Student Government Executives 2007-2008

Student Body President

Cole Rogers

Student Executive Vice President

Levi Bulgar

Student Vice President for Academic Affairs

Alison Kostelich

Student Vice President for Business Affairs

Leah Pietraszewski

Student Vice President for Academic Affairs

Rich Higginbotham

Levi Bulgar, student vice president for business affairs, is moving up in Student Government executive positions.

Bulgar beat out Student Senate member Kent Ohms 309 to 173 votes in the race for student executive vice president that took place Monday and Tuesday.

As student executive vice president elect, Bulgar started working on his ideas.

He plans on having a voter registration drive at First Night to get students ready for the presidential primaries.

But first, Bulgar plans on getting ready for the April 25 Student Action Team trip to Springfield.

Ohms plans on serving out his term as a Student Senate member in the fall and working with Bulgar and the Student Action Team.

“I gave some students a choice of candidates,” Ohms said about losing the election. “The results are what they are.”

Also victorious in the election was Student Senate member Leah Pietraszewski who was elected student vice president for business affairs. She defeated newcomer Gabriela Garcia 312 to 151.

A total of 498 students voted in the election. This was a sharp drop off from the 1,242 students who voted in spring elections last year.

Compared to the fall elections, the spring elections ran without many problems.

Ashlei Birch, student executive director of elections, said the elections ran more efficiently.

“To my knowledge, the polling places were covered very well,” she said.

Ceci Brinker, director of Student Life, said that the polls ran a lot smoother.

But she believes there is room for improvement.

Students need to make other students realize that they can get involved with the process of how the school is run, Brinker said.

The Election Reform Act, which governs elections, is in the process of being revised.

Brinker said the Student Government is currently reviewing it.

The process of contesting an election was officially approved at Wednesday night’s Student Senate meeting.

It is now required for candidates wishing to contest the election to file a complaint within three days to the adviser of the Student Supreme Court.

The Student Supreme Court is the “absolute and final jurisdiction over all election decisions.”

Prior to the change, the Election Reform Act required violations of the act were to be referred to Judicial Affairs.

In other business, a proposed increase to the Athletic fee passed by an 18-3 vote with three abstentions.

The increase will raise the fee to $103.65 by fiscal year 2009.

The athletic department is in the third year of a five-year plan that was approved by the Board of Trustees starting in fiscal year 2005.

With the five-year plan, the fee will increase by $3.25 for fiscal year 2008 and $3.35 for fiscal year 2009.

The new proposal would add $8 to each year’s fee.

Also, a two-thirds Student Senate majority overrode Student Body President Sean Anderson’s veto on the proposed $1 per credit hour increase textbook rental fee.

Early in the meeting, Anderson said that he was satisfied with the information that he received from Textbook Rental.

A vote to override Anderson’s veto of the Health Service fee increase did not receive the two-thirds majority.

Anderson said that he would be fine with the proposal, but felt that the amount of credit hours that graduate students have pay the full fee should be lowered from nine to six, since the undergraduates would have to pay the whole fee by taking nine credit hours instead of 12.

The Board of Trustees makes the final decision for proposed fee increases.

Also, Student Senate member Tyson Holder was voted Senator of the Semester and Student Senate Speaker Jeff Lange was voted Senator of the Year.

The student government’s last meeting of the semester will be Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Arcola-Tuscola room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

The new Senate members will be sworn in.