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Editorial: Do Your Civic Duty
According to the Federal Election Committee, 4.74 million of the
7.13 million registered voters in the state of Illinois voted in
the 2000 Presidential election. Though this isn’t the smallest
percentage of voter turnout in the nation, there is still room
for improvement in the upcoming election. Therefore, it is
important for college students to perform their civic duty and
right and go vote in the upcoming election.
One common myth
among college students is that they cannot vote, according to
MTV’s Rock the Vote web site. However, students have many
options available to allow them to vote either in their college
or home communities.
The
League of Women’s Voters encourages college students to vote as
a resident of their college communities. “You have a vested
interest in the local issues of your college community. Issues
such as off-campus housing and zoning restrictions, the
environment, taxes, transportation and personal safety all
affect your quality of life,” LWV said.
For
those interested in voting from their collegiate addresses,
change of voting address forms are available from the county
clerk or registrar.
It
is also possible that you are still subject to taxes and/or
student loan and scholarship regulations at your prior address.
Or, you may just be more interested in the issues of your local
community. In these cases, you may vote via absentee ballot.
Students can register to vote absentee by contacting the county
clerk of their voting district. Absentee ballots will be
accepted until the close of polls on Election Day. The state of
Illinois does not require a notary or witnesses to sign the
envelope of an absentee ballot. Illinois does, however, require
that first-time voters vote in person at the election polls,
according to MTV’s Rock the Vote web site.
The
Women’s Center, located in the Student Affairs Building, Room
35, is having a drive to help students to register to vote or
change their voting address. According to Kathleen Harvey of
the Women’s Center, the drive is ongoing until Oct. 5, which is
the last day anyone can register to vote for the upcoming Nov. 4
election. The Women's Issues
Caucus is giving away
free
T-shirts to students who register in the Women's
Center and free tickets to one of three upcoming events courtesy
of the Sangamon Auditorium: Capitol Steps,
Ten Tenors or Invisible Man.
“Of
course, it is important for every young voter to cast a ballot.
However, I would contend that it is equally important for young
people to make educated choices when they cast their ballots…it
is essential that young people seek out reputable sources of
political information in order to cut through election year spin
and make a responsible decision,” said Andrew Hollingsead,
president of the College Republicans.
It’s not too late to make your vote count. Register to vote in
the upcoming Presidential election. Registration forms will be
accepted up until the 29th day before the election,
which gives you until next week to sign up!
Letters to the Editor
#1
Recently, sports editor Jason
Stuebe accused the Society of Conservative Students of “ripping
off” the Chief as a symbol. The article also stated that our
petition was “out of the realm of logic”. With all due respect
to Mr. Stuebe, he completely missed the point of the petition.
In the article, Mr.
Stuebe points out that no one has the same symbol at all the
campuses within that university. This is a valid point, but we
were already aware of this fact. What Mr. Stuebe does not seem
to understand is that the Chief is in real danger of being
removed as the symbol at the University of Illinois at
Champaign-Urbana. The tragedy is the vast majority of students
and Native Americans support Chief Illiniwek. A small group of
politically correct extremists are once again trying to force
their views on the rest of us. The point of the “Adopt the
Chief” petition is to send a clear message to these few
extremists that if the University of Champaign-Urbana, against
the will of a majority of the student body, does not want the
Chief then we will gladly take him down here!
Mr. Stuebe also makes the point
that the petition has little or no chance of success. Mr.
Stuebe writes, “Are the writers of this petition to believe that
in the middle of forming a consensus resolution to end the Chief
debate, the Board of Trustees, the campus senate, the central
administration, UIS administration and UIS athletics would come
together and actually promote such an idea?!”. Once again Mr.
Stuebe makes a valid point, but he left out one very important
group in this statement…the students.
What about the views of the
students? Do we no longer matter in the process? Is our
opinion relevant only when it is an issue of yet another fee
increase? The Society of Conservative Students is trying to
make a point with our petition and start a long overdue
discussion on this matter. Mr. Stuebe’s article, along with the
e-mails and discussions among the students around campus, is
proof to us the petition has already been a success. The “Adopt
the Chief” petition drive may have little chance of success
within the system itself, but the point it will make to the
politically correct extremists and the voice it gives to our
student body makes it a worthy cause.
Michael Tosh
President of the Society of
Conservative Students (SCS)
#2
I Love my Prairie Star
Brad Ward, Blue Crew President
When I go to sport events at night,
I yell out loud for the blue and white.
It doesn’t matter who you are,
You’re represented by the Prairie Star.
The thought of replacing it with the Chief,
Instantly puts me in disbelief.
There is prairie all around, you see?
Our mascot makes more sense to me.
The Chief is theirs, let them fight,
Come and cheer for our Stars tonight.
We scream until we lose our voice,
But it is always our own choice.
I
don’t know what I would do,
If I didn’t have my Crew of Blue,
To you eleven people that have signed,
Won’t you please just think next time?
If
you want to adopt something, go get a cat,
Leave our beloved Star right where he’s at.
So won’t you please put your petition away,
And join the tradition that we’ve built, today!
You sign a petition, but don’t go to games?
Sorry kids, but that’s kind of lame.
Get off your butt, then come and see,
What the Prairie Star means to me.
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