USG appoints court

Although the voting was delayed by some confusion last night, the Undergraduate Student Government approved two students for its elections court.

Duane Gildea (freshman-division of undergraduate studies), political co-director of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Alliance and Scott So (freshman-biology), a member of West Halls Residence Association, both received the majority of votes necessary to be named members of the court.

As a member of the court, Gildea said he would like to maintain a strict enforcement of the election codes, as well as help the USG Elections Commission in any way possible.

"I think it's insane to have a code if you're not going to abide by it strictly," he said at the meeting.

Student apathy and improving voter turnout will be some issues of importance to Gildea, he said. With this, he said, he will be working with Debate and Publicity Commissioner Tracy Greca.

"I'm sure that, publicity being one of her goals, it will align itself with that," he said.

In addition, the two court members do not know of any specific problems with the elections, they say, although they will officially wait until campaigning begins in March.

"Until then, (we will) just keep our eyes and ears open," So said.

Ed Kilpela, Undergraduate Student Government vice president, expressed confidence in the abilities of Gildea and So to effectively operate the elections court positions.

But before hands raised in support of the two elections court members, Kilpela called for a brief recess to discuss a third applicant who had applied to the special prosecutor position. He could not be named to the position because the elections commission had not recommended him, and the elections code gives that authority to the commission.

Other applicants had also been asked to withdraw their applications to the elections court, because the Student Appointment Review Board was not confident of their understanding of the elections.

"I think (the applicants) understood as well that they weren't as qualified as they needed to be," Kilpela said.

USG is still looking for more elections court members before the court can do anything significant, Gildea said.

"Of course, we can't make any official plans until the entire elections court is convened," he said.

Kilpela hopes that the court positions will be filled at next Tuesday's USG Senate meeting, he said, adding that he and USG President, Sharon Entenberg, are asking other student leaders to apply for the court. Kilpela wants more students who have had a number of years at the University to apply, he said.