urren NING STUDENT V OICE OF UM-ST. LOUIS . SGA constitution This Old Barn to be presented at next meeting BY DAVID BAUGHER senior editor SGA President Jim Avery and Comptroller Ben Ash have apparently come to an agreement regarding the presentation of a new constitution to the student body. Avery said Ash will allow a version of the con­ stitution he worked on over the summer to be revised and voted on by the assembly before the end of the semester. Ash had earlier withdrawn his document from consideration after becoming discouraged by poor attendance at special meet­ ings held to revise SGA's governing document. "Ben and I had a discussion and decided mutually that the best thing for SGA would be for Ben to bring forward the constitution that he worked so diligently on and we will have the presentation at the Ash, Avery next meeting and all the members can go decide back and review it to against pro­ make any necessary TUSCALOOSA,AJa. - changes," Avery said. posed stu­ Smdent: Gover.mnem Association Presidmcia1 eandidate Pabien Zinga S tephanie Platt/The CIiTTent Ash and Avery dent gro up both said that the new rea:ived a threatening phone call A crowd gathers outside The Arena demolition site after the historic building was tom down Feb 27. For student constitution makes no freezes, see loaded '\Vim racimt slurs late Monday reaction to the demolition of the "Old Bam," and photos of its final moments, see page 6. major changes from night, and he belie es the University's page 7. the old one though urldergro~Dd fraternity-based .organi­ both agreed it would zation known as ,·the Mlwhine' was clear up vague or imprecise wording from the old behind the threat. VITA program helping community document. "I could rell by the voice on the "It's a lot cleaner, a lot more to the point, a lot phoBe that it was .1 white man." said better organized, a lot fewer mistakes, a lot of Zinga.a senior in prl"-med. "He main­ with income tax return assistance things that have been fleshed out ..." Ash said. ly aid a lot of curse words, but the Ash said that the document was not all it one thing that reilly caught my .men- BY SUE BRITT could have been ho er. was when h sai Ie going mey" staff associate New tax law changes may ''I've always said that this is a skeleton consti­ to hang me up on a tree." Volunteer Income T ax Assistance is seudinO" volunteers to tution," Ash said. "Perhaps that's what this The Uni 'erstty D epartment of assist area citizens with their income tax returns. hile new tax school wants, something that has a lot of stuH Public SafetY i investigating, but benefit college students laws could allow UM-St. Louis studems to sa on tax.es this ear. that can be read into it instead of a lot of hard and Zinga said h hdieve. the 1¥lachine is $1,000. Chew said this is subject to reduction or elinLination The UM-St. Louis program, sponsored by the School of fast rules." the culprit. depending on the level of modified adjusted gross income. Business Administration, has been operating since 1973 and is the Acccording to the SGA bylaws the Assembly The Machin a select coalition of There are another couple of new deductions to b nefit college largest university-based income tax service in the region. must pass the new constitution by a tWo-thirds traditionally white frat€mity and students or their parents. One is the Hope Scholarship cr di t and Volunteers, including upper-division undergraduate and graduate majority before it moves to a vote of the student sorority members designed to influ­ the other is the Lfetime Learning credit. acc01mting students, alumni, and certified publi accountants body. Avery said that the SGA election has been ence campus polinc , has a long hist.o­ "There's some real benefit here in terms of educational expens­ assist senior and low-to-moderate income tax pa) ers at several delayed until late next month in order to give the ry on the Univ:ersity .:ampu . es," Chew said "The Hope Scholarship credit is a tax credit for locations throughout the area. The service began Feb. 13 and will . student body a chance to pass the constitution In 1993. pre:.idential hopeful tuition and related expen es incurred for the first two years of continue until the middle of April. while electing SGA oHicers. The document ·Minda Riley was .lttacked, allegedly post-secondary education. So it could be trade school, it could be Lindell Chew, instructor in the School of Business needs a simple majority of the student body to by a member of the Machine, result­ junior college, community college, or it could be a four year uni­ Administration, is faculty advisor for and co-founder of the vrr A pass. ing:in the.n-Vice President of Student versity like [UM-St. Louis). The credit is a maximum oi $] 500 program. Chew said there have been some recent changes to the "Instead of having an election and then ten :Mlairs Harry Knapke's shqtcing per student. So, that's a big chunk if you can shelter $1 ,500 of income tax laws that may be of interest to college students or par­ days later have another election, the plan was that d0WD SGA. tuition and related eJ<.'PeIises." tae ents of college students. we were going to wait until after the SGA meet- Chris Strong. one ofZinga's oppo­ Chew said that there is a new de'ducoon for student loan inter­ The Lfetime Learning credit applies to tuition and related nents, received several phone dlls est paid ",rjthin the first 60 months that interest is due for up to see VIT A, page 7 see SG A, page 7 threatenmg physical harm tm'ee , weeks pri"r ro the Stan of campaign­ ~. Amaada Jarrell, Strong's. CUll­ paign manager, also said ;she was Campus senate election threatened I>y phone. StrQng said Winter's Comeback 'th~r-e is a po il5i:lity the Machine is ;mvol~ but h does not want to point a finger yet. Jarren said me turnout reported as high thinks someOne :iswilling to do any­ regarding the senate elections this year. thing they can 'to 'liminate the·com- BY SUE SR ITT staff associate English said that with all the discussion Turnout for senate student elections was about lack of student involvement in the said he did ~Ot rq>oIt the higher this year than last. senate and in the Student Government placed to hlmself ana Iarrelf The cause of the increase Association, students ,Ut:~aUlil~e knew ~ SJi.ch as th.u was credited to a combi­ were more encouraged to . hap~ ",-hen he decided to run ..........--- ,,--- nation of factors by the take a stand. She said the · £01' office~ Just encouraged students who voted may University President Andrew staff of the office of the have been trying to con­ · &mmsen condenmed the mrea-r, hut senate. the professors vey that they do care and said tiJk of shuttitig down the SGA This year 317 students to model the right will become involved. Was pretnature. voted for other students behavior for the stu­ English also said Gail In addition to the threatening can. running for senate seats [I Babcock was a vital con­ 14 of the 16 signs Zingaand his !lUp-' compared to the turnout dents.. asked t h m tributor to the success 'f2<,")nersJIU! out on C3.tnpns have been last year of 224. There to help] recruit stu­ were also rwo more stu­ this year. Babcock, a co­ either"d dtroyed OT vandalized.. dents they felt would dents running for the 25 chair of the election available student seats take the respenslblU.. committee, spoke before than last year. Forty-four t, (of senatorl nd the senate at its last ran this year. (to help recruit) yol­ meeting, and English BuLt"lmN B'OARD • • •• ••• ••...2 Sue English of the sen­ unt•• ,s . said that she set a good .:F'EA1l.JRES ••• ••• ; •• , ••••••• 3 ate office said a strong example for the rest of -Gail Babcock, co-chair of the sen- the students. C~ARY . ••· •••••••••... 4 group of students brought ate student election committee SPOlcrS . • ~ . • . • • . • • . • . • . 5 awareness to the student "I just encouraged the I SPEON. FEATuRE ~ ...•.••. • 6 body concerning the need _~ ____ " _ _____ professors to model the THE NERD TABLE••.••.•••• , .7 for involvement in senate right behavior for the CI:.A,~D9.... ' . ••. .•• ••• " 9 Issues. students," Babcock said. "[I asked them to "We had a great student subcommittee help) recruit students they felt would take Newsroom • [ this year] that made sure we had volunteers the responsibil~ty [of senator] and [to help . Advertisillg • to man the polls," English said. "They recrui t] volunteers." Fax • passed out hundreds of flyers. They put Babcock said the support of the staff at them in each student organization mailbox the polls was a great help. She said more Stephanie Platt/The CUTTent and on billboards. They also talked to dif­ than half of the volunteers were fac ulty and A g oose leaves his footprints in the snow after a brief winter ferent professors and asked them to staff. storm hit campus early last week. The storm coated the area [announce the elections J." "They deserve credit," Babcock said, with about half an inch of ice and snow, most of which melted English said the advertising and articles in "[because) it wasn't about them, it wasn't within hours.