Spring Break
Action begins work after sweeping SGA election
Will York
Issue date: 4/22/08 Section: Campus News
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Action won all three Executive Committee positions over the challenging Engage Party in the elections, with McGruder defeating Engage's Lorie Mallari for president, Eric Lipford defeating Nicholas Lewis for SGA vice president, and Rebecca Weaver defeating Heather McLean for secretary-general.
McGruder said on Monday that the newly sworn-in Executive Committee was interviewing candidates for Senate committee chair positions on Monday and Tuesday and hopes to name chairs for all Senate committees by Wednesday.
She also said her party will be interviewing candidates for Senate-at-Large seats, which are not apportioned by college population.
McGruder said she will take advantage of the maximum number of at-large senators the Constitution allows - up to one-third of the Senate, or 10 senators.
"I started out as a senator-at-large, so that's something that's really close to me," McGruder said. "It's definitely seen as a gateway into the Senate."
All but two Action Party members won seats in the Senate: Action's Meredith Leigh Dunn lost her bid in the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences, and Audrey Williams lost in the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences.
McGruder won the presidency with 59 percent of votes cast, compared with 41 percent support for Mallari.
"We are ecstatic about the news," McGruder said at Action's victory party at McDonald's on University Street, where the party spent late hours during the campaign making posters and handbills. "We are very, very happy that the students came out and showed their support, that the students decided to take action. We're very grateful about the campaigns that were run cleanly and I have profound respect for what the Engage Party stood for."
Mallari called McGruder after hearing the returns and offered her congratulations.
"(The campaign) was a good experience," Mallari said. "It was a good, even campaign. Both parties had a lot of the same campaign items, and I wish them a lot of luck."
Mallari said she's uncertain about her plans beyond the election, but student government may not be in her future.
"Brittany (McGruder) and I had our differences - and obviously their platform has priorities over ours - so I'm not sure how we would be able to work together," Mallari said.
Lipford took 56 percent of the 1,170 votes cast for vice president, and Weaver won 56 percent support for secretary-general.
In all, Action swept all but one college in its bid to take control of the SGA Executive Committee, building huge margins in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts and the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences.
Engage won the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences in the races for president, vice president and secretary-general.
Engage vice presidential candidate Nicholas Lewis and secretary-general candidate Heather McLean are both agriculture majors, something McGruder hinted may have given them an edge in that college.
"I don't think it indicates that we had a broader base of support," McGruder said Monday between interviews for Senate leadership positions. "I think it shows that people vote for the people they see in class, but I don't think people consciously vote along college lines. They vote for the message."
Ultimately, Engage's support in Agriculture (Mallari beat McGruder by only 33 votes in that college; Lewis beat Lipford by 77 votes) weren't enough to make up for wider margins in other colleges.
A referendum to lower the yearbook fee from $8.50 per semester to $7 and cover the BeanSwitch literary magazine and The Pacer student newspaper passed 671-260.
The referendum will do away with the traditional, hard-cover yearbook and move parts of the publication online. The referendum allows for a much shorter, soft-back edition of the yearbook produced in the spring without individual student pictures.
"I am pleased that the students approved the yearbook referendum, particularly by such a large margin," said Tomi Parrish, coordinator of Student Publications. "Our next step is to discuss the referendum with the Publications Committee and then begin planning for all the changes that must now occur."
"Developing a magazine-style yearbook is a new frontier for Student Publications," Parrish said. "I am excited by all the possibilities, but I also know the reality and challenges involved in designing a new model for our work. It will be an entertaining year, to say the least."
In the College of Humanities and Fine Arts - the most closely contested Senate race - Action swept all seven spots they contested, with Jennifer DeYeso from the Engage Party winning the eighth and final seat in UTM's most populous college.
Engage's Kady Elliott, Brandon Martin and Rachel Stephens lost their Senate bids in Humanities and Fine Arts.
Agriculture and Applied Sciences was the only college where Engage swept, wining all five vacancies.
Action's Brad Kendall, Phillip Massengill and John Johnson won three of the four vacant seats in Business and Public Affairs, and Engage's Jason Holloway won the fourth.
Engage Party members Josh Rainey and Hannah Taylor lost their Business and Public Affairs bids.
Brittany Hudson from the Action Party was the top vote-getter in the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences, winning 18.3 percent of the vote.
Action's Tiffany Ann Brewer won the second-place spot, followed by Scarlett Hixon (Engage) and Mikai Banks (Action).
Former Sen. Kyle Kragenbrink (Engage) lost re-election by one vote to Banks.
Independent Jamie Crist also lost a bid for the Senate.
Turnout was at 17.4 percent of eligible undergraduate voters this year, slightly higher than last year's SGA elections, when students and athletes went to the polls to vote on a controversial fee increase for athletics.
A total of 1,170 students cast votes in this year's election, compared to slightly over 1,000 last year.
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