2007-04-19

              ? VARIETY

PAGE 3

Merce Cunningham Dance Company visits CSB/SJU

? SPORTS

PAGE 11

First-year softball player Shannon Eveland finds her comfort zone

Tew of us know what we are capable of doing... we have never pushed ourselves hard enough to Bnd out

April 19, 2007

St. Ben's Senate: election results tampered

Photo by Amber Wetter • ajwetter@csbsju.edu

St. Ben's Senate president Kiersten Qjerstad issues a public statement at Wednesday's senate meeting.

A student broke into the election offices and altered votes, according to SBS officials. The election was held again Monday and Tuesday

ByJessaCizek

jrcizek@csbsju.edu

A Senate scandal took place last Friday during the general elections for next year's St. Ben's Senate.

According to an e-mail sent to CSB students, election results were accessed and altered.

"The St. Ben's Senate Election Committee discovered that votes for the General Election were tampered with and as a result, the election that took place on April 13 is nullified," the e-mail said. 'We are currently investigating this matter and those who are responsible will face serious consequences."

The election was held again on Monday and Tuesday.

According to St. Bens Senate officials, the General Elections were electronic and those with access to the highly secured election count are limited.

Current Senate President Kiersten Gjerstad could not provide specific details as to what happened and who tampered with the ballots.

'We cannot provide any further information because the investigation is still taking place" Gjerstad said. "This is a very serious matter and we believe that we are taking the best course of action within parliamentary procedure and judicially."

Robert's Rule of Order, which outlines parliamentary procedure, states that until full decisions regarding an issue are made, no member of the senate is able to release any information.

The rule states that "neither the society nor any member has the right to make public any information obtained through such investigation ... a trial must always be held in executive session."

Last night's senate session concluded with an executive session. More information should be released soon.

"Once the investigation is complete we will be able to provide more information," Gjerstad said.

THE CSB IDENTITY CRISIS

Photos by Gioa Quynh Thanh Hoa, Troy Lochner and Peter Myers • gqhoang@csbsju.edu, tdlochner@Gsbsju.edu, pbmyers@csbsju.edu CSB students are more likely than their counterparts at SJU to wear apparel from either or both schools.

Examining the great divide

In March, the CSB Identity Crisis was introduced to the front page. In the final installment of this four-part series, The Record gets feedback from administrators on the report by Pam Bacon that started it all

ByEricMosley

edmosley@csbsju.edu

Questions like "should I wear an SJU sweatshirt?" and "why don't we have CSB/ SJU on our diplomas?'* have been discussed by student-led discussion groups at CSB/SJU for years, said Gar Kellom, vice president of Student Development at SJU.

After 15 years of working at CSB/SJU Kellom believes that gender difference and inequality has always been an issue, because it

fit's the bigger issue of living in a gendered society.

A recent study by associate professor of psychology Pam Bacon titled "Male and Female Students' Identification with the College of St. Benedict" found that women equally identify with both schools much more often than men do.

The study showed that almost 20 percent of the men sampled identified themselves as completely "Johnnie." None identified as more "Bennie" than "Johnnie."

Only 7.8 percent identified equally as both.

The study also said that the results mirror the observational study of school spirit

This study found that women were more likely than men to display decals and clothing that said both CSB and SJU.

See IDENTITY Page 6

The role of sexism

Tragedy creates solidarity, safety concerns

Monday's shootings at Virginia Tech have left many grieving and many more asking "why?"

By Alex Kurt

apkurt@csbsju.edu

Writer Bret Callinan contributed facts to this aiticle

The bells on the SJU Abbey bell tower tolled for 33 minutes Tuesday night.

Each minute was devoted to one of Blacks-burg, Va.'s recently deceased.

A gunman killed 32 students and staff members on the campus of The Virginia Polytechnic University Monday morning before turning the gun on himself, Virginia state police said.

Fifteen additional students were injured in the dormitory building and classroom building that were targeted.

Close to home

Monday's events hit particularly close to home for CSB sophomore Alisa Davis.

Davis' cousin is a sophomore at Virginia Tech.

"When I first realized it was my cousin's school I felt immediately concerned for her safety," Davis said. "When my mother told me she was all right, my concern went to her emotional state.

Though her cousin was safe, Davis was struck

Photo by Peter Myers • pbmyers@csbsju.edu Students and staff attended a prayer service Tuesday at the SJU Abbey Church-

by the situation as a whole.

'What really hit me was seeing some of her friends posts on Facebook checking to see if she was okay," Davis said. "It would be scary to have to call and tell all those people you were okay."

Solidarity

Across the nation, college students have shown support for victims by donning Virginia Tech apparel and changing their Facebook profile photos to the Virginia Tech logo.

The sentiments have extended to CSB/SJU.

The St. John's Senate issued a statement on

behalf of the victims at their meeting Monday. The statement was distributed to SJU students via e-mail.

"As students, we cannot help but imagine what it would have been like if we had been on the Virginia Tech campus tliis morning, or if an incident like this had happened on our own college campus," SJU Senate President Kevin May said.

? See TECH Page 6

Incident raises campus safety concerns

CAMPUS QUESTION:

Photo by Annie Bush • ambush@csbsju.edu Some classes fill up too quickly for students.

Getting ahead

By John R O'Sullivan

jfosullivan @csbsju.edu

Q; Why are class registration and housing selection based on the number of earned credits? While it functions as a reward for ambitious students, it seems potentially unfair to students who did not get the opportunity to earn credits that transfer to CSB/SJU (e.g. students from small schools without AP programs, international students, etc.).

-Jeff Schnobrich, sophomore

A: Snobrich's question is not a surprising one to receive in the midst of housing selection season.

"This seems to be the generally accepted practice for allowing students to choose their room," SJU Dean of Students Michael Connolly said.

It looks as though CSB will be breaking from tradition in 2008. After receiving student feedback and meeting with the St. Ben's senate, CSB will enact major changes to housing policies next year.

"Next year will be the first year we move away from a credit-based system" Associate Director of Residential life Mary Beth Thompson said.

Starting with 2008 registration, women will be randomly assigned a selection time within their class years, called "cohorts." This year's first-years will register with the same women they began their education with every year until they graduate in 2010. Credits earned will have no bearing on registration times.

"Students who come from schools who don't have the opportunity to do AP or PSEO are at a disadvantage under the current system," Thompson said.

Transfer students will be treated as if they had started their education at St. Ben's.

Why didn't St. John's adopt the same policy?

"We're separate departments with separate procedures and separate policies," Thompson said.

If Snobrich or other students would like to see a change in policy similar to the one taking effect at CSB they can make their concerns known.

'I'd be happy though to entertain by committee or by other suggestions if there are ways that students could offer us to potentially look at that and see if there are other means," Connolly said.

What's your Campus Question?

If you have a question about a campus policy, news event or anything newsworthy, e-mail The Record at record@csbsju.edu.