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1 DTWEEKEND Check out our new Web site! Everything you need to know Launches March 17! for all things South by Southwest SPORTS PAGE 7 Longhorns defeat Iowa State in Big 12 opener TOMORROW’S WEATHER High Low THE DAILY TEXAN 70 45 Thursday, March 11, 2010 Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900 www.dailytexanonline.com Parks, Kabir win top SG seats Strong turnout in runoff marks end of highly charged race for presidency By Audrey White Daily Texan Staff After months of preparation, campaigning and controversy, an intense silence pervaded a conference room in the Main Building on Wednesday night as about 100 students waited to hear the results of one of the most energetic and competitive Student Govern- ment elections in recent history. When Election Supervisory Board Chair Charles Maddox announced that the executive alliance of Scott Parks and Muneezeh Kabir had won, half the room erupted into cheers while the other half offered respectful applause. “Before it was announced, we kept saying ‘the next student-body president is Minator Azemi’ to SG RESULTS continues on page 2 SG Runoff Results Scott Parks and Muneezeh Kabir won the Student Government Executive Alliance race with a 55-percent majority after a weeklong runoff against Minator Azemi and Justin Stein. Votes for 4,801 Parks/Kabir Votes for 3,853 Azemi/Stein Total votes cast 8,654 In last week’s general election, Parks/Kabir received 42 percent of the vote, while Azemi/Stein received 46 percent. Bobby Longoria | Daily Texan Staff Total votes cast in last 9,247 Scott Parks celebrates after being announced as Student Government’s next student-body president Wednesday. After an uncharacteristically large week’s general election runoff turnout, the Parks/Kabir alliance won the president and vice-president election with a 55-percent majority. Reporter challenges US media coverage of Iraq UT initiative By Michael Moran in the region. said people in Iraq vote based collects large Daily Texan Staff “The reason the fighting on candidates’ religion and race On Wednesday, an American hasn’t happened already is be- rather than on policy. journalist for Al-Jazeera criti- cause the U.S. is there, but the “There’s seemingly no pro- sum in Haiti cized the American news me- thing is, everyone knows the tection for the minority in their dia’s coverage of recent Iraqi U.S. is leaving,” he said. system, so everyone has to vote elections and warned of a possi- Tarek El-Ariss, a Middle for their own group,” Rushing relief effort ble civil war in northern Iraq af- Eastern studies professor, said said. “Any vote for someone By Nehal Patel ter the U.S. military withdraws he invited Rushing to give in- other than your own group is Daily Texan Staff most of its troops later this year. sight into the U.S. involvement seen as a vote for your future The “Hold Up for Haiti” fund- Josh Rushing, a UT alum- in Iraq. oppressor.” raising initiative on Feb. 8 raised nus, spoke before a crowd of “There is obviously great in- Rushing enlisted in the U.S. $56,136, Student Government Pres- about 40 in the Texas Union. terest in the Iraqi elections for Marine Corps when he was 18 ident Liam O’Rourke announced Rushing recently returned from the American audience and the years old, and in 2003, the mili- Wednesday during a presentation Iraq after reporting on the state debate about the presence of our tary sent him to the Middle East at the Main Building. of the country prior to its elec- troops in Iraq,” El-Ariss said. to be one of its spokesmen at the In February, about 600 stu- tions Sunday. He said that while “Someone who has a firsthand start of the Iraq war. dent volunteers stood at 30 ma- there, he saw evidence that a account can help enrich the de- He drew controversy in jor street intersections in Aus- civil war may soon break out bate about the war on terror.” 2004 after his appearance in Shannon Kintner | Daily Texan Staff tin to “hold up” traffic and solic- in northern Iraq between Kurd- Rushing criticized the Amer- a documentary about media Josh Rushing, a correspondent for Al-Jazeera English, spoke at UT on it donations. Volunteers also went ish forces and the Iraqi military ican news media for portraying Wednesday about the impending civil war in Iraq and the lack of expo- to various malls in Austin with over control of major oil fields the elections as successful. He AL-JAZEERA continues on page 2 sure of international news coverage. laptops to ask shoppers to do- nate online via PayPal. The initia- tive was a joint effort between SG, the Student Volunteer Board, Tex- as Round Table and the Volunteer Popular fictional sport and Service Learning Center to raise money for the victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti. inspires campus group About $28,000 was raised, with an additional $5,000 in anonymous Texas Quidditch becomes two meetings averaging about 50 donations, said Reilly Milton, a attendees and a Facebook group marketing senior and president of first official University with approximately 300 members, Texas Round Table. The Entrepre- Texas Quidditch hopes to unite the neurs Foundation of Central Texas league, keeps books’ spirit University through spirited rival- matched the $28,000 with another By Gerald Rich ry and capture some of the fun de- $28,000 for a total of about $56,000. Daily Texan Staff scribed in J.K. Rowling’s novels. “Our initial goal was $12,000, but It’s a beautiful day in the Hon- A basic quidditch team consists of we raised $23,000 from the hold-up ors Quad, and a crowd has gath- seven members: three chasers, two alone,” Milton said ered to gawk at students holding beaters, one keeper and a seeker. The The Entrepreneurs Foundation brooms between their legs, throw- chasers try to throw a volleyball — donated the collected money to the ing dodgeballs and chasing some- or quaffle, in Harry Potter lingo — American Red Cross, Save the Chil- one running around in a yellow past the quidditch goalie, or keep- dren and Partners in Health. jumpsuit. Quidditch has finally er, into one of three hoops. The beat- “We chose organizations that come to UT. ers throw dodgeballs, or bludgers, people can trust,” Milton said. Texas Quidditch, UT’s first offi- at other players to “knock” them “These organizations were doing cial league based on the popular off their brooms. Finally, and most the most for Haiti.” fictional sport from the Harry Pot- importantly, the seeker is responsi- Initial Haiti relief efforts fo- Shannon Kintner | Daily Texan Staff ter series, got off the ground earlier ble for catching the snitch — a flag cused more on awareness, said Allison Burton practices blocking the quaffle with her broomstick, which all the players “ride” in the spring with a surge of sup- throughout the entire game. port from students. With the first SPORT continues on page 5 INITIATIVE continues on page 2 Convenient, quality care minutes from campus OPEN 8AM-11PM, 7 days a week 2 2 NEWS Thursday, March 11, 2010 INITIATIVE: THE DAILY TEXAN Haiti Volume 110, Number 167 needs more than D 25 cents CONTACT US immediate care Main Telephone: From page 1 (512) 471-4591 Berenice Medellin, sociology and Editor: social work junior and vice chair Jillian Sheridan of the Student Volunteer Board. (512) 232-2212 “We tabled and made people [email protected] aware of how they could help [Haiti victims] through Web Managing Editor: sites and text-messaging servic- Ana McKenzie es asking for donations,” Medel- (512) 232-2217 lin said. managingeditor@ Juan Gonzalez, vice president dailytexanonline.com for student affairs, said what the Haitians need most is a lifetime of News Office: care — not just a one-time com- (512) 232-2207 mitment. [email protected] With the recent earthquakes in Chile and Turkey, the Student Vol- Web Office: unteer Board is focusing on assist- (512) 471-8616 ing relief efforts sponsored by or- [email protected] ganizations around Austin. “Most of the organizations un- Sports Office: der the board are going to help lo- (512) 232-2210 cal efforts instead of creating their [email protected] own events like ‘Hold Up for Hai- ti,’” Medellin said. Life & Arts Office: SG has not talked about relief (512) 232-2209 efforts for Chile or Turkey, said SG [email protected] spokeswoman Danielle Brown. “We’ve just finished with the Photo Office: Haiti initiative, and we’re current- (512) 471-8618 ly in a transition period, so we Mary Kang | Daily Texan Staff [email protected] don’t want to start something that Biomedical engineering junior Hyun Woo Kim, left, and advertising senior Soonhyung Kwon, center, cook Ho Dduk, a Korean dessert simi- we can’t do to the best of our abil- lar to pancakes. The students are members of Sori-Horn, a group that plays traditional Korean music. The group sold Ho Dduks in front of Retail Advertising: ity,” Brown said. Gregory Gymnasium amid a sudden downpour Wednesday afternoon in efforts to raise funds for their group. (512) 471-1865 [email protected] Classified Advertising: ALJAZEERA: (512) 471-5244 Alumnus reflects SG RESULTS: Parks, Kabir finish strong classifi[email protected] From page 1 mi and Stein greeted one anoth- students involved who had nev- The Texan strives to present all infor- on threats, experiences in Iraq er with hugs and mutual congrat- er been involved in SG and didn’t mation fairly, accurately and complete- prepare ourselves because we ulations.