Another ticket enters USG elections race

Two more people entered the race for Undergraduate Student Government president and vice president as a write-in campaign on the eve of election day.

Christopher Buck (junior-engineering) and John Lewars (sophomore-film/video) announced their candidacy last night after deciding the current candidates were not presenting ideas that could be accomplished by the USG president in one year.

"Everyone's addressing issues that the USG president and vice president have no influence over," Buck said.

The two have spoken to almost 100 people about their ideas and received mostly positive feedback, Buck said. However, they did not decide to run until yesterday because they said they were hoping that someone with similar views would step up at the last minute.

Eventually they realized they would be those last minute candidates, Buck said.

"We've seen the far right and we've seen the far left," he said. "I guess you can say we're pragmatic."

The main issue the ticket is concerned with is the $25 student activity fee and the imposition of it on University students. The fee is unconstitutional, Buck said, but there should be some guaranteed method of funding the student organizations. The University should be able to find some area of the budget that could fund the groups.

No other candidate who has proposed eliminating the fee has suggested an alternative method of funding the organizations, he said.

If elected, the two would not accept the tuition stipends the USG president and vice president receive, they said. However, Buck said he hopes to make a respectable showing so his concerns will be taken seriously by USG and the administration.

The USG Elections Commission, which said it was unaware of the candidates, wished them luck.

--by Patricia K. Cole