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Levi Bulgar, current student body executive vice president, was announced the Student Body President elect Wednesday night. Bulgar won by 103 votes. (Bryce Peake | The Daily Eastern News)

Megan Ogulnick reacts to statements made by student senators during the meeting on Wednesday night. It was also at this meeting that the Student Body President was named. (Bryce Peake | The Daily Eastern News)

Election ends in split results

By: Nora Maberry/News Editor

Posted: 4/17/08

Correction added

Levi Bulgar is the Student Body President-elect.

Bulgar, representing the Students United Party, won the election for Student Body President with 354 votes, 103 ahead of the next candidate.

Eric Hiltner, representing the United Party of Students, came in second with 251 votes.

Bobbie Mitchell, from the Students Wanting Action Today party, came in third with 228 votes and Dominic Capparelli, representing the Campus Action Party party, came in fourth with 225 votes.

Bulgar said he had mixed emotions about the election results.

"I feel a little disappointed that Sean Wyrobek and Alison Kostelich did not win," Bulgar said. "I would have liked to serve with them on the executive board."

Wyrobek and Kostelich, both members of SUP, were running for student vice president for student affairs and student vice president for academic affairs, respectively.

Bulgar said he was surprised by Hiltner's second place finish in the election results.

"In the beginning everyone was asking 'Who do you think the top two people will be?'" Bulgar said. "It was always my name and Bobbie's name that was thrown around because of our Greek connections and because of our time on Student Government, and our connections because of that."

This is the third year Bulgar has run for an executive board position as a member of SUP and won. He previously served as student vice president for business affairs and is currently serving as student executive vice president.

"For a lot of time, I did feel a lot of pressure about it," Bulgar said. "But I really did feel that I had to work very hard to support the people that have come before me, the people that made it possible for me be on Student Government and the people that are working so hard to get on it now."

Bulgar said his first goal as Student Body President is to make sure incoming freshmen are exposed to all aspects of Student Life at Student Government's First Night event.

Eric Wilber, from SWAT, ran unopposed for student executive vice president.

Wilber said his win obviously wasn't a surprise, but was excited.

"I think we have a very diverse exec board, split between all three parties," Wilber said.

Wilber said he expected to work well with the other executive board members since he had served with them on Student Government before.

"My main goal is to get Student Action Team back up and running, and make sure the students know who their student trustee is," Wilber said.

Tiffany Turner, from SUP, won the election for student vice president for business affairs She defeated Kevin Lee from SWAT by 44 votes.

"It feels pretty good," Turner said. "It was very nerve-wracking because it wasn't a clear cut election."

As a part of her job, Turner will be chairwoman of Apportionment Board.

"I am going to start a traveling-fee forum for students and try my best to get a full AB next year," she said.

Turner said the first step to fill all AB positions was to carefully select members.

Student Government elections were held Monday and Tuesday, where1,058 students voted.

The new Student Government will take office July 1.

In addition to announcing election results, the Senate heard budget proposals.

Ken Baker will have to wait until next week to see if the Student Recreation Center will get the fee increase it requested Wednesday night. Baker presented the Student Senate with a proposal, asking for a budget increase of $2.50 to help pay for facility, maintenance, grounds and staff at the center. Student Senate tabled the resolution until next week's meeting.

Baker, Interim Athletic Director and director of Campus Recreation, told the Senate the Center probably would not be able to afford the increase in their budget during the upcoming year.

"We're asking ahead because next year this budget will be in the red and we can ask for a minimal contribution tonight that will help us next year and in the future," Baker said.

The Center budget is broken down into three parts, Baker said. One part pays student workers' salaries, another pays fixed costs, such as debt, retirement, utilities and staff salaries, and the third part pays for facility and grounds maintenance and staff.

Included in the budget are one building service worker foreman, one building service worker, one electrician and a part-time plumber, Baker said.

Baker said the increase could be attributed to increased fuel costs and the fact the Center had been without one building service worker.

This is the first increase that has been asked for in 17 years to fund the facilities and grounds maintenance, Baker said.

"I don't want to come to you next year and say, 'Hey, we're $30,000 in the red,'" Baker said. "I don't want you to be surprised."

Baker told the Senate the Center had put off refinishing the floors because money was not in the budget to complete the project.

Baker told the Senate the increase was not needed to keep the Center open, but was needed to maintain a quality of service.

"We will be open," Baker said. "The floors may not get done, the grass may be a little higher but we want to continue to serve you at the level that we think you deserve."

Also at the meeting, the Student Senate voted 21-4 to approve the fee increase for the new Textbook Rental building. The increase would raise the fee to $9.95 per credit hour from $8.95 per credit hour.

Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs, said the new building would be named the Student Textbook Rental Service Building, if a donor was not found to buy the naming rights for the building.

Nadler said the building had been a part of Eastern's master plan for the last decade, but the schematic design of the building only advanced during the fall semester.

Nadler said the need for a new building was critical to the university because of safety and parking concerns the current building has.

Nadler told the Senate a delay would be costly to students.

"The reality is every year that we delay building the facility, it's going to cost the students six or six and half percent more per year," Nadler said.

The total number of ballots cast was 1,088.

Nora Maberry can be reached at 581-7942 or at nemaberry@gmail.com.