What to Watch For

Now that election season is all wrapped up, I thought I'd detail some things to watch for as we go into the end of the year. It was a hard fought campaign up and down the ticket, and I can't be the only one who is glad this is all finally over. As the snow starts to melt and we start making our plans for spring break, here's What to Watch For from NISG for the rest of the semester.

Senate

While at least it's over for me, in reality things are just getting started for the newly elected Senate. The Senate has several returning senators as well as plenty of new ones, and those senators will get their first taste of action with the transitional Senate meetings. These meetings take place before the current Senate's term is up, so there is a little overlap from one year to the other . In these meetings new senators get briefed on the procedures and rules for writing legislation as well as speaking and debating on the senate floor. Most importantly, Senate will elect a Speaker to act as their leader and will handle behind-the-scenes responsibilities such as putting together the agenda for the meetings as well as presiding over the meetings themselves. Technically, any student can apply and become speaker, not just senators, but it's likely that several of those just elected will be nominated for the position. This speaker is elected by a simple majority of the transitional senate.

Scoop: I've mentioned before that CHAS Senator Aaron Friel is eyeing the speakership, and judging by the number of elected senators that got behind his platform, it's likely he'll be Speaker next year. Since he's released his platform, he's already been contacted by people in the DOR regarding the catering policy, so look for Senate to address this in their first few weeks in office.

Cabinet Appointments

Among the many things that the newly elected Evans-Beard administration will pursue right away is getting people to apply and interview for Cabinet positions. Between the Director of Administration/Finance (DoA), Director of Govt. Relations (DoGR), the Director of Public Relations (DoPR), and Director of Diversity and Student Life (DDSL), Katie and Renae have some very very important personnel decisions to make. Cabinet directors have nearly as many responsibilities as the President and VP, and its absolutely critical that Katie and Renae get a team of hardworking students that make the most out of their positions.

DOA- This year's DOA, Carl Reitz, submitted a request to increase NISG's total budget in the years ahead, due to increased student interest and use of NISG funds and resources. The next DOA will want to keep the momentum Carl is passing on, as well as continue to increase access and availability of NISG funds. There's a reason that the DOA is paid the most out of all the cabinet positions, so KR's pick here will be important.

DoGR- Outgoing DoGR Tori Hurst has held the position for two years, so the next DoGR would be wise to learn as much as they can from her while she's here. Every legislative session is a critical time for UNI in an era of being underfunded, but we could be turning the corner. The next DoGR will not only be hyperaware of UNI's position in Regents funding, but also continuing relations between NISG and the City of Cedar Falls. Last week's senate meeting saw an outstanding showing from city officials from the mayor to the fire dept. With the new rental ordinance, all eyes will be on the City to see how it affects students. Next year isn't an election year, but it will be a caucus year, so in addition to maintaining relations at all levels, the DoGR will also be involved with getting students to participate in the caucuses as well as the myriad of candidate visits to campus.

DoPR and DDSL- I honestly don't know much about these positions in spite of dating a former DoPR, but these two cabinet positions are critical in shaping the priorities that Katie and Renae want to focus on throughout the year. With the implementation of the women's center being a focus of the campaign, watch for KR to get DDSL involved with those plans.

All nominations for the cabinet have to be approved by the Senate, which typically doesn't involve any drama. However, two years ago after a close election race, Tom and Blake's noms for DoGR and DDSL were denied by the Senate in a controversial nomination hearing where many feelings were hurt. Barring a controversial choice by KR, expect noms to go through unhindered.

Election rules

Wait, election rules again already? Well maybe. Considering that Chief Justice Nathan Davis is returning next year, expect his experience to be a benefit to next year's elections. He shared with me that he's already got ideas on how to improve and clarify some ambiguous things in the current rules, and he's also been looking at how other schools do elections and what might work at UNI. There's also been talk of extending the election season, but only for Senate candidates. The thinking is that the season will start for Senate one week earlier than the Presidential campaigns. Personally I think this is a great idea. Giving students more time to get to know about/decide to run for Senate is a win-win, and I think it'll result in more candidates on the ballot, and maybe even contested Senate races!!



All told, I've have a very enjoyable time with the blog, and I hope you have too. It means a lot when people actually read the stuff I write, and it means more when people get involved on campus, particularly student government. Now that election season is over, make sure to support your representatives and help them out by staying involved. It takes the effort of many to keep the gears turning, and the UNI community needs all types. With this, my time on the blog has ended. It's been a pleasure, and make sure to tune in next year for the latest in everything NISG elections.

PRESIDENTIAL RESULTS: Katie and Renae win!

After what seemed like a never ending election season, Election Commissioner and Chief Justice Nathan Davis released the results of the Presidential race this evening in the Union. 1306 total votes were cast.

With 699 total votes, constituting 53.5% of the vote, Katie and Renae have won the Presidency!

Jared and Tanner received  608 (46.5%) votes.


In an unexpected runoff, Katie and Renae  has outlasted the other ticket, increasing their vote total from last week by 106 votes, while Jared and Tanner were able to get a consistent showing from last week it wasn't enough to win the race.

Soon, this will all be over.

Thanks for checking in with the blog ! As the conclusion of election season draws near, I'd like to share some of the voter turnout numbers that Commish Davis has shared with me. Much to my delight, it appears that polling is as strong as it was last week! Considering the razor-thin margin, the candidates and their teams have been spotted all over campus and the halls of social media.

Now that polls have closed, Nathan Davis tells me that 1306 students have voted in the runoff. Considering 1239 students voted last week, that means everybody who voted last week plus 67 more students got involved in this year's election. Given the historical trend of lower voter turnout during the runoff, this is exciting news!

So when will we have the final results? Commissioner Davis has publicized that tonight's results will be announced in Maucker Union after Senate. Considering Senate starts at 8pm and they'll be hosting several members of the Cedar Falls City Council (hm, wonder why?) in addition to business they couldn't get to last week due to weather, we are looking at an announcement somewhere between 9:30pm, 10pm, or even later.

The Northern Iowan has a reporter at every Senate meeting and tweets proceedings and happenings at @NIonNISG. To follow along with tonight's meeting, and to forecast it's conclusion, keep up to date by following on Twitter.  I'll also be tweeting from that account, not to be confused with #tweetgate2015 perpetrator of false information @NISG. As always. stay tuned!

UPDATE (9:32PM): The City has finished their presentation, and Senate business is now ongoing.

Bias

I'll take a brief second to make a clarification that may be muddy. I am a writer for the Northern Iowan. The NI is an independent, student-run newspaper that has it's own governance wholly separate from NISG. I, Corey Cooling, am a student at UNI with no position in Kevin's NISG administration, and I am employed by the NI to write this blog. Everything in it is 100% my work and opinion, and the blog is not in any way supported by or sanctioned by NISG. If it was, I would refuse to do this. I'm upset at the notion that I somehow represent bias for/against NISG  or either of the tickets and that I have an agenda. 

I've heard the rumors that JT's supporters think I'm biased against them. That's fine. What they might not realize is that I don't matter. I could have endorsed either candidate last week or this, but I decided not to. Why? Because I don't matter. I got involved, poured my heart and soul into student orgs and NISG for a few years, but I'm done now. I know things about the Student Services Fee (SFC) because I got on the committee while I was running, thinking I'd be the chair someday as NISG President.  Now, all I've got left is this blog and a few committee meetings before I get replaced, and then I graduate in May. Pretty soon, one of the two tickets will be feeling the same way. 

With this blog, I've been hired to give my two cents and offer context from the experiences I've had doing this. I've also been paid to be honest about what I see, and I'm proud of what I've done so far. Some may say my coverage has been harder on JT than KR, and to a certain extent, I think that's true. I also think it's necessary to explain what I see, in the hope that JT and/or KR benefit from my analysis. I've been harder on JT because I want to make sure they've done the homework and understand what they're getting into. Anyone who wants to be the leaders of an organization they've never been a part of has to be able to explain why despite a lack in involvement, they don't have a lack of understanding. 

I also refuse to engage in a phenomena we see everywhere in modern journalism known as the "false balance." In an effort to avoid bias, coverage of both "sides" of an issue are brought up with equal representation, even if that's not the case in reality. Think of how climate change deniers get airtime on TV. In the same sense, I'm not going to play towards a false middle in evaluating the two Presidential tickets. If my coverage of JT has been harsher than KR, that's because I feel there is more JT needs to improve upon than KR. This season has been harsh, but it has been fair. I'm glad that neither ticket has resorted to mud-slinging, and I'd like to believe the analysis in this blog was impartial and as factual as possible. 

That being said, it's hard to compare the two tickets when they are speaking different languages. It's easier to critique JT on the stuff NISG has been trying to do for years to no avail. I'm not sure if their ICC idea is viable or even possible, but it's an idea. It shows they know involvement is an issue and a priority, a good thing. On the other hand, Katie, currently having a seat on the SFC, is able to speak at length about what she would do with that committee. She's earned this by being involved and volunteering her time and effort in order to learn all of this for several years now. How do I, as one blogger, compare and contrast these issues? It's hard, and even with an extra week of campaigning we don't really have much time to dive deep into issues, let alone get the tickets arguing on the same level.  

Going into the polls tomorrow morning through Wednesday night, I'm not sure what to think. It would be really sad if the voter turnout was lower, so please tell your friends to vote (again). At this point, I'm convinced that either ticket is capable for the office and putting together an excellent Cabinet. As current President Kevin will tell you, much of what you learn is on the job. I already know for a fact that they'll have an awesome Senate, who is already working on an agenda of their own.

Dear readers, I urge you to do nothing except read, think, and vote. No matter who wins, they will be the President/VP of the entire student body, and it's our duty as students to help and support them as best we can. I think it's a problem that NISG is too intimidating to the "average student", and that people may feel like NISG-ers are elitist, but when you actually get involved your perspective shifts dramatically. In reality, year after year NISG struggles to find students that actually care. Judging by last week's results, this race is about as tight as it can get and we're guaranteed some fireworks come Wednesday night. Please be one of the students that cares. Vote, stay informed, stay involved, and keep checking NISGElections.com for the latest in the last hours of campaigning. 

Tweetgate 2015?

In the chaos that was the election results last week, there was some incorrect information posted on the @NISG twitter account. For those of you who aren't one of @NISG's 1145 twitter followers, I'll recap what was posted from the account, which was deleted.

" @NISG

Pres/VP Runoff Vote. 606 votes, Katie and Renae 543 votes. 40 Votes for Write In candidates. There will be a runoff next Tuesday/Wednesday"

Now, it's clear that aside from mysterious capitalization choices, that the "Tweeter in Question" obviously forgot to put Jared and Tanner next to their 606 votes, and missed the "9" for the "4" in KR's vote total. This tweet was posted at 9PM Wednesday, and the tweets that followed stated that correct information would be up soon. 

Fast-forward to this morning, and the Northern Iowan's Letters to the Editor had Matt Doore, RA in Rider and known Jared and Tanner supporter, write a letter accusing NISG of bias. The letter is somewhat confusing, as neither Jared or Tanner are mentioned directly, but it's clear that he's upset about what he coined #tweetgate2015. Now when I search on twitter for that hastag, I don't find much about NISG. In fact, I find seven total tweets ever with that hashtag. 

The letter by Mr. Doore is frustrating, because I was expecting an endorsement of  Jared and Tanner, but instead we have six paragraphs on why that particular tweet was bad, that NISG is somehow bias, apparently against JT. He calls for a "reevaluation of the election committee", which I assume he actually means to be the Election Commission. 

Now if you go to the new-and-improved uni.edu/NISG , you'll find lots of information on the Judicial branch of NISG, which is the committee that oversees the election. Calling for a recount, or challenging the results of the last election is a serious motion, and if Matt Doore really feels this way, he should have notified Nathan Davis right away rather than publishing it in the NI.  More to the point, who tweeted this anyway?

As it turns out, the normal person who runs the account, Director of Public Relations Beth Sullivan, was at the basketball game that night that as captain of the dance team. In her absence, Eric Boisen was at the election results and was responsible for the tweet. He outed himself today and apologized from the NISG page:

"I know this is late to the punch, but I would like to apologize for NISG’s abhorrently bad tweeting of the NISG election results on Wednesday night. The Director of Public Relations, who normally mans the NISG Twitter was gone, so I said I could take over the Twitter for the election results. During the stating of the results, in the confusion and quick talking of the Election Commission, I forgot to mention Jared and Tanner in the election results as well as put in the wrong vote total for Katie and Renae.

That tweet was not sent in anger or malice, but was an honest mistake. In the confusion, I also stated that Dave Coltrain was elected as a Senator for the Graduate College even though he did not receive enough votes. I should have proofread those tweets before sending them out, as well as deleted them sooner when they were shown to be inaccurate. I apologize to Jared & Tanner for UNI, Katie and Renae for UNI, and Dave Coltrain. I will not be posting the results for the runoff election. I will leave that to Beth Sullivan who is an amazing Director of Public Relations.

I apologize again,

Eric"

Okay, so we all make mistakes. The tweet has since been deleted, and everyone who wants to know knows why and when the runoff is happening. Personally, I'm a bit annoyed at the level of attention that this required. Griping about a tweet, about how something came out wrong is just a day in the life of running student government. To blame the entirety of NISG as if it is some mysterious agency with it's own agenda is ridiculous.  Whoever wins the race this week will have to deal with students complaining about things that NISG has no control over, and often. 

Considering the level of negativity I've contributed to this election season, I was really expecting both tickets, especially Jared and Tanner, to hit hard on the positive aspects of their campaign. We'll never know if JT sanctioned this letter, but really this space complaining about a typo on Twitter could have been used better to talk up why Jared and Tanner are the better ticket. Sorry Matt, but I think you goof'ed. 

Now on to the other letter to the editor in today's issue of the Northern Iowan (I'll link them when they're up online). This one was written by Linh Ta, a former executive editor of the NI and my former boss. This letter has more of the pieces I'd expect from an endorsement: hitting campaign points on their experience, examples of what they'd like to do, and how Linh knows them. Lastly, it ends with a clear endorsement, and urges people to vote. It's almost as if Linh has extensive writing experience! 

From my perspective, Katie and Renae simply look better in this edition of the NI. Holding the two letter up next to each other, as they are in the paper, Doore looks like he's still mad that JT didn't win last week and directing it at one tweet, while KR got somebody who's been involved on campus to write a strong endorsement letter. Being an effective student leader is responding well to adversity, and getting worked up about a tweet misspelling shows a confusion of priorities. 

I'll take a brief second to make a clarification that may be muddy. I am a writer for the Northern Iowan. The NI is an independent, student-run newspaper that has it's own governance wholly separate from NISG. I, Corey Cooling, am a student at UNI with no position in Kevin's NISG administration, and I am employed by the NI to write this blog. Everything in it is 100% my work and opinion, and the blog is not in any way supported by or sanctioned by NISG. If it was, I would refuse to do this. I'm upset at the notion that I somehow represent bias for/against NISG and that I have an agenda. I'll be reflecting on this and posting about it later.