Correction appended
The Elections Programming and Advisory Committee announced three major changes to the elections process during an informational meeting Tuesday night. A new rule will prevent students who have been suspended by the College from running for president or vice president of the student body, although students who have been suspended will still be permitted to run for all other positions. The instant run-off voting system that Student Assembly currently uses will be replaced by approval voting, whereby "voters say yes to candidates they like and no to those they don't," according to EPAC Chair Harry Enten '11. The new system will allow students to vote "yes" to an unlimited number of candidates. EPAC will also switch to the Helios Voting System, an online system, that was created at Harvard University and is currently used by the Princeton University's student government. EPAC increased spending limits for student body president and vice president campaigns from $125 to $200, $50 of which EPAC will reimburse. Campaign spending limits for Class Council president and vice president were also raised from $35 to $60, $35 of which EPAC will reimburse. All other positions Student Assembly class representatives, Committee on Standards representatives, Organization Adjudication Committee representatives and Green Key Society members have a $35 spending limit. The Assembly also unanimously approved funding for a round-trip bus to New York for spring break. Tickets will be sold for $50 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, March 11 and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. the following Monday. A Diversity and Community Affairs proposal to create Get Involved an initiative that will consolidate all student organizations into a regularly-updated, searchable website connected to the Assembly portal was allocated discretionary funding capped at $1,000. The Assembly motioned to postpone legislation to pay for a new computer to use for organizing the Cutter-Shabazz Library catalog at the suggestion that the Library's catalog which is currently in excel spreadsheet form be posted online and accessed from student laptops.
Dartmouth Medical School neurology professor James Bernat spoke to a group of undergraduates about the medical and ethical issues associated with states of chronic unconsciousness on Tuesday. Bernat used the controversy from several years ago surrounding Terri Schiavo's chronic unconsciousness care to provide an example of the clinical dimensions of a vegetative state. Showing brain images from a fMRI language study, Bernat explained how the description of "minimally responsive state" is a more accurate characterization than a minimally conscious state. Bernat, who was a consultant to the Institute of Medicine and involved with testimonies regarding Schiavo's condition, said that media portrayal of Schiavo's vegetative state was often inaccurate.
