By Stefan Keiser

INDIANA -- Craig Faish, vice-president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Student Government Association, ran unopposed in the April 11-12 SGA presidential election.  What kind of leader will he be? He offered a glimpse during what was billed as a presidential debate in the HUB Susquehanna Room on April 2.

"I know things need changed, and how to change them," Faish said wearing a black suit and standing alone at the podium. "I have been part of the SGA for three years."

Faish said he knows the campus.

By Lenny Anderson  

A post-election survey of IUP students has found that 14 percent said they voted in April 11-12 student-government elections. Actual student-voter turnout was 1 percent, election officials reported.

The survey also found that 16 percent said they voted in the SGA elections a year ago. Actual 2006 turnout was about 1 percent as well.

By: Jennifer Clark                   

INDIANA-- For the second year in a row, electronic voting in IUP student-government elections suffered a technical glitch.

Balloting was scheduled to begin at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, April 11, and end Thursday, April 12, at 11:59 p.m. But election officials said Wednesday morning that an unexplained technical error delayed the start of balloting until 9 a.m. The nine-hour delay prompted the officials to extend the voting period until 9 a.m. Friday, April 13, said Brandon Marree, chairman of the Student Government Association elections committee.

By Jade Peterson and Sheena Hornbaker

By Diana Alcorn

The April 16-20 online survey of attitudes about IUP student government was sent to a sample of the university's total enrollment. Of the 2,000 recipients of the seven-question survey, 95 answered, a 4.8 percent response rate.

Two previous surveys emailed in fall 2005 and in spring 2006 had similar response rates, although those were sent to all 14,000 IUP students. The fall 2005 survey more than 800 responses, a response rate of 5.7 percent. The spring 2006 survey had 741 responses, a rate of 5.3 percent.

By Matt Carroll

IUP's Student Government Association is taking a new tack to fix persistent problems with low membership, poor attendance and lack of diversity. It is turning to the Internet for help.

The SGA Web site (http://www.coop.iup.edu/sga/) has been updated for the first time since 2003, giving prospective members a chance to check out the organization from their own living rooms, officials said.

In 1989 IUP campus police reported 577 crimes on campus. In 2005 police recorded 535, a reduction of 7 percent, according to IUP's online repository of statistical data, the IUP Trendbook.

By Emily Boots

After adding several new members this fall, IUP's Student Government Association is composing a Retention and Advancement Report to boost attendance.

The report comes halfway through the administration of SGA President Patrick Barnacle, who pledged reforms in student government when he took office in April. The report will guide SGA leaders as they try to fill the vacant seats that have plagued the student legislature for years, Barnacle said.

By Elizabeth Gaffron

When a trio of students became pessimistic about student and federal government, they looked no further than the past for an answer. They formed a local chapter of Students for a Democratic Society this semester to battle what the group considers the enemies of democracy.