get those same people to come out and vote again for me this time. She fully supported me. Actually, she even offered before I asked her, which was very helpful in .• securing those extra votes." Neither of the two candidates used any extra funds in their extended campaign. "The hardest part was going around and telling each individual person they had to vote again the following Wednesday because they thought it was all over," said Martin. "I knew Vach was out there working his tail off to get those extra five votes to make up the difference. It was another week of stress, but it was a lot more exciting." The runoff showed a slight decrease in voter turnout. The final results put Martin at 318 votes. Vach received 272 votes. "I think it [the election process] was run exceedingly well this year: very organized," said Nicole Roenick, the current President of SGA. "I attribute that largely to the chair of the election commit- VOTE; Over 600 stud tee. who is Amy their ballots for SGA p Charpentier. She did an incredible job, and she has also been selected as senator of the year for this year, which greatly reflects everything that she's done in SGA this year." Despite his loss at the polls, Vivacharawongse plans to continue working as an SGA senator and counts the election process as a worthwhile experience for him. "1 had a great time. I had fun meeting people. I really enjoyed going out there and meeting people, talking to people, getting people interested in SGA 'in general," said Vivacharawongse. "It's just a bit of competition. I'm an athlete. I like competition, and this is great because this is another kind of competition 1 haven't really been involved with. I think it was great fun, a great experience." Martin, too, valued the campaign process and looks forward to next year. "I was really impressed with the race that Vach and Brandon ran. 1 respect them a lot," said Martin. "It was very close, and it was very fun because of all the hard work they put into it. I hope to be working very closely with them next year because obviously, they had a lot of support from the students, and 1 hope to get a lot of their views worked into SGA as well." Roenick will be working with Martin to prepare him for his presidency. She will be studying abroad next semester but intends to return and continue working with SGA when she gets back. Roenick would like to serve as a senator, but will attend the meetings regardless. "I would at least go to the SGA meetings, even if I wouldn't have a vote," said Roenick. "I definitely want to stay involved next year." Martin will be swom in as SGA president at the Campus Life Awards Banquet on April 25. Wesley Sun can be contacted at wsun(w,stetson.edu. ents came out to the CUB and cast resident on April 3. photo by wesley sun