The Observer, March 23, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 21
USG Briefs
Glenn Nicholls, VP of Student Affairs, and Adrienne Dziak, Director of Government Relations, attended the General Assembly meeting in order to explain why Case rejected Senator Obama's offer to hold an event on campus. In order to retain 501(c)3 status, Case must be non-partisan.
"The risks of being in violation are high," said Nicholls.
According to the current policy, fundraising events and campaign rallies are not allowed on campus facilities. However, Dziak and Nicholls said that educational programs and debates would be encouraged.
Representatives questioned why Cuyahoga Community College, also a 501 non-profit, was allowed to hold the event, but Case was not. Nicholls said that policies differ from college to college. "We as an institution have fallen on the conservative side," he said.
When asked if donor pressure may have influenced Case's decision, Nicholls said, "Think about how hypocritical it would be to make decisions about partisan behavior based on partisan behavior."
Dziak said her office was open to anyone who would like to discuss the current policy.
President Neil Ursic was not in attendance.
Myles Nickolich, VP of Development reported that his committee will continue discussion about Case's political speaker policy. He will also continue talks with 1-2-1 Fitness in order to get student access to the facilities.
David Gasser, VP of Finance, reported that mass funding provided by USG for this semester would be $110,000. "As far as I know that's a record for USG," he said. Mass funding requests for the fall semester will be accepted until March 30, at 5 p.m. Funds requests for the current semester will not be accepted after today, at noon.
Dustin Fisher, VP of Academic Affairs, reported that he would be working with Nicholls to analyze the results of the midterm course evaluations and a survey sent to the student body regarding the proposed class schedule change.
Adam Rupe, VP of Public Relations reported that USG was in the midst of planning this semester's study over and a booth to represent USG at Springfest. At the end of the meeting he kicked off a last-minute publicity campaign to attract more candidates for the USG elections.
The deadline for letters of intent was pushed back until yesterday because of the low number of candidates. As of Tuesday there were only eight candidates for the 12 representative seats for the college of Arts and Sciences, sixcandidates for the nineEngineering School seats, no candidates for the Nursing School and four candidates for all the class officer positions.
"We hoped we would have a higher turnout because of all the talk about USG on campus," said Nicole Hofert, Election Commissioner.
A mandatory candidates' meeting will be held today at 12:30 p.m. in the USG office.
