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Wednesday, February 29, 2012
SA Runoff Voting Open, Candidates to Appear on WRGW
Students can vote for SA President in a runoff between John Bennett and Ashwin Narla today and Thursday.
The two remaining candidates face off after finishing first and second in the general election race for president separated by just 130 votes. Bennett received 1,748 votes (36%), Narla 1,618 (34%), neither crossing the 40% benchmark for locking up the nomination. Bennett and Narla also spent the most money of the five presidential candidates on their campaigns: $975 and $920, respectively, according to the candidates.
Both candidates are juniors.
Bennett comes from the SA, serving most recently as chair of the senate finance committee responsible for doling out funds to student organizations. Narla has not worked in the SA. He served on Colonial Cabinet, led an Alternative Breaks trip to New Orleans and worked for GW University Hallmark Events as a summer assistant.
Tune into the WRGW News at 6 tonight to hear from Narla and Bennett at www.gwradio.com and check back for our live election results coverage Thursday at 9 pm.
The two remaining candidates face off after finishing first and second in the general election race for president separated by just 130 votes. Bennett received 1,748 votes (36%), Narla 1,618 (34%), neither crossing the 40% benchmark for locking up the nomination. Bennett and Narla also spent the most money of the five presidential candidates on their campaigns: $975 and $920, respectively, according to the candidates.
Both candidates are juniors.
Bennett comes from the SA, serving most recently as chair of the senate finance committee responsible for doling out funds to student organizations. Narla has not worked in the SA. He served on Colonial Cabinet, led an Alternative Breaks trip to New Orleans and worked for GW University Hallmark Events as a summer assistant.
Tune into the WRGW News at 6 tonight to hear from Narla and Bennett at www.gwradio.com and check back for our live election results coverage Thursday at 9 pm.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Bergren Next EVP, President To Be Decided By Runoff
Hundreds gathered in SMPA basement lecture hall tonight to hear the results of the 2012 Student Association Election. With 45 percent of the vote, junior Abby Bergren will be the next executive vice president. The next president will be decided by a runoff vote between juniors Ashwin Narla and John Bennett.
Joint Elections Committee Chair Phil Gardner took the podium at 9:50 p.m. to announce the winners of the general election. After a few moments of thank yous to all those who participated, Gardner announced the winners to the impatient crowd (full list below).
Executive Vice President-elect Bergren's camp met her with hugs and kisses after her victory was announced. Bergren said she's looking forward to starting the job tomorrow in a post-victory interview with WRGW News.
Only 130 votes separated presidential candidates Bennett (1748) and Narla (1618). The two have a long week ahead of them which will culminate in a runoff election scheduled for Feb. 29 to March 1.
JEC Chair Gardner announced that the 2012 election had the highest voter turnout in recent history with 4,806 students casting ballots. Gardner also announced that a new initiative, which bans smoking within 25 feet of building entrances, passed with 67% supporting the plan.
This year's results venue--a small, tucked away lecture hall in the basement of the SMPA building--was the object of scrutiny by those who attended the event. The poorly ventilated room heated up as hundreds of warm bodies packed together. The subterranean "dead zone"proved to be a texter's, tweeter's and radio broadcaster's worst nightmare.
Stay tuned for audio including reactions from Executive Vice President-Elect Bergren, Narla, and Bennett. WRGW also interviewed Student Association President John Richardson regarding the next steps he will take in order to ensure a smooth transition into the next administration.
Full winners list:
Joint Elections Committee Chair Phil Gardner took the podium at 9:50 p.m. to announce the winners of the general election. After a few moments of thank yous to all those who participated, Gardner announced the winners to the impatient crowd (full list below).
Executive Vice President-elect Bergren's camp met her with hugs and kisses after her victory was announced. Bergren said she's looking forward to starting the job tomorrow in a post-victory interview with WRGW News.
Only 130 votes separated presidential candidates Bennett (1748) and Narla (1618). The two have a long week ahead of them which will culminate in a runoff election scheduled for Feb. 29 to March 1.
JEC Chair Gardner announced that the 2012 election had the highest voter turnout in recent history with 4,806 students casting ballots. Gardner also announced that a new initiative, which bans smoking within 25 feet of building entrances, passed with 67% supporting the plan.
This year's results venue--a small, tucked away lecture hall in the basement of the SMPA building--was the object of scrutiny by those who attended the event. The poorly ventilated room heated up as hundreds of warm bodies packed together. The subterranean "dead zone"proved to be a texter's, tweeter's and radio broadcaster's worst nightmare.
Stay tuned for audio including reactions from Executive Vice President-Elect Bergren, Narla, and Bennett. WRGW also interviewed Student Association President John Richardson regarding the next steps he will take in order to ensure a smooth transition into the next administration.
Full winners list:
Marvin Center Governing Board Graduate Governor: Gary Wong
Marvin Center Governing Board Undergraduate Governors: John Richardson, Jordan Hill, Ian Ceccarelli, Galen Petruso
SEAS Undergraduate Senator: Neil Forquer
School of Business Graduate Senators: Greg Viola, Shashwat Gautam
School of Business Undergraduate Senators: Evan Kline and Ryan Counihan
Elliott School Graduate Senator: Jonathan Kirk
Elliott School Undergraduate Senators: Alicia Rose, Michael Morgan, Ross Rattanasena
CCAS Undergraduate Senators: Markus Batchelor, Daniel Egel-Weiss, Ian Shetron, Omeed Firouzi, Nick Gumas, Anthony Bucci III
Undergraduate Senators at Large: Elizabeth Kennedy, Hugo Scheckter
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Candidates Discuss Hot-Button Issues at SA Student Media Debate
The eight candidates for the top two Student Association posts debated last night in the 5th annual Student Media Debate. Five candidates for President and three for EVP discussed their platforms and qualifications in front of a crowd of supporters, student media members, current SA leaders and administrators.
Two separate debates were held in the Marvin Center Grand Ballroom starting with the Executive Vice President Debate. The three candidates on stage in the EVP debate were Abby Bergren, Austin Brewster and Ben Leighton. The three candidates spent the half-hour debate fielding questions from a panel of three student Media journalists: WRGW News Director Joseph Rabinowitz, The Hatchet's Sarah Ferris, and GWTV's Eugenia Finizio with Hatchet Editor-in-Chief Lauren French moderating. The questions ranged on issues about how the candidates would use their role as leader of the Senate to foster cohesiveness in the governing body, to how the candidates would work with administrators on student space issues and the Gelman Library renovations.
In regards to the issue of reforming the senate and improving its cohesiveness, Bergren suggested that she would hold workshops that taught senators how to propose stronger senate bills, while Brewster suggested that the senate needed to do a better job of effectively communicating with the student body as a whole. Leighton responded to the question by explaining that his first priority as EVP would be to meet one-on-one with individual Senators and understand how their goals could be fit into the overall agenda of the Senate.
When discussing the renovations to Gelman Library, Leighton discussed wanting to expand student space on the third floor and changing the furniture in the library. Brewster commented that his focus on the Gelman renovation's would be geared toward using extra space to house the tutoring initiative all in one location. Bergren said that her biggest concern was that with the renovations going on, students would not have enough space to study and collaborate. Her solution is to work with the individual schools to make sure larger areas were open to students at longer hours of the day.
Brewster was specifically questioned at one point in the debate about how he could be held accountable since his platform doesn't contain any measurable goals. Brewster responded that his solution to this is to make himself as accessible as possible.
The Presidential candidates took the stage next. All of the candidates were wearing suits and ties except for Ben Pincus, who sported a purple plaid shirt. Jeremy Iloulian immediately took a subtle dig at John Bennett by acknowledging all of his opponents except the former SA Finance Chair.
The candidates began by explaining how their backgrounds prepared them to be President of the SA. Iloulian claimed he was the only candidate on stage with the experience of running a large student organization as the chair of the International Affairs Society. Will Thompson centered his opening remarks on his three platform issues: lowering textbook expenses, student safety and the career center. John Bennett spoke about how his experience as an SA Senator the past two years, including this year as an Undergraduate at-large Senator, "gave him an edge" over his opponents and a better understanding of how the SA works.
Pincus discussed the need for more transparency in the SA, a common argument in many of his answers. Pincus said he believes the SA does not currently have an effect on the lives of everyday students and that more transparency is the only solution. He talked about the need for a list-serve which he would use to communicate with the leaders of student organizations.
Ashwin Narla also spent a large part of the evening discussing how fostering relationships with students through community outreach was the key to solving issues like student space. He said there need to be both short and long-term goals in regards to the student space issue.
Thompson, and Bennett are both focusing on the renovation of the 4th floor of the Marvin Center as the key to regaining student space. Meanwhile, Iloulian's solution to the student space issue is to lobby administrators. He proposed that a certain percentage of every new building erected should go towards student space.
When questioned about what they would want next year's finance chair to do, each of the candidates except Bennett had a chance to talk about their plan for how student organizations should be funded. Narla discussed how he wanted the finance chair to communicate more with student organizations, while Pincus discussed how he wanted the process to extend for a longer period of time in order to allow organizations to receive more detailed explanations for the funding they received. Iloulian wants more focus paid to how student organizations access funding once the SA has allocated for it rather than the finance process itself. Thompson would add more staff members to the Finance Committee in order to expedite the finance request process.
Bennett was then given an opportunity to respond. He discussed how he has met personally with over 80 student organization leaders this year.
"There has been unprecedented levels of communication this year," Bennett said, "As for the organizations who are unhappy about funding, all you had to do was ask."
The last half-hour of the debate featured questions from the audience. Former Presidential candidate Josh Benjamin asked each of the candidates to tell the audience how much they had spent on their campaigns. Thompson spent $830, Bennett spent $975, Iloulian spent $800, Narla spent $920 and Pincus says he spent $56.25, further highlighting his outsider credentials.
The candidates became a bit less cordial to each other in the closing statements. Narla mentioned that he would work to improve student financing. He claimed that the Black Student Union did not receive the funding they needed to put on one of their events, and under his watch this wouldn't happen. Bennett maintained a look of surprise and bewilderment throughout the attacks.
Thompson, whose closing statement came after Bennett's, delivered the biggest attack line of the night.
"The only thing the finance chair has prepared you to do, John, is be finance chair," Thompson said in a slightly unsteady voice, splitting his gaze between Bennett and the audience.
Bennett was then given an opportunity to respond. He said that based on Thompson's logic, John Richardson, the current SA President, would have only been prepared to be an outsider when he ran as a candidate from outside the student Association.
Voting began today and continues tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. online. Students can vote at the JEC's website.
More information about all the candidates running for SA positions can be found at http://www.chooseyourgw.com.
Two separate debates were held in the Marvin Center Grand Ballroom starting with the Executive Vice President Debate. The three candidates on stage in the EVP debate were Abby Bergren, Austin Brewster and Ben Leighton. The three candidates spent the half-hour debate fielding questions from a panel of three student Media journalists: WRGW News Director Joseph Rabinowitz, The Hatchet's Sarah Ferris, and GWTV's Eugenia Finizio with Hatchet Editor-in-Chief Lauren French moderating. The questions ranged on issues about how the candidates would use their role as leader of the Senate to foster cohesiveness in the governing body, to how the candidates would work with administrators on student space issues and the Gelman Library renovations.
In regards to the issue of reforming the senate and improving its cohesiveness, Bergren suggested that she would hold workshops that taught senators how to propose stronger senate bills, while Brewster suggested that the senate needed to do a better job of effectively communicating with the student body as a whole. Leighton responded to the question by explaining that his first priority as EVP would be to meet one-on-one with individual Senators and understand how their goals could be fit into the overall agenda of the Senate.
When discussing the renovations to Gelman Library, Leighton discussed wanting to expand student space on the third floor and changing the furniture in the library. Brewster commented that his focus on the Gelman renovation's would be geared toward using extra space to house the tutoring initiative all in one location. Bergren said that her biggest concern was that with the renovations going on, students would not have enough space to study and collaborate. Her solution is to work with the individual schools to make sure larger areas were open to students at longer hours of the day.
Brewster was specifically questioned at one point in the debate about how he could be held accountable since his platform doesn't contain any measurable goals. Brewster responded that his solution to this is to make himself as accessible as possible.
The Presidential candidates took the stage next. All of the candidates were wearing suits and ties except for Ben Pincus, who sported a purple plaid shirt. Jeremy Iloulian immediately took a subtle dig at John Bennett by acknowledging all of his opponents except the former SA Finance Chair.
The candidates began by explaining how their backgrounds prepared them to be President of the SA. Iloulian claimed he was the only candidate on stage with the experience of running a large student organization as the chair of the International Affairs Society. Will Thompson centered his opening remarks on his three platform issues: lowering textbook expenses, student safety and the career center. John Bennett spoke about how his experience as an SA Senator the past two years, including this year as an Undergraduate at-large Senator, "gave him an edge" over his opponents and a better understanding of how the SA works.
Pincus discussed the need for more transparency in the SA, a common argument in many of his answers. Pincus said he believes the SA does not currently have an effect on the lives of everyday students and that more transparency is the only solution. He talked about the need for a list-serve which he would use to communicate with the leaders of student organizations.
Ashwin Narla also spent a large part of the evening discussing how fostering relationships with students through community outreach was the key to solving issues like student space. He said there need to be both short and long-term goals in regards to the student space issue.
Thompson, and Bennett are both focusing on the renovation of the 4th floor of the Marvin Center as the key to regaining student space. Meanwhile, Iloulian's solution to the student space issue is to lobby administrators. He proposed that a certain percentage of every new building erected should go towards student space.
When questioned about what they would want next year's finance chair to do, each of the candidates except Bennett had a chance to talk about their plan for how student organizations should be funded. Narla discussed how he wanted the finance chair to communicate more with student organizations, while Pincus discussed how he wanted the process to extend for a longer period of time in order to allow organizations to receive more detailed explanations for the funding they received. Iloulian wants more focus paid to how student organizations access funding once the SA has allocated for it rather than the finance process itself. Thompson would add more staff members to the Finance Committee in order to expedite the finance request process.
Bennett was then given an opportunity to respond. He discussed how he has met personally with over 80 student organization leaders this year.
"There has been unprecedented levels of communication this year," Bennett said, "As for the organizations who are unhappy about funding, all you had to do was ask."
The last half-hour of the debate featured questions from the audience. Former Presidential candidate Josh Benjamin asked each of the candidates to tell the audience how much they had spent on their campaigns. Thompson spent $830, Bennett spent $975, Iloulian spent $800, Narla spent $920 and Pincus says he spent $56.25, further highlighting his outsider credentials.
The candidates became a bit less cordial to each other in the closing statements. Narla mentioned that he would work to improve student financing. He claimed that the Black Student Union did not receive the funding they needed to put on one of their events, and under his watch this wouldn't happen. Bennett maintained a look of surprise and bewilderment throughout the attacks.
Thompson, whose closing statement came after Bennett's, delivered the biggest attack line of the night.
"The only thing the finance chair has prepared you to do, John, is be finance chair," Thompson said in a slightly unsteady voice, splitting his gaze between Bennett and the audience.
Bennett was then given an opportunity to respond. He said that based on Thompson's logic, John Richardson, the current SA President, would have only been prepared to be an outsider when he ran as a candidate from outside the student Association.
Voting began today and continues tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. online. Students can vote at the JEC's website.
More information about all the candidates running for SA positions can be found at http://www.chooseyourgw.com.
2012 Student Media SA Debate
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
A GW Political "Black Friday"
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| Candidates placed posters wherever there was space. photo: Dagny Asase |
On Wednesday the GW tradition of "postering day" continued when Joint Elections Committee Chairman Phil Gardner blew an air horn at the entrance to Kogan Plaza. Candidates and their supporters then went sprinting to three locations across the Foggy Bottom Campus: the Marvin Center H Street Terrace, the Academic Buildings of Rome and Phillips Halls, and University Yard.
Once at these locations candidates and their supporters staked out places along the walls of these buildings and took out scissors, tape, and posters. At University Yard, buildings adjacent to the space like Monroe Hall and Bell Hall became advertising space for candidates.
The day is the first opportunity in the election season for the University community to begin to see who the front runners are in the different races for Student Association, Marvin Center Governing Board, and Class Councils.
SA Presidential Candidate and current SA Senator U At-Large John Bennett feels the day is important to the campaigns themselves.
"It's a really good display of organization, strength and manpower," Bennett commented, " It shows the other candidates what they're up against."
The posters used many different color combinations and ranged from a simple poster with a candidates name and the date of the election to others which employed "Buff and Blue spirit" or catchy phrases to stand out.
CCAS SA Senate candidate Omeed Firouzi woke up early to demonstrate to potential voters that the Senate position he is vying for is important to him.
"[Your] name and face being out their gives folks the opportunity to see that you're taking this seriously and that you're invested in it," Firouzi said.
Despite the intensity of putting up posters as fast as possible and running to different locations the atmosphere was still a lot of fun. Candidates such as Abby Bergren, who is running for Executive Vice President, said they enjoyed the experience.
"The funniest thing to me was that the intensity died away almost immediately," Bergren described, "About ten minutes into it, everyone was just helping each other out, trying to work together to hold all the posters up."
Note: Come to the Marvin Center Grand Ballroom on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. for the Fifth Annual Student Media Debate to see the candidates for SA President and Executive Vice President debate about the most important student issues. If you can't come to the debate, listen to the debate live at www.gwradio.com.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Student Election Candidates
The following are the 71 candidates who are running for positions in the Student Association, The Marvin Center Governing Board, and class councils. The election will take place on February 22nd and February 23rd. Come to the Marvin Center Grand Ballroom at 7 PM this Tuesday, February 21st to watch the Student Media debate hosted by WRGW, The Hatchet and GWTV. The candidates for SA President and SA Executive Vice President will discuss the top issues facing students. If you can't come to the Marvin Center, tune in live to the debate on www.gwradio.com.
Student Association
Graduate At-Large Senator (2)
-Jacob Wilson
-James Bonneau
-Jake Chervinsky
CCAS Undergraduate Senator (6)
-Markus Batchelor
-Daniel Egel-Weiss
-Nick Gumas
-Yusuf Yilmaz
-Omeed Firouzi
-Anthony Bucci III
-Ian Shetron
CCAS Graduate Senator (3)
-Amanda Castroverde
ESIA Undergraduate Senator (3)
-Alicia Rose
-Ross Rattanasena
-William Castagna
-Michael Morgan
-Peter Starkey
-Sabrina Chugani
Student Association
President (1):
-John Bennett
-Jeremy Iloulian
-Ashwin Narla
-Benjamin Pincus
-William Thompson
Executive Vice President (1):
-Abby Bergren
-Austin Brewster
-Ben Leighton
Undergraduate At-Large (2)
-Elizabeth Kennedy
-Justin Pennish
-Hugo Scheckter
Graduate At-Large Senator (2)
-Jacob Wilson
-James Bonneau
-Jake Chervinsky
CCAS Undergraduate Senator (6)
-Markus Batchelor
-Daniel Egel-Weiss
-Nick Gumas
-Yusuf Yilmaz
-Omeed Firouzi
-Anthony Bucci III
-Ian Shetron
CCAS Graduate Senator (3)
-Amanda Castroverde
ESIA Undergraduate Senator (3)
-Alicia Rose
-Ross Rattanasena
-William Castagna
-Michael Morgan
-Peter Starkey
-Sabrina Chugani
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Deadline Nears for Bernanke Class Applications
Students interested in learning about the Fed directly from Ben Bernanke have less than a week left to register for "BADM 4900, Reflections on the Federal Reserve and it's Place in the Economy Today." The application deadline is Friday February 17th at 6 p.m.
The business school class will focus on the history of the Federal Reserve as well as its role in the 2008 financial crisis. The University announced on January 26th that Chairman Bernanke would be a guest lecturer for the 1.5 credit course, but details of the registration process did not emerge until late last week. Interested students must submit a resume as well as write a one page statement addressing their motivations for taking the class and outlining what questions about the Federal Reserve are most important in today's economy.
Completed applications must be submitted to Larry Fillian, the Director of Undergraduate Advising for the business school, whose office is located in Duques Suite 456. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance into the class by March 9th. Although there are only 30 spots in the class, the entire GW community has the opportunity to virtually sit in on Chairman Bernanke's lectures. The class will be live streamed over the internet.
The half-semester class will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:45 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. and will run from March 20th to April 26th. Business ethics professor, Timothy Fort, will teach the course and Chairman Bernanke will lecture during the March 20, 22, 27 and 29th meetings of the class.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Students Celebrate Prop 8 Demise
To some people, February is considered the month of love. Shops are decorated with hearts and flowers, student organizations host date auctions, and a lot of weddings are scheduled during this month. The Judiciary system usually does not participate in these activities, but the recent decision of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is making an impact that will affect not only February, but also American culture.
A California panel of judges struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8, as unconstitutional. The justices concluded that the law’s only purpose was to deny homosexual couples the right to marry. The state of California does grant them the rights and benefits of marriage if they register as domestic partners. The ruling will not take effect until the two-week deadline passes for supporters of Proposition 8 to appeal to a larger panel of the 9th Circuit Court.
College students across the country have expressed their outrage against Proposition 8 since it was approved in 2008. GW students have been especially vocal about this legislation.
Michael Komo is a GW graduate student completing his five year master’s/bachelor’s program in Political Science and Legislative Affairs. As the president and founder of Allied in Pride Graduate Students, Komo was “elated” with the announcement on Tuesday.
“This victory will help us move toward marriage equality for everyone,” he said.
Alesandra Lozano, a senior at the Elliott School studying International Affairs and Women’s Studies, was “disgusted” when Proposition 8 passed in 2008.
“Prop 8’s mere existence, in my opinion, is a shameful case of a deliberate intent to discriminate and an embarrassing example of a majority being permitted to trump the rights of a minority,” said Lozano, a student coordinator at GW’s LGBT Resource Center.
Demonstrations against Proposition 8 have taken form in protests and social media campaigns.
“I protested immediately after the passage of Proposition 8 in November 2008,” said Komo. “GW students joined several other groups of students from other DC universities. We protested from the White House to the Capitol and had great coverage and support from very diverse groups and communities.”
In 2009, Washington, DC passed the same-sex marriage law. There are currently six states that allow homosexual couples to wed: Connecticut, New Hampshire, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont.
Komo believes that “the struggle to legalize same-sex marriage is the twenty-first century version of the struggle to legalize interracial marriage.”
“This has sent the message that our relationships are just as valuable,” said Lozano, “that our relationships are not inferior and that our families deserve the same amount of dignity and recognition as heterosexual families.”
Money flies at Martha's Marathon
"Don't be stressed over $4100," Dean of Students Dr. Peter Konwerski said soothingly to several auction bidders.
The comment came from Konwerski towards a group of bidders at the end of an hour-long live auction on the final item up for bid, an Ivory Tour quad, at Martha's Marathon on Wednesday night in Columbia Square inside the Marvin Center.
A moment later Konwerski and fellow auctioneer Courtnay Oddman, a Senior and member of SA President John Richardson's cabinet, were congratulating the bidders on pledging the highest amount of the evening and wishing them well next year in the Ivory Tower quad they had won.
The Ivory-Tower quad was one of nine rooms up during the live-auction portion of Martha's.
Martha's is a GW tradition that was in its 46th year.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Student Keystone Pipeline Debate
On Tuesday, February 7, in the Marvin Center Grand Ballroom the College Democrats and the College Republicans hosted a student debate on the Obama Administration's stance on the Keystone pipeline debate.
The Democrats slightly outnumbered the Republicans, but from the intensity of the debate, you wouldn't know it otherwise. The Democrat debaters each read an opening statement about why they opposed the Keystone pipeline-among which dealt with environmental impact and the fact the the jobs that it would create would only two thousand temporary jobs. The Republicans quickly countered with an estimate that the jobs wouldn't be temporary and would be numbered as many quarter million. Each cited different reliable sources.
However, once the debate quickly began to ignite with the Republicans going on the offensive. They began a very cohesive offensive on Keystone Pipeline and criticized the Obama administration. With one of the debaters referring to the President as "Your President" towards the College Democrats, with which one of democrats "He is your president too." This elicited a round of cheers from the College Democrat members present.
The College Republicans continuously assailed the Democrats bringing up the the Alberta Clipper Pipeline. This is a oil-sands pipeline that Obama previously approved in 2009. They stated that it was similar and that the only reason that Obama refused Keystone Pipeline was because it was in key swing states. The way it came was if the College Democrats hadn't heard of the Pipeline, but it may have had something to do with the fact that they had such little response time.
The College Democrats were calm, cool, and collected. They had asked the other side for a moment to respond, but they weren't readily granted it. The result was that they barely were able to successfully defend their views, much less counter what the Republican debaters were bringing up. The Republicans dominated the speaking time- command a significant about more time than them democrats themselves received.
The arguments and statements began to get slightly out of hand during an attack on Obama's decision with one of he Republicans stating "Now I understand why Obama went to Disney world, he's in fantasy land." The Republican side all cheered, but you could feel the silent shock on the Democrats side that such a brazen attack. Members of the Democrat audience even got involved when one of their debaters tried to respond to a comment the Republicans had just made, just to be spoken over. They wanted the debater to be able to speak and the Republican who had just interrupted told the audience members to let him finish.
It continued to get out of hand when the moderator attempt to stop the debate in order to ask a question. One of the Republican's continued to speak and interrupted him multiple times. The moderator stated when he was able to speak "now just let me interrupt this crazy circus."
The Republican displayed a significant amount of passion and knowledge about the subject and thus made a lasting impression. However, sometimes the interruptions and the passionate comments began to hurt there argument. It hurt their credibility. You could tell that they are both incredible intelligent, but there is a certain point where the passion begins to be mistaken for emotion. And if you speak on emotion, rather than facts. The argument is already lost. They just need to reign it in a bit.
The College Democrats had almost the opposite problem- if it is possible they came across as almost to respectful. They let the republicans speak when they asked, but were not rewarded with the same privilege. The Democrats really earned a significant amount of credibility, just from how they acted. However, you could feel that they might not have been able to make their whole argument in the limited time they had to speak. This is one case where they should have spoken up a lot more. They made valid points, but if debate team has half the time, then they won't be able to make an effective argument.
Both sides made this debate feel like the real thing- meaning it felt like they are elected officials off of a CNN debate. And most importantly, both sides made good points and displayed the best of there respective organization. It was an impressive debate.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Re-Introducing Ames Hall
Bright smiles and proud faces filled the newly renovated Ames Hall on Friday as the University officially re-opened the building in a ceremony held with administrators, members of the Board of Trustees, alumni and students at Ames' first floor sky box. The celebration for the completion of the $19 million renovation project on the Mount Vernon campus featured several speeches, tours of the building and a reception with samples of food from the building's new cafe.
The renovation of Ames Hall from a dining facility to an academic building began in November 2010 after the completion of the renovations to West Hall, which resulted in the campus dining hall located in Ames to be moved to West. The renovation process took just over a year and has resulted in a facility that is aiming to be a certified LEED-gold building. The construction included a new roof for the building and water fountains placed throughout the building designed specifically for filling water bottles.
Besides sustainability, the building boasts five floors filled with state-of-the-art class rooms, faculty offices for the University Writing program, six glassed study rooms which can be used by students on a first-come, first-served basis, and a cafe located inside the first floor entrance called Zebi's. The Mount Vernon division of the University Police Department is located on the bottom floor and there is a sky box on every level overlooking the softball field allowing for students to watch games from a great vantage point.
The University intends Zebi's Cafe to be a place where students can grab a quick bite to eat on their way on and off the Vern Express or in-between classes. The cafe serves breakfast sandwiches from 8 - 11 AM and then switches to a lunch menu that includes sandwiches, soups and salads. Coffee and pastries are available all day.
The addition of Zebi's means Pelham Commons Dinning Hall will no longer serve breakfast. Nancy Haaga, the Managing Director of Campus Support Services, says the reasoning is based on the numbers, since on average only five to seven students were buying from Pelham between 8-11 in the morning.
"Pelham was not convenient [for breakfast] or not what students were looking for," Haaga added, "Students were voting with their feet."
The University expects that the addition of another academic building and the additional presence of the full University Writing Program as well as the Honors Program will enhance the Vern.
"This [the addition of Ames] has shifted the center of gravity back onto the quad," Shelly Heller, Associate Provost for Mount Vernon, said.
Now, with Ames Hall open, Provost Steven Lerman said that "there is more than adequate classroom space on Mount Vernon."
As a result, the University has to decide what to do with some of the new empty space in Post Hall, the Vern's other academic building. Some options include adding more studio space for the interior design program or moving offices into the building that service students.
As a result, the University has to decide what to do with some of the new empty space in Post Hall, the Vern's other academic building. Some options include adding more studio space for the interior design program or moving offices into the building that service students.
More is on the way for the Mount Vernon Campus academically. University administrators said today that they are set to launch a faculty fellows program next fall where professors who are on sabbatical will have the opportunity to spend their sabbatical on the Vern teaching an Honors class and working on their research.
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