Readers voice their opinions on war and protests l

 

April 4, 2003

 

WATTS WINS; OTHER
RACES UNDECIDED

Celebration

After her victory in the Student Government presidential election is announced, Rachel Watts hugs supporter Lindsay Catavolos.

The saga continues: Because of a voting discrepancy,
an 56 election board recommends another election

By Paul Lelghtty
surr WRITER

By Andrea Uhde
NEWS EDITOR

Rachel Watts won the Student Government presidential
election Thursday. but a new election may be held for sena-
tors because of discrepancies in voting results.

Poll results show that 171 more ballots were cast than
there were people recorded by poll workers to have voted. Ei-
ther one or more people broke into the polling machine to
cast a number of votes. or poll workers didn't properly
record which students were voting. said Eric Mills. the 86
election investigator.

Kellen Baker. the Elections Board of Supervision chair—
man. said he plans to file a claim to the 80 Supreme Court
today recommending a new election for at-large and college
senators. While results from Wednesday's and Thursday's
elections do reveal who got the most votes for the positions.
those results are not final. he said.

But Watts and running mate Matt Rippetoe garnered
enough votes that the discrepancy was irrelevant. They re-
ceived 1.235 votes. David Hutchinson and Lesli Proffitt came
in second with 846 votes. Matt Falk and James Monroe had
399 votes. and Kyle Jewell and Brianna Shaffer had 221 votes.

Even if the 171 is subtracted from Watts‘ total and added
to Hutchinson's total. Watts won by 47 votes. so the glitches
didn't affect the outcome. Baker said.

The losing presidential candidates said they will file
claims against Watts for campaign violations. including
hanging oversized posters and taping posters to glass. both
of which are illegal according to the SG constitution. Watts
denied the claims.

“I followed all the rules." she said. “I did everything the
way it was supposed to be done."

If the claims are considered. Watts could lose the presi-
dency According to the SG constitution. a winning candi-
date could be removed if the claims were proven and serious
enough.

Voters also gave their mandate on a referendum approv~
ing an online basketball ticket lottery with 1.714 votes in fa-
vor of the change and 875 votes against it. The Athletics
Department will take the vote into consideration when they
consider changing the system.

The SC Supreme Court will decide when and if another
election will be held. Mills said he would like to change the
system so that when poll workers enter a student's lD num-
ber into the computer system. he or she will automatically
be labeled as having voted. Baker said they may also consid-
er doing an online election.

Under the current system. poll workers have to click on
an icon to verify that a person is voting. and some workers
may have forgotten to do that. Mill said.

Baker said he spoke with several campus representa-
tives. including Tony Blanton. associate dean of students.
and Paul VanBooven. a university lawyer. before deciding
that filing a claim for another election would be the fairest
thing to do.

“We struggled with what to do. What we wanted to do as
best we could is balance the voice of the voters to the inter-
ests of candidates." he said.

Polls show that 2.823 students voted. while the comput-

See ELECTION on 2

 

Senatorial candidates unsure
whether they won or lost

STAFF REPORT

Senatorial candidates
expected to leave the an-
nouncement of election
results Thursday night to
celebrate or to accept de-
feat. Instead. most just left
confused.

With a discrepancy of
171 votes between
the number of students
who registered in the com—
puters to vote and those
who actually used the vot-
ing machines. senators
now face the possibility of
a new election. said Kellen
Baker. chairman of the
election board.

Many of the senatorial
races are too close to call.
Baker said.

“Most likely there will
be a re-election." Baker
said.

Candidates said they
doubt students will partic~
ipate in another election.

“It's bittersweet to say
the least." said senator-at-
large candidate Todd
Varellas. who according to
machine results won. "It's
hard to believe that they
are missing votes. It‘s
hard enough to get people

See SENATOR on 2

Mum Newspaper at the

5

JOHN NAMPLER l KERNELSTAFF

Preliminary Senators
Results may change if
there is a re-election.

At-large wimers
DeWayne DuPree
Megan Gentry
Amelia Brown
Katie Kamrani
Lindsay Catavoios
Shawn Dixon
Katti Bowling
Michelle Bishop
Todd Varellas
Bonnie Little
Becky Ellingsworth
Hanna Jamar
Matt Ray

Sarah Whitfield
Latasha Jones

Colege senators

A i S, Allison Hensley

B S E, M. Storm
Comm. Sandy Schomaker
Education, Kate Davis
Enifineering, John Weis

The Kernel could not obtain
results for races at LCC, Col-
lege of Nursing. College of
Medicine, College of Law or
College of Health Sciences.

Katie Kamrani,
senator-at-large
candidate,
listens as on 56
official
announces that,
due to a
discrepancy,
some elections
may be redone.
Kamrani won,
coming in fourth
out of the ts
elected
senators-at-
large. She said a
re-election would
be rough. "A lot
of people put a
lot of work Into
these two days."

JONN IANPLEI l
KERNTL snrr

 

 

Relaxed policies
for dorm visitation

will start

next fall

Residence Life will apply four options to specific dorms
next week; students to get assignments by mid-May

mm

STAFF WRITER

After more than a year of
consideration. the UK admin
istration has approved a more
liberal visitation policy for
the university's 18 residence
halls. The policy goes into ef-
fect fall 2003.

Pat Terrell. vice president
for student affairs. accepted
Wednesday all of the recom-
mendations proposed by the
visitation policy committee.
Her approval marks UK's first
major visitation policy
change in four decades.

Administrators will im»
plement one of four visitation
options in each dorm. Option
one is 24-hours a day. seven
days a week visitation. Option
two is 24-hours a day on the
weekends only. Option three
is similar to the current visi-
tation policy. Option four.
which is contingent on de-
mand. applies the third option
to a single gender hall. Dur-
ing the first two weeks of
class. option three will be en-
forced in all residence halls.

Terrell said she thinks
the two-week holding period
will be the most controversial
part of the policy. She said

this period is necessary for

residents to find out who lives
with them.

"Students need to know
who lives with them for the
safety and security of the
community." she said.

Director of Residence
Life Jim Wims. who is a mem-
ber of the visitation commit-
tee. said he thinks students
will prefer the new policy:

“We are providing op-

tions." said Wims “This is not
a oiie-sizofits-ail policy."

A Residence Life survey
conducted in January found
that 66 percent of current resi
dents prefer option one.

"They should have done
this before." said journalism
junior Jessica Stewart.
“They've finally realized that
it‘s better to let students make
decisions."

Early education sopho~
more Lori Fey said she likes
the policy‘s flexibility

“Some people may not
feel safe in a dorm with 24-
hour visitation, Others would
really like 24-hour visitation.
They can go where they
want." she said.

One of Wims' considera-
tions was the effect that the
new policy will have on al-
ready busy RAs. He said that
the biggest change for RAs
will be their role as upfront
mediators on the roommate
agreements.

Spanish junior Mattie
()room. who has been an RA
for two years. likes the fact
that the administration is giv-
ing students choices but hopes
that next year she Will not
work in a dorm with Zihour
visitation. “That would make
my job harder." she said.
”There would be more room
mate conflicts."

Residence Life is respon-
sible for determining how to
apply the new policy: Wims
said that it will begin the
process of assigning the four
options to specific dorms next
week. He said that all new res-
idents will receive notice of
these assignments before next
semester.

 

Law professor tells class
UK needs to hire women

Carolyn Bratt, who left her Women's Commission post
last semester in protest, says her research will continue

By Sdly Oalies

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

UK has historically been
slow to hire females and mi-
norities. and those hired have
lower positions than most
white males. a former chair of
the President‘s Commission
on Women said.

The first white female
student was enrolled in 1880
even though UK was estab~
lished in 1863. UK hired its
first white female faculty
member in 1888. The first
black faculty member was
hired in 1967.

Carolyn Bratt. a law pro
fessor. cited these facts during
her guest lecture Thursday
night to a human relations
and the administration of or
ganizations class.

“How do you bring about
change?" Bratt asked the
class. “How do you get people
to think about change?"

Bratt resigned from the
Commission on Women in lie
cember 2002 because she be
came frustrated with UK‘s ad-
ministration and criticized
the search process for high-
ranking positions.

“The higher the rank of
position. the fewer women
and minorities you are going
to find there." she said

Bratt has conducted
years worth of research try
ing to understand how
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differently.

of ”ennui" '

Bratt recommended that
UK eliminate barriers to
women's professional ad
vanceinent. ensure equitable
compensation and rewards
for women. promote the em-
ployment of women and cre-
ate a hospitable climate for
women.

Although Bratt resigned
from the commission. she
continues to update research.
“A core group of us have
spent a lot of time developing
this research and do not want
to lose it. It's important not to
let it disapix‘ar." Bratt said.

In the audience was the
first black dean at I'K. John
Harris. “She is of very high
caliber." said Harris. chair of
(K President Lee Todd's com»
mission on diversity. "She
was very much on target."

Students were interested
in what Bratt had to say

“This is definitely an im
portant issue people need to
be aware of." said (‘ourtncy
Pollock. an economics and
management senior

lloris Wilkinson. profes
soi‘ of the sociology class that
Bratt visited. said she was de
lighted to have her students
hear from Bratt.

“Professor Bratt is an
outstanding member of the
uniiersity coinitiunity "
Wilkinson said "Her focus
on gender loam i‘iililt‘illl‘s
with our current emphasis
on gender and the opportii
iiity structuro'