The Michigan Daily -- Thursday, November 9, 2000 - 5A
MSA ELECTIONS:
Blue Party wants Fall
break, code changes
PARTY PROFILES
Independants take
range of approaches
By Johanna Wetmore
Daily Staff Reporter
Ask any of the Blue Party's 13 candidates
why they chose to run on the Blue Party ticket
and they're likely to tell you
it is because of their compe- Blue
tition.
"The candidates are the * Create a Fall b
reason, it wasn't the name,
it was the people," said Develop atext
incumbent LSA sophomore U Hold MSA offic
Jessica Cash, who formerly residence halls
ran against the Blue Party. WWWUm/.L C
The party's platform
this semester is to move toward a more
pro-active student government. Through
several initiatives, such as informative
mass c-mails from MSA to the students on
the current ongoings of MSA and creating
MSA office hours in residence halls, party
p members say they hope to garner greater
participation from the student body.
"Students deserve to know where their
'
re
bc
Ge
55.69 a semester goes to," said Blue Party co-
chair Adam Damerow.
The platform also includes the creation of a
Fall break, a point which Damerow calls the
party's "sexiest issue." "I found out the Law
School has a Fall break,"
he said. "If they can, why
can't we?"
ak Along with a lobbying
effort for a textbook tax
ok taxeeption exemption, the push for
hours in improved campus bussing
and full disclosure of
.edu/~vote MSA funding, the Blue
Party would also like to
lend its support to the Greek System's right to
the continuing tradition of Fall Rush without
Administrative intervention.
The Blue Party recognizes that while the
platform is the foundation for the party, "each
individual candidate also has additional issues,"
Damerow said.
LSA sophomore Alex McDonough said
he would like to see revisions in the Student
Members of the Blue Party meet in the Welker
Room at the Michigan Union last night.
Code of Conduct. He specifically is focused
on two violations which prioritize police
security above a student's freedom of
speech. "The assembly should be doing all
that it can to fight the student code of con-
duct," said MSA Communications Commit-
tee Chair and LSA sophomore incumbent
Matt Nolan.
Damerow said the Blue Party is the best
group to articulate the concerns of the student
body. "We are proud to have a racially, ethni-
cally and politically diverse party." he said.
"W1e are a moderate party and the best chance
to represent the students as a whole."
By Johanna Wetmore
Daily Staff Reporter
For as long as there have been candidate par-
ties, there have been independents willing to
stray from the group in search of a more suitable
voice - their own.
Even without a central platform, the nine inde-
pendent candidates in this year's MSA elections
can agree that the difficulties of going it alone
outweigh the benefits of party identification.
"I don't want to have to be bound with parties. I
don't want to campaign with something I don't
believe in," independent candidate Dan Barrera
said. The LSA sophomore derived one of his focal
points from personal experience in his goal to
focus on extension of UHS service hours and a
monthly stipend for first aid trained residence advi-
sors in residence halls. Along with his support for a
Fall break Barrera is also pushing for extending the
hours and expanding the CCRB. "It's small given
the number of students who use it." Barrera said.
LSA junior Tony Goodman would also lkc to
see longer access for University buildings like CAC
Little and Frieze, adding that "the libraries shot I
have 24 hour access." Goodman said he will also
push for more Clean-Fuel University Busses and
-more "Pedestrian Friendly Construction," going so
far as to make it his campaign slogan. Goodiman
said of the Angell Hall renovation project "It'sall
necessary and good, but they need to replace the
closed paths. It's so muddy and nasty."
Social Work student Diego Bernal decide'd
against focusing on a particular agenda. "I don't
have a campaign. It would be egotistical of me to
run a campaign, considering no one is running
against me." The lone candidate from the schooi
of Social Work Diego Bernal said he's running
independent "cause I'm my own man."
LSA sophomore Zack Slates said that ;th
"assembly needs to communicate more with stu'
dents and issues directly affecting students." Slate
suggests more promotion of 5-5MSA, the MSA
hotline where students can voice complaints. *
nakes debut
the way funding is allocated to student groupsby
a Community Service Initiative and a Multi-cultuaI
e, which would disperse funds to organizations t114
e the awareness and understanding of the many dif
ultures at the University..,
aling with the affirmative action debate, it is the blief
igan Party, that the job of the assembly is to facilitate
e and thus consider the state of affirmative action in a.
DAAP bases agenda
on students' rights
ByJane Krull
Daily Staff Reporter.
In this fall's Michigan Student
Assembly elections, the Defend Affir-
mative Action Party takes the title of
being the oldest party in the running and
having the most candidates vying for
seats.
"DAAP is about equality for all
students on campus," said party mem-
ber Ebonie Byndon, a sophomore
running for one of the eight open
LSA seats.
The party formed in 1997, after two
lawsuits were filed against the Univer-
sity challenging its use of race as a
factor in admissions in the College of
LSA and in the Law School.
DAAP decided to devote their party
to the issue of affirmative action
because they believe that the issue of
integration in society is key to the
future. "We understand that the fight
for defending affirmative action is the
question on whether our society moves
forward," said party leader Jessica
Curtin, who is running for one of the
three Rackham seats.
"We have an unparalleled record
for standing up for students' rights
and interests," said Curtin, a party
founder.
The work of party members on the
assembly includes introducing resolu-
tions that fight for tuition freezes,
defends fraternities against police
harassment and endorses the lifting of
UN sanctions on Iraq.
Party members on the assembly
will be focused on organizing the
campus around upcoming admis-
sions trials and putting together the
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Summit
on the New Civil Rights Movement,
scheduled to be held at the Universi-
Defend Affirmative
Action Party
* Abolish the Student Code of Conduct.
1 Support Lifngt the U.N. sanctions
against Iraq.
1 Support the Graduate Employees in.
their negotiations with the University.
www.umich.edu/-daap/
ty in January.
According to DAAP's platform, the
party wants to "Investigate and take
action against racist, sexist and other
bigoted acts."
The party has brought issues such as
alleged discriminatory policies against
social events in the Union - specifi-
cally those sponsored by black and
Latina/o student groups - to the
attention of the assembly.
Along with DAAP's goal to fight
against forms of prejudice, the party
wants to investigate and take action
against racist, sexist, and other bigoted
attacks and "end police harrasment of
fraternities and sororities."
Also part of DAAP's platform is
their continuing efforts to abolish the
Code of Student Conduct.
Michigan Party r
By Jane Krull amend
Daily Staf Reporter adding<
Initiativ
Running on the theme of "New Faces, New Ideas," the increase
Michigan Party is making its debut in the Michigan Student ferent c
Assembly's Fall elections. 1i de
With iio incumbents on the ticket, the party is running 13 of Mich
candidates for seats on the assembly.
"We are a group of common Joe stu-
dents that don't think MSA works and
want to do something about it," said
Chuck Wang, who is running for one of
the eight open LSA seats.
"We want to make MSA more effec-
tive," said party founder and candidate
Doug Tietz.
According to their platform, there are
11 main issues that the party hopes to
address through the assembly.
The party intends to work solely on
Michiga
B Pass more subst
1 Improve condition
halls
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plan
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bipartisan manner. They believe that the
n Party campus is virtually split on the issue and
a does MSA little good to further divi4o
antiaI resolutions students by weighing in on the issue
through multiple resolutions.
ns of residence Working with the Residence Hals
Association, Michigan party will woik
n Forgiveness toward improving residence hall con'
ditions such as meal plans, toilet seat
ganparty.Com covers and temperature controfle,
rooms.
Michigan Party would like to instate a
"Freshman Forgiveness" program that excludes the first
grade a freshman student receives when he takes a class a
second time. This would replace the current policy that
reports both grades on a student's transcript.
Michigan Party recognizes that Greek system i tabi
autonomous institution and believes that they should'.be
accountable to the law and not the University for their alcohol
policies.
student issues and to insure that passed resolutions are
of more substance to the students. In an effort to open
up the lines of communication between MSA and stu-
dents, Michigan Party would like MSA to hold a series
of town hall meetings in addition to conducting Tuesday
night meetings at a minimum of five residence halls
each semester.
Also on the platform, Michigan Party would like to
But now, the real test is at hand: life. Life in the business world. Life in the age of some wicked cool
technology. Life in a new millennium.
-~ . -k. 4: