SGA voting may return to STARS
David Fitzgerald
Issue date: 2/16/05 Section: News
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Elections for the Student Government Association may return to STARS this year if the senate approves a new bylaw amendment next week.
Students could first vote for student leaders on-line in 1997 when Western Illinois University was one of the first universities in the country to move voting on-line. Voting was removed from STARS in 2003 and returned to paper ballot, with the lone polling place for the Macomb campus being in the University Union.
According to Senator at-Large Scott McFarland, moving voting back to STARS will give more students a chance to vote.
"When we have elections in the Union, you're leaving out a large number of students," McFarland said, citing study abroad students and commuter students who are unable to come to the Union during voting times.
"We are looking at enfranchising every student on campus," he added.
McFarland said the on-line system would provide a paper trail incase a manual recount is needed. He added that because of discrepancies between the on-line and paper ballot systems, they cannot coexist without allowing the possibility of double voting.
Also at the meeting, Randy Powell, director of Auxiliary Services, discussed a possible elimination of a paper version of the campus phone book, putting it on-line instead.
Powell said he brought the topic to SGA to gauge interest in the change.
Powell said the phone book costs between $15,000 and $16,000 each year to produce and that by eliminating paper costs that figure could be substantially reduced and it could be updated when people move or change phone numbers.
"Accuracy is imperative," Powell said. "The book is based on 10-day figures and a lot can change after that time."
Multiple senators expressed concerns about the release of personal information on the Web, but Powell quelled their fears, saying the on-line phone book could only be accessed by people's e-com account passwords.
The senate also approved a resolution involving students who enter on academic warning not being able to participate in any fraternity or sorority activity.
According to the contract that students who enter Western on academic probation must sign, the only prohibited extracurricular activity is participation in Greek life, something Panhellenic Council senator Amy Vetter and InterFraternity Council senator Peter Berntsen say is unfair.
"It should be all or nothing, not just one activity," Vetter said, adding she felt Western was singling out Greeks.
The resolution states that SGA supports Berntsen and Vetter in working with the University Advising and Academic Support Center to create an environment that fosters a student's ability to become civically engaged.
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