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SA hopefuls wait for election results
BY SARA JOCHEMS & ZACH McBRIDE
STATESMAN STAFF WRITERS
iISSUE: 78/28
As the weather begins to fluctuate, things heated up as student elections took place in MWAH 195 Tuesday morning. Four students took the floor to answer in-depth questions on why they felt they would be the best representatives for the university.
Current Student Association (SA) president Thomas DeMinico asked questions ranging from liberal education and school spirit to their opinions on the 300-foot rule. “The reason behind asking such a variety of questions is to give each candidate a better understanding of the person he/she is running against,” DeMinico said. Three topics that were readily discussed at the meeting include liberal education, school spirit and the 300-foot rule.
Liberal Education Running for her third term as Academic Affairs representative, junior Ashley Brown said she has a passion for making changes on campus with liberal education. “Change is needed,” Brown said when addressing the ten-category liberal arts portion of students academic class load. “The current liberal education system is hard for students to understand.” Sophomore Anna Lundberg is running for 2008-2009 SA president. She too was passionate about the current liberal education process.
“When I came in as a freshman, nobody helped me,” Lundberg said. “I had no idea what liberal education meant. The advisors then told me to just get them done within the first two years of schooling instead of mixing it up.” Lundberg is currently a student advisor and said that teaching others about liberal education and the reasons for taking the classes is important. “I feel it makes you a better person,” she said. “This summer I hope to set up a camp where students and professors can go to learn about liberal education.”
School Spirit Junior Kaylee Timbers, who is running for vice president of Student Affairs, said UMD needs to get more involved. “We should set up parades and celebrate with other groups and organizations around campus,” Timbers said. Sophomore Jason Wittrock is also running for 2008-2009 SA president. A hockey fanatic, Wittrock said that the school should have done more with the women’s hockey team. “We won nationals and didn’t do anything about it,” Wittrock said. “Other schools in this kind of situation would have been throwing parties.”
The 300-foot rule Wittrock said intermingling students with other citizens would be better than having a 300-foot rule. “By not having a rule, it would give students a better option of where they want to live,” Wittrock said. “There would also be no restrictions.” Lundberg believes the student district is the way to go. “By having the student district, there would be more of an interaction between students and older citizens,” Lundberg said.
Junior Eric Adams was the only student at the debate and wondered why more people didn’t show up. “SA represents the entire student body and yet nobody knew about the debate,” Adams said. DeMinico added that SA has to follow a code. “We have certain bi-laws that [regulate what] we can and cannot do for elections,” DeMinico said. “We cannot just have people with tables set up outside of the bookstore saying ‘vote for me.’ ”
According to DeMinico, voting was Tuesday, April 22 and Wednesday, April 23, either online or in front of the bookstore.
“Winners won’t be known until later Thursday evening or Friday. Fliers or a banner will be put up sometime early next week with the winners,” DeMinico said.
