UVSC College Times, 2005-03-07

              3 UTAH VALLEY STATE ( EL BUEN PANO EN EL ARCA VENdT VOLUME 33'ISSUE 27 J 1IB .. lJ n n ww ins , ,VSV 0 exclusive u n 10 n n n i ) i i ii Three teams square oft in pre-election showdown Shawn Mansell Your News Editor Would-be student government executives battled it out during a debate last Wednesday. The three teams made their pitches for better student government and volleyed back and forth ideas in front of a near capacity crowd in the center stage area of the student center. The debate was moderated by the College Times' own Vegor Peder-sen.Platform ideas and differences were highlighted in the hour-long event. Team One, led by Presidential candidate Happy Peterson would like to see UVSC logo-bearing gear go down in price. "We don't see enough UVSC clothes," Peterson Paul Tippets of Team Effect speaks out during last week's Student Government debate. said. She added that she would like to up the college's visibility by encouraging local businesses to place UVSC flags in their windows. "We need more of them." "It's a good idea," said Paul Tippets, Team Effect's choice for student body president, "but you have to look at the root at what develops pride in students. I don't think that simply buying a shirt develops pride." Improvement in tutor ing is on Team Effect's platform. "Our academics need to mature so that we can accomplish university status," Tippets said. "With academic tutoring we want to expand their services." Jared Sumsion, the Team Focus candidate for student body president, todk issue with the way Team Effect wrote out that plank of their platform. "It's a good platform item. I just think it is worded incorrectly," Sumsion said. "I don't want students to feel like it's tutoring bad." "In addition to needing more money for these services, they need volunteers and people," Peterson said. "That would diminish some of the costs and provide more service opportunities." Team Focus, captained by Jared Sumsion, want to jump start the process of bringing a football team to campus. "There are ways to do this; this is something students want," Sumsion said. His opponents didn't share his vision, however. "I love football," Peterson said, "but we have a hard enough time bringing people to basketball games." Paul Tippets said he didn't think the school was ready to start a football program. "A football program is vital for You can vote starting today at any OnAccess terminal on campus. Elections close Wed. at 7 p.m. 1 PmI Mmkm nits off pp&Gis Uiiat does tlic future hold for tiie Hiss UVSC Pageant? Errin Julkunen Editor at Large In conjunction with Homecoming Week festivities, the Center for the Study of Ethics and the Homecoming Committee sponsored a panel discussion on the merit of the Miss UVSC pageant. Presenting were Phil Clegg, Director of Student Leadership and Activities, Carly Tooke, Miss UVSC 2004, Marlene Neptune, President of UVSC's Black Student Union, and Laura Hamblin, Assistant Professor in .the English Department. The discussion was moderated by William Cobb, Dean, School of HASS. The panel was split in their support for the pageant. Clegg offered that the Miss UVSC pageant offered a "unique opportunity" for the young women involved, especially since there is a "lack of programming for young women." UVSC is one of three state schools in Utah that still participates in the Miss America pageant program, among Southern Utah University and Dixie State College. The Miss UVSC pageant follows the guidelines of the Miss America pageant. The scoring system places 40 percent of the score on interview, 30 percent on talent, while swimsuit (physical fitness), evening wear and onstage interview each make up 10 percent of the total score. Winners are presented with scholarships, and act as a liaison for the school, working very closely with the Student Government organization. r ...,. .... V i I C I -- At I Steve LundquistNetXNews Phil Clegg explains why he thinks the Miss UVSC Pageant is a good tradition. His fellow panelists (left to right) were Carly Tooke, Marlene Neptune and Professor Laura Hamblin. The pageant has been a fixture on campus since 1980. Competitors are required to maintain a 3.0 grade point average, and Clegg offered that the 2005 competitors had an average GPA of 3.39. Tooke says she started entering pageants when she was 1 8 because she saw a "need for community service." Tooke's platform has been teaching children about mental illness. The National Alliance for the Mentally 111 (NAMI) has incorporated some of her work into their national training program. Neptune, organizer of the recent Mr. and Ms. UVSC International pageant, criticizes the Miss UVSC pageant for being exclusive, offering that many international students do not fit the traditional mold of what pageants consider beautiful. Neptune also offered that it was important to be more inclusive, which is why the international pageant includes males, is named Ms. UVSC International, and invites participation fromnon-traditional students as well. Hamblin presented what she referred to as the "feminist" perspective on beauty pageants. She stated that pageants show that the ideal woman comes from "ideal conformity," requiring competitors to be "something other than herself." Hamblin agreed with Neptune, saying that the pageant was too exclusive. She was also concerned with who the judges were, continuing to offer that the "gaze was the male gaze." She also noted the history of women com plying and contorting themselves to fit the male ideal of beauty. The audience had numerous questions for the panelists. Many audience members were concerned with UVSC's alliance with the Miss America pageant. "We're not overcoming this general trend we see in society, which is objectifying women," said Ryan Grover, a senior in the Philosophy program.Lisa Lambert, Assistant Dean in the School of General Academics said, "UVSC ought to get out of the business of pageants. There are other opportunities for people to join pageants. That's not our purpose. Our purpose is teaching and learning." 0 & A i-jIUi students Moroni Maldonado News Writer Utah senator Orrin Hatch spoke in front of local leaders and UVSC students this past Wednesday at UVSC's Centre Stage. Senator Hatch opened the time for questions about any issue that the audience had. The senator did not want to make a formal speech, and opened the meeting for questions from the audience. The question of how the Iraqi people are embracing a political structure that resembles the United States' was presented. The senator replied that the Iraqi people have gone out and risked their lives to vote. He feels that this shows they are taking a step toward hav- Steve LundquistNetXNews Sen. Orrin Hatch ing a representative government such as our own. Iraq has become an example for neighboring countries which are under different styles of governments. Demonstrating T 1 Mormon Studios Conference explores tlie LDS experience Vegor Pedersen Editor-in-Chief Students, scholars, and those interested in the concept of an evolving LDS Church converged on UVSC campus last week during the Mormon Studies Conference. The two.-day event, now in its fifth year, featured speakers from a diverse spectrum of Mormon thought. This year's theme was "All Are Alike Unto God: Mormonism and Social Justice." "The current political system is one in which some have a lot of wealth and power and others do not," said Dennis Potter, who along with Brian Birch and the school's Re ligious Studies program put on the conference. "But Mormonism tells us that this division of society into separate classes is wrong. This conference explores the themes of how Mormon theology deals with this injustice." Lecturers of the conference spoke on a variety of topics from gender inequities and racial issues to the environment. The general attitude from most speakers was that the church as a whole is a noble institution, but some important issues are in need of being addressed. Despite the goodwill that many participants felt, there 3