tl20030421-000 "The Tom:mill:glib! Baltimore's #1 College Paper - Published Twice-Weekly - www.thetowerlight.com Monday, 4/21/03 Festival celebrates diverse cultures 5 Psychologist talks about depression 11711_, TOVVSON 5 Student films to be shown at festival 15 Flick should find new 'Identity' 16 Departments Opinion 2 News 5 Nation at War 6 Campus Briefs 7 Arts In A Theater Near You Theater Review Sound Bites 15 16 16 17 Sports 24 Athlete of the Week 21 In This Corner 24 Classifieds 19 SGA race heads into final stretch Enlightenment takes on incumbent Renaissance; Voting begins tomorrow, runs through Wednesday Sarah Breitenbach Jennifer Hykes The Towerlight By Wednesday afternoon, it will all be over. The frantic campaigning, flyers and debates come down to two days of elections that will determine who controls next year's Student Government Association. Two parties are vying for officer positions. The Renaissance Party has experience and size on its side � 11 of the party's 26 candidates are currently involved in the SGA. The new Enlightenment Party is using many students' lack of satisfaction with this year's administration to its advantage, hoping that students are ready for a change. The Renaissance Party Bobbie O'Connell, a junior finance major running for SGA pres-ident under Renaissance's black-and- gold tiger logo, is happy with the way the campaign has gone so far. She said the main event up to now � last We debate � went well for her party. ""I think it's been interesting. I think the debate was good,"" O'Connell, who has been involved in the SGA since her freshman year, said. ""I do feel that what's important about the debate and campaigning should be about what you're going to do next year, and what Enlightenment has been focusing on is [this year's SGA] ... I think time could be better spent focusing on what you can accom- ""I have realized three qualities a president must exemplify: commitment, pride and knowledge. Commitment and pride are the sole reasons I have stayed so involved ... I can confidently say I have accomplished every goal I have set."" Bobbie O'Connell presidential candidate, Renaissance Party Saul Stoogenke/The Towerhght Renaissance presidential candidate Bobbie O'Connell, a junior finance major, has been involved with Towson's SGA since her freshman year. Saul Stoogenke The Towerlight Enlightenment presidential candidate Todd Zimmelman is a junior and a student representative to the Maryland Higher Education Committee. plish next year."" Throughout the. debate, Enlightenment candidates made ref-erence to the current Renaissance administration's ""false promises."" The administration was elected by a landslide last April, beating a strong incumbent party, Millennium. This y e a r , Renaissance's competition is much smaller � Enlightenment is only running five candidates. O'Connell sees this as a definite advantage. ""We have an extremely large ticket ... compared [Enlightenment's] five,"" she said, noting that the Renaissance cam-paign has already appointed directors. ""We've had a great week."" Renaissance vice presidential candidate Kristin Collier, who cur-rently serves as director of Campus Activities and president of Change Agents-Peer Leadership Trainers, agreed. ""We have had a very busy and exciting first week,"" Collier said Saturday. ""This has been the first real test our ticket has had to prac-tice our teamwork skills, and it has definitely shown me that we have no problem working together towards our goals. The opportunity to meet more students and gain their feedback for what they need from the SGA has also been a great experience."" Collier, who also sits on the PAW grant committee and the Book of the Year selection committee, added that the downside has been Enlightenment's charges that this group of candi-dates is no differ-ent than the cur-rent SGA administration. ""The one negative aspect [of the campaign] has been the backlash we have received for carrying the Renaissance name,"" she said. ""We carry it on because of the hard work and good that first administration has done. However, we are a differ-ent group of people that recognize See ELECTIONS, page 9 ""The Enlightenment Party is genuine. We are dedicated to communication and interaction with the student population ... I will not make light-hearted promises. I intend to follow my goals through to the end."" Todd Zimmelman presidential candidate, Enlightenment Party named its Today High 69 Low 53 Tuesday High 67 Low 44 Wednesday High 52 Low 40 Thursday High 61 Low 43 Friday High 62 Low 48 "
