Point News, 1991 May 3

              Why is this issue so short? See Editorial, Page 4 .
St. Mary’s student biweekly • Volume 76, No. 7 May 3,1991 • St. Mary’s City, MD 20686
SGA fails to approve 1992 budget
By Phil March and
Aaron Garnett
staff writers
At the beginning of the fall semes­ter,
there will be no programs and
activities scheduled by the Student
Government Association (SGA) as it
has yet to pass an operating budget for
fiscal year 1992.
Two separate budgets submitted
by the Finance Board, led by Trea­surer
Nancy Dugan, failed to pass the
senate in two consecutive meetings.
An attempt to reach a compromise
was stalled when a walkout para­lyzed
the voting process.
According to the Finance Board’s
budget proposal, the 47 clubs and
organizations that make up the SGA
requested over $225,000 during the
budget hearings held by the Board in
early April. The Finance Board is
charged by the SGA Bylaws with
providing “the financial framework
needed to support student interest in
extra and curricular activities,” and
has traditionally compiled the SGA’s
yearly budget. The $45 Student Ac­tivities
Fee paid by full-time students
each semester generates approxi­mately
$108,000 in revenue for the
SGA.
Of the eleven senators present at
the April 23 meeting, eight voted
against the proposal citing what they
considered misappropriations and er­rors
in funding prioritization. The two
voting members who sit on the Fi­nance
Board voted in favor of the
proposal and one senator abstained.
Following the lead of Queen Anne
Senator Marcella Matos, six senators
gave lengthy explanations why they
intended to vote against the bill, seal­ing
its fate and making the final vote
anticlimactic. Debate lasted over two
hours.
Among the problems addressed by
the senators was the Cinema Guild
budget which they claimed was un­warranted
considering the Guild’s
poor attendance this year (an average
of eight students per film). It was also
felt that special interest and sports
clubs that cater to a limited number of
students were often over funded.
Science-Fiction Society, Forensics,
the Frisbee Club and Crew were all
allocated over $2,000 apiece under
the Finance Board’s initial proposal.
‘Twenty-five hundred dollars for
Frisbee Club? What have they done
for me lately?” bellowed concerned
student Dwayne Cline.
During the week following the ini­tial
meeting, Finance Board requested
written letters from each club with the
reasons it was unsatisfied with its
St Mary's College forensics team
successful in national competition
By Monisha Chiramal
staff writer
Two St. Mary’s students have re­turned
triumphant from a national
forensics tournament held by the
American Forensics Association
(AFA).
The competition, held at Pacific
Lutheran University in Tacoma,
Washington from April 12-15th,
judges talented students in various
forms of oral expression.
Sharon Crosby, a senior, received
fourth place in the poetry interpreta­tion
category and made it to quarter
finals in dramatic interpretation.
Howard Heard, a junior, broke the
quarter finals inthe after-dinner speak­ing
category.
The two students are members of
the St. Mary’s College Forensics So­ciety,
coached by Umar Hasan. They
competed with 398 other speakers
from 120 colleges and universities
nationwide.
The AFA tournament is believed to
be the toughest of any forensics tour­nament
held in the country. “Every­one
who even makes it there is a
winner,” remarked Heard. The top 24
of approximately 100 speakers in each
category make it to quarter finals.
The top twelve go on to semi-finals
and from there, the top six go on to the
finals. The categories in the tourna­ment
range from impromptu to per­suasive
speaking.
This year’s successful forensics
team, consisting of seven students,
has attended approximately fourteen
tournaments. However, this AFA
National Tournament represents the
culmination of the entire year’s hard
work and victories. Trials have al­ready
been held, and a roster of 17
students has been posted for next
year’s Forensics Team.
Students and administrators bring
Christmas cheer to local residents
By Andrea Egger
news editor
It was April 27th, but the air was
full of Christmas cheer. Wonderful
gifts were bestowed on 27 lucky area
residents anduponthe more than 1000
community-oriented people who con­tributed
to St. Mary’s County’s first
annual Christmas in April event.
A nationwide event, Christmas in
April recruits volunteers from the
community and construction profes­sionals
and draws thousands of dol­lars
in donated money and building
materials. All of this goes into the
rehabilitation of homes belonging to
the elderly or disabled who are unable
to see to the work themselves.
Approximately 20 representatives
of St. Mary’s College were assigned
to work on a decrepit house in
Leonardtown which, after a full day
of difficult and devoted labor, looked
dramatically restored.
Even college President Edward T.
Lewis turned out for the occasion
and, according to one impressed stu­dent,
“put all of us young people to
shame.” Matt Croson, one of the
SMC participants, painted a vivid im­age
of President Lewis on his hands
and knees in a dark, foul-smelling
room vigorously scraping up tile.
The organizers of Christmas in
April were encouraging and demon­strated
their appreciation by serving
breakfast, lunch and dinner to the
volunteers, as well as providing ev­eryone
with commemorative T-shirts.
Christmas in April proved a reward­ing
experience for all the participants,
providing them with the opportunity
to make an incredible difference in a
deserving person’s living conditions.
budget and recommendations for how
it be changed. The Finance Board
prepared a second budget and sub­mitted
it to the senate on April 30.
After some debate, the vote was tied,
at five in favor, five opposed, and one
abstention. President Kristen Vojik
broke the tie with a vote opposed to
the budget, thereby the second budget
failed to pass the SGA senate.
Senators then passed a partial bud­get
of $16996, in order to fund the
SGA’s Operating budget and the sal­ary
of the SGA secretary.
After some initial opposition, Sena­tor
Fred Lissau motioned that the bud­get
be considered on a line-by line
basis, whereby each of the remaining
47 SGA clubs’ and organizations’
See BUDGET, Page 2
Amid controversy,
Elections Committee
names Jones winner
By Phil March
staff writer
Current Student Government As­sociation
(SGA) Vice-President
Bill Jones was pronounced the win­ner
of a close Presidential race.
Jones edged out former upperclass
townhouse senator Jim Cawood in
a vote plagued with low voter turn­out,
irregularities and allegations
of poor organization.
In all, less than 320 students cast
ballots inthe Executive Board elec­tions.
Jones received 157 votes and
Cawood garnered 155. The two
vote difference represents less than
one percent of all the votes counted
and less than a quarter percent of all
eligible voters. Because the SGA
Constitution and Bylaws fail to
mention what criteria are to be used
in determining winners, the Elec­tions
Committee decided to con­sider
a simple majority a victory.
According to Student Activities
Director and SGA advisor Joyce
Cliff Romano, typically between
450 and 500 votes are cast in SGA
elections.
The three other SGA Executive
Board positions were unopposed.
Jennifer Abita won the position of
Vice-President for Programming
with just under 200 votes. Write-in
Matthew Chlosta lost with 30 votes.
Nancy Dugan was reelected as
Treasurer and underclass senator
Fred Lissau was elected to the po­sition
of Public Affairs Coordina­tor.
“Due to certain circumstances, I
would say... that the election was
not held in accordance with SGA
rules and Bylaws,” said Cawood
reflecting the sentiment of most
people involved, including the
Election Committee chairperson,
Calvert Senator Lynne Wood. Wood
was appointed chairperson of the
standing committee by SGA Presi­dent
Kristen Vojik due to the ear­lier,
unrelated resignation of the
Parliamentarian, the Executive
Board member who would regu­larly
chair the committee.
SGA Bylaws require one SGA
senator and four students to be ap­pointed
to the Elections Committee
by the President, however, due to
what Vojik describes as a lack of
interest, she was unable to fill the
student positions leaving only
Prince George senator Nicole
McFadden, Wood and herself to
run the elections.
The Elections Code in the SGA
Bylaws provides no information
regarding collecting votes, leaving
the Elections Committee with little
guidance and a great deal of confu­sion.
According to Cliff Romano,
only upperclassmen are tradition­ally
allowed to vote for upperclass
senators and students are permitted
to cast ballots only for positions
representing their currentresidence
halls. Wood says that, because she
was unaware of this, she instructed
the students who sat at the ballot
box to allow all students to vote for
upperclass senators on the first day
ofvoting. Though she says this was
corrected during the second day of
voting, many underclassmen were
still reported to be casting votes.
Also in contradiction of tradi­tional
procedures, Wood required
students to vote for positions repre­senting
their place of residence next
year. However, according to Cliff
Romano, due to the “informality”
of St. Mary’s voting system, it is
See ELECTION, Page 3