New SGA President and Vice President Hope to Tackle: Priority Registration, Perspectives Courses and Others

Kelly Craig and Alexandra Tuyahow have been elected President and Vice President of the Student Government Association for the 2013-2014 school year and are looking to take their prior experiences and apply them to their new positions.

Craig is a 21-year-old junior political science major from Monroe Township. She is currently a residential assistant and a member of the Political Science Club on campus. Next year, in addition to being SGA President, she will be co-captain of the University Debate Team and will serve as President of the political science honor society, Pi Sigma Alpha. She also works for human resources on campus.

When Craig joined SGA in her freshman year, she was involved in the “Giving Tree” Campaign. During her sophomore year, she was chairperson of Spring Fest and named historian, which is an executive position for SGA. This year she served as Vice President with Oscar Sanchez, senior communication major.

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Tsarnaev Charged as American Citizen: MU Reaction

As alleged suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, lies in a hospital bed awaiting police interrogation just two weeks after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and several days after the manhunt that resulted in his capture and the death of his brother Tamerlan, 26, questions have turned to motive.

As the investigation commences, a new question arises as to whether the surviving Tsarnaev brother, a naturalized American citizen, should be tried as a U.S. citizen under the American legal system, or as an “enemy combatant.”

Dr. Michele Grillo of the Criminal Justice Department explained that the term “enemy combatant” is a general category that includes two sub-categories: lawful and unlawful combatants.

She described that while lawful combatants receive prisoner of war (POW) status and the protections of the Third Geneva Convention, a treaty that defined humanitarian protections for prisoners of war, unlawful combatants do not receive POW status or the full protections of the Third Geneva Convention.

In the case of Tsarnaev, Grillo expressed, “Many in the U.S. government wanted surviving suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to be treated as an unlawful enemy combatant. As such, he would not receive protections under the Third Geneva convention, nor the civil or federal laws of the United States.”

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Christie Tax Cuts Could Affect Students’ Housing Rentals

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is proposing a new tax plan for all residents, which will be the focus for his upcoming campaign. The plan proposed is a compromise from the last tax cut he proposed in order to settle the plan with the state Democrats and Republicans.

Last year, the Governor proposed a plan that would cut 10 percent across the board on income taxes. The state’s lawmakers informed him they would prefer tax cuts that link to property instead, to which he agreed. However, the deal did not pass because lawmakers and econo­mists were fearful of the revenue’s projections being too optimistic.

His new plan is based off of the one from last year, to which Christie put the tax cuts into property taxes. The major difference in the plan, however, is the benefit it will be to higher-income households. The old plan called for household’s making $250,000, the new plan raised up to $400,000.

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Political Journalism Around the World

What are Some of the Risks and Rewards in Political Reporting in America and Abroad?

Political journalism around the world offers unique challenges for journalists to reveal the truth to people when, in some countries, the government will do anything, including harming the journalist, in order to keep their control over the press.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, in 2013 alone, 13 journalists were killed around the world and 62 percent of the 13 journalists were covering politics. In 2012, 232 journalists were im­prisoned around the world, accord­ing to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

In the past decade, the most dangerous place for journalists has been Iraq. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, around 89 media people were mur­dered and another 50 died in cross­fire or other acts of war between the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and 2010.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, in 2011, during the turmoil of the Arab Spring, at least 33 journalists and media per­sonnel were killed: One in Algeria, one in Bahrain, two in Egypt, one in Iran, 11 in Iraq, six in Libya, one in Syria, one in Tunisia, five in Ye­men, and four in Somalia.

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Seton Hall Law Professor Visits Campus

Mock Law Class Gives Students a Glimpse into a Law School Learning Environment

Seton Hall Law School Profes­sor John “Kip” Cornwell taught a mock 1L class to the University students in Young Auditorium on Thursday, April 18. About 20 stu­dents interested in applying to law school attended the event.

Prior to attending, students had to read a criminal law case regard­ing pre-meditated murder. Pro­fessor Cornwell simulated a law school class by using the Socratic Method. This method, used pri­marily in law school, was created in order to effectively teach large groups of students.

In the Socratic Method, the pro­fessor will randomly call on stu­dents and ask questions. By doing this, the professor is able to keep the entire class engaged, as no one knows who will be called on next.

The students who went to the mock 1L class read the case of United States V. Watson. This was a murder trial in which the defendant was found guilty of first degree murder of a police officer.

The defendant appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, because he claimed that he did commit murder, however, it was in self-defense and not pre-meditated. The case then revolved around how a judge can decide whether or not a murder had been planned out.

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MU Student Highlights Involvement at the U.N.

Alexandria Fitzgerald, a senior communication major and U.N. Student Ambassador for the Uni­versity, presented a session entitled, “Bringing the U.N. to MU” as part of the 12th Annual Global Under­standing Convention on April 9, 2013.

Fitzgerald explained how her presentation sought to reach out to the campus community in hopes of inspiring students to get involved with the United Nations, the world’s largest, most prominent and leading international organization.

She explained that the Uni­versity’s Institute for Global Un­derstanding (IGU), formerly the Global Understanding Project, is committed to promoting the United Nations and carrying out their mis­sion by focusing on human rights, economic development, equality and peace.

“From annual trips to the U.N. Headquarters in New York City; bringing students to U.N. events, conferences and briefings; par­ticipating in the Model U.N.; and sponsoring U.N. speakers on cam­pus, both the IGU and the Univer­sity are fully committed to their in­volvement with the organization,” Fitzgerald said.

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“House of Cards” is the Ace in the Deck on Netflix

Netflix’s hit series, “House of Cards,” is set to start shooting their second season. The first season of the show was released on February 1, 2013, with all 13 episodes put up for access at once.

Based off of the popular British series, “House of Cards,”the Ameri­can verison is directed by David Fincher, the director of “The Social Network,” and stars Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, and Kate Mara. With the amount of deception, corruption, sex, and lust for power portrayed in the show, the true questions come to be how realistic is it to the political world of DC?

“House of Cards” follows the po­litical career of Francis Underwood (Spacey), the South Carolina Major­ity Whip, who cleverly takes down the presidential administration that he helped to elect.

Underwood’s need for revenge is a result of the newly elected President Garrett Walker (Michael Gill) break­ing his promise of moving Under­wood up to Secretary of State if he helped him win the election.

Power is a big theme of the show, something that is stated to be the most desired thing in DC over and over again.

The character, Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) has no desire for fame or money; the only thing he cares about is the amount of power he can obtain. The despicable actions that he takes in order to climb the ranks, and the reactions portrayed by the media and public give an inside look into what the political scandal­ous world is like.

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Revolution in Egypt Up Close: A GUC Presentation

An event that encompassed both imperative world problems and promoting global understand­ing was the presentation titled, “Studying Abroad in a Revolu­tion: My Experience in Cairo from 2010-2012,” where Geoffrey Cloepfil enlightened the audience on his first-hand account of the Arab Spring uprising in Cairo, Egypt. This presentation took place on Tuesday April 9 at 7:25 in Turrell Boardroom.

Cloepfil is now a graduate stu­dent studying Public Policy at the University. He had previously at­tended the University of Califor­nia in Santa Barbara, where he studied Arabic. The combination of studying Arabic and the study abroad opportunities, the allure of Cairo, Egypt was a “no brainer” for Cleopfil.

Originally, the study abroad program that Cleopfil was partici­pating in was scheduled for a year. However, six months into the pro­gram, the revolution started.

Cleopfil stated, “January 25, 2011 is a date I will never forget.” He had previously been traveling for the winter break holiday, when the revolution started. Ironically, he was “in the air” when the up­rising took place. The Cairo Air­port was shut down and he was literally stuck. During this confu­sion, everyone believed he was a reporter because he was the only “white guy” in Cairo.

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Employees Could Be Granted Social Media Privacy

Governor Chris Christie is considering a bill that would prohibit New Jersey employers from asking employees and ap­plicants for their social media usernames and passwords. Fines and lawsuits against NJ employ­ers would become possible under this bill.

According to William Hill, Assistant Dean of Career Servic­es, this is not the first time the issue of internet pri­vacy has come into question. Hill ex­plained that Christie signed a bill into legislation last Decem­ber that banned institutions of higher education from asking for such information.

Vice President and General Counsel, Grey Dimenna, said that the University is not prohib­ited by law from asking for all in­ternet passwords, but only those defined as social media. Howev­er, Dimenna does not think it is necessary information. “I would have to say that I am not aware of the University asking applicants for such information and certainly not requiring applicants to give us that information,” said Dimenna. “If so, I would be per­sonally opposed to such a practice.”

Hill agrees, stating that asking for person­al information such as Facebook passwords would be an invasion of privacy and cannot find a legitimate reason for ei­ther universities or employ­ers to request that informa­tion.

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U.N. Agrees to Arms Treaty to Help Regulate Weapons Trade

The United Nations General As­sembly voted on Tuesday, April 2 to approve a treaty aimed at regulating the trade of conventional weapons across the globe.

The 193 members voted 154 to 3 to approve the Arms Trade Treaty, a contract that seeks to regulate the $70 billion conventional arms business and keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers.

The United States, the world’s pri­mary arms exporter, co-sponsored the treaty despite opposition from the National Rifle Association (NRA), a U.S. pro-gun lobbying group who has openly opposed the treaty and has vowed to fight to prevent its ratifica­tion by the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement following the vote that the United Nations adopted, “a strong, effective and implementable Arms Trade Treaty that can strength­en global security while protecting the sovereign right of states to con­duct legitimate arms trade.”

Kerry continued, “Nothing in this treaty could ever infringe on the rights of American citizens under our domestic law or the Constitution, in­cluding the Second Amendment.”

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also welcomed the vote. In a statement made shortly after votes concluded, he expressed that the treaty “will make it more difficult for deadly weapons to be diverted into the illicit market and will help to keep warlords, pirates, terrorists, criminals and their like from acquiring deadly arms.”

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