tl20010412-000 "www.thetowerlight.com Dwell Published twice-weekly by students of Towson University 4/12/01 Alumni speak at Career Day 3 Jazz Ensemble puts out new CD Basketball players waiting for coach 16 Stklham conies through, TU wins 17 Departments News Nation Police Blotter 3 4 4 ME. 9 In a Theater Near You.I0 Wrasslin' Weekly 14 The High Road 14 Sports 16 Fast Break 16 Op/Ed 22 Election splits major players Greeks, athletes battle for spots in hotly-contested SGA presidential race Timothy Dunn The Towerlight With the April 17 and 18 SGA elections ,arriving next week, both the Millennium and Renaissance parties have final-ized their list of candidates and their respective platforms, with campus safety and plus/ minus grading emerging as this year's hot issues. This year's election will pit the incumbent Millennium party against the newly formed Renaissance party. Renaissance presidential can-didate Jon Sharp said he decid-ed to form his party only after hearing first hand accounts of the Millennium Party's actions in office. ""I wasn't seriously thinking about running until two guys on the Senate told me what was going on,"" said Sharp, a sopho-more majoring in business administration. ""I didn't like what they told me, and I thought that if I ran I could real-ly make a difference."" Sharp said his ticket consists of people who, though they have little experience in student government, are in touch with student life. ""I wanted to get people on my ticket that know what the stu-dent body wants, instead of just what the student government wants,"" Sharp said. The Millennium party's presi-dential candidate, Ben Whitacre, said he decided to run after cur-rent SGA President Dan Wait suggested it to him, and that his time as a senator this past year will make him a qualified candi-date. ""What's going to make me successful in getting these plat-form items approved is experi-ence,"" Whitacre said. ""I know how it works, I know who to talk to and I feel as though I can make a difference in this school."" One of the most significant items on the platform of both parties is tailgating before University sporting events. Sharp said that while tailgat-ing might not be the ideal way to increase attendance at sport-ing events, it will go over well with the student body. ""It's the most popular way to get people to a sporting event,"" Sharp said. ""If people are hav-ing fun before thv game, they will have fun during the game."" Sharp also said he feels that tailgating at football games will most likely carry over into more sparsely attended events. ""If we start tailgating in the fall with football, I think that it will carry over to other events,"" Sharp said. ""The numbers in attendance will increase enor-mously."" Whitacre said since tailgating is already allowed, increased student involvement is at the heart of his platform. ""Tailgating is legal at all sporting events already,"" Whitacre said. ""I want to get more organizations involved in this, whether it is Greek life, reli-gious groups or other sports teams. It would be a great way to get students involved."" One of last year's most debat-ed issues was the University Senate's vote to uphold plus/ minus grading. The two parties differ greatly on the University's permanent grading policy. Whitacre, who attended the University Senate meeting that decided the current status of the grading policy, said it is now time to work with the See ELECTION, page 6 SGA Election Preview, Page 6 l' ON Chris Henry/The Towerligh Jon Sharp (Renaissance, left) and Ben Whitacre (Millennium) will vie to be the next SCA President when elections take place Monday and Tuesday. Turn to page 6 for The Towerlight's full SGA election coverage. Today High 76 Low 60 Friday High 77 Low 46 Saturday High 73 Low 46 Sunday High 74 Low 48 "
