Tower Newspapers Stolen Following SGA Complaints of Election Story

By Paige Wearmouth

A couple hundred Tower Newspapers were stolen from the Edward J. Pryzbyla Center over the past weekend following outrage from the Student Government Association (SGA) about a story on current election procedures within the student government.

Following complaints to the administration and discussion of legal action, the newspapers appeared again on Wednesday morning in their original bins.

When questioned about the missing newspapers, SGA President, Anne St. Amant, said, “I will handle the situation.”

The previous week, when questioned about voting procedures, SGA President St. Amant and Vice President James Benedek confronted The Tower, complaining about questions asked by a reporter on election procedure.

The article in the October 23rd issue, “Controversy Over SGA Voting Procedure” raised concerns that the voting system on the Nest allowed students to vote for candidates not within their grade or school within the University. Because of students possibly voting for candidates they were not eligible to vote for, the SGA Executive Board hand-validated each vote. This gave rise to concern among students on the validity of the vote counting.

Students pulled up their ballots, and were given the ability to vote for all schools and all grades. SGA members then went ballot by ballot to disqualified votes that SGA deemed were casted invalidly.

The October 23rd issue of The Tower also featured an article on the Dress to Express Fashion Show hosted by the Diversity Task Force, and an editorial criticizing recent election procedures, diversity within the student government, and appointment of the Treasury Board.