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FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2010
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KUJH
VICTORY ROAR
Read more about senate elections and watch candidate reactions from KUJH-TV on kansan.com/videos
"It's amazing that KUnited got over 2,000 votes. It says a lot about us as a coalition."
Michael Wade Smith
Look for a full list of elected senators inside.
PAGE 3A
A landslide victory for KUnited
With 2,034 votes, KUnited wins president,vp seats
BY ANNIE VANGSNES anniev@kansan.com
KUnited swept Student Senate elections Thursday after winning the president and vice president positions and 50 senator positions. Nineteen Envision candidates won seats
KUnited President-elect Michael Wade Smith and Vice President-elect Megan Ritter won 2,034 votes while Envision candidates Ross Ringer and Megan Ringer
"We got the right people. The platforms were things students wanted."
"We are going to continue to work on our platforms," Ringer said. "But unfortunately this year
disappointing, but the Envision candidates were still going to try to push their platforms during the school year and work to make the changes and improvements they campaigned for.
Ritter won 959 votes.
MEGAN RITTER Vice president-elect
"It's amazing that KUUnited got over 2,000 votes," Smith said. "It saves a lot about us as a coalition."
Ritter said they were cestatic and thought everything they did in the election was well-planned.
KUnited ran 54 candidates, 50 of whom won seats.
we have plat-
Ringer said the results were
"We got the right people," Ritter said. "The platforms were things students wanted, things they want changed on campus."
we have p. form issues that really would have required us to have those top positions because it is going to take a lot of lobbying on the administration to accomplish
some of those things."
Ringer said the coalition could have done some things better, such as making sure they filled all candidate spots, but said he and Cantwell would sit down and make a list of improvements for next year's coalition.
Cantwell said the outcome was unfortunate and that she was disappointed.
SEE SENATE ON PAGE 3A
STUDENT SENATE ELECTION RESULTS
66%
31%
President: Michael Wade Smith Vice president: Megan Ritter
President: Ross Ringer
Vice president: Devon Cantwell
Mia Iverson/KANSAN
President-elect Michael Wade Smith and Vice President-elect Megan Ritter of KUUnited rejoice after hearing they won the university-wide senate elections. KUUnited won 50 senator seats, while Envision won 19 senator seats.
STUDENT SENATE
Envision candidates to appeal Election Commission vote
Appeals hearing against decision scheduled for Friday
BY ANNIE VANGSNES anniev@kansan.com
The hearing for the appeal that Envision candidates Ross Ringer and Devon Cantwell tiled against the Elections Commission ruling is scheduled for next Friday. However, the way the commission conducted the first hearing on March 25 violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act. The violations could have been cause for
At the end of March, the commission ruled that the candidates should be removed from the ballot because they turned in their candidacy signatures late. Cantwell, the former Envision vice presidential candidate, said that before the commission moved into executive session, it simply said it was going to "deliberate and vote." She said the commission did not give any further reason for why it was closing the meeting which violates the Kansas Open Meetings Act.
legal action, but the candidates missed the deadline to file a complaint.
Yesterday was the last day to
file a complaint, but Cantwell said that she did not know about the deadline and that she and Ringer had been trying to juggle school and the election and hadn't had a chance to look into it.
Cantwell also said she couldn't find any legal resources on campus because it would have been a conflict of interest for the lawyer in pursuing action against other KU students.
"We've been so laden with the campaign itself we had no time to find a lawyer and pursue what the process for filing would be." Cantwell said.
The act also gives a specific list of subjects that may be discussed
in executive session, none of which applied to what the commission discussed.
Elections Commissioner Jessica Lewicki, a law student from Jackson Hole, Wyo., said that the commission discussed the validity and deadline of the signatures and made its decision.
The act also states that "binding action may not be taken in executive session," which includes a vote.
Lewicki said she was told the commission was allowed to vote in an executive session. She said that was the way it had always been done.
specifically telling me, but our advisor was there and this is how it's been done in the past," Lewicki said. "We were allowed to vote in a closed meeting."
"I don't remember anyone
Cantwell said she and Ringer would both like to clear things up because they want to attend law school and having falsification of signatures on their records is not something they want to follow them there.
"Having something like this pop up as one of the first things on a Google search would be detrimental to getting internships or jobs," Cantwell said.
CAMPUS
—Edited by Kelly Gibson
Olathe senior dies cause unknown
BY LAUREN HENDRICK
lhendrick@kansan.com
Marc Hough, a senior from Olathe, died April 11, 2010. Cause of death is unknown at this time.
Hough, 24, was majoring in information services in the School of Business.
"Those of us at the School of Business are deeply saddened by his passing," William L. Fuerst, dean of the School of Business, said.
Greg Freix, lecturer in the School of Business, taught Hough for the past two semesters and said he was eager to complete his degree.
"The things I will remember most about Marc were his efforts to complete his degree to make a better life for himself and his daughter." Freix said.
Services have not been announced.
— Edited by Cory Bunting
ACADEMICS
Regents approve calendar changes
BY ELLIOT METZ emetz.kansan.com
The Board of Regents has approved a change to the academic calendar that will shorten the academic calendar by four days, beginning with the 2011-2012 school year.
The new calendar equalizes the number of class days per semester at 73 each and extends winter break. Spring semester will now start the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
"We are also starting the fall semester on a Monday now," said John Stratton, president of University Senate. "These changes will benefit both students and teachers by regularizing the start of each semester."
Fall break will also be moved from a Thursday and a Friday to a Monday and a Tuesday. This was done to rectify the disparity between class periods.
"Moving fall break will balance out the instructional dates that we lost with Thanksgiving break, since it's also on a Thursday and Friday," said Stratton.
Stratton also said that the changes were a good compromise with students.
index
"The new calendar retains Stop Day, which was very important to the students."
Edited by Kelly Gibson
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All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2010. The University Daily Kansan
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