MIDDBRIEFS

Author: KATHRYN FLAGG

SGA releases vote count for recent SGA election

In an e-mail to the student body on Tuesday, the Student Government Association (SGA) announced the long-awaited results of the 2006 SGA Presidential and Student Co-Chair of Community Council (SCCOCC) elections. The e-mail explained that the results were being publicized in order to "improve transparency and student involvement in the election process." The e-mail followed a week and a half of debate in the wake of the April 21 election, which included a last-minute "third party" campaign launched by Austen Levin-Coon '07.5 via e-mail encouraging students to abstain from voting and insist on transparency.

Last week, current SGA President Eli Berman '07.5 expressed reservations about publicly disclosing the election results, voicing concerns that the potential disparity in the number of votes could be embarrassing to candidates. In continuing the debate over transparency, the SGA discussed publicizing the votes during their meeting on Sunday at Dean of Student Affairs Ann Hanson's home.

According to the e-mail distributed by the SGA on Tuesday, Alex Stanton '07 won the presidential race with a total of 965 votes, taking 59.9 percent of the electoral vote. Alina Levina '09 received 399 votes, and 248 students chose to abstain. In the SCCOCC race, Annie Williams '07 received 774 votes, Mike Tierney '09.5 received 271 votes and Ryan Tauriainen received 15 percent of the vote with 241 votes. In the SCCOCC race, 320 students chose to abstain.



Econ. panel discusses outsourcing pros, cons

Gathering yesterday in John M. McCardell, Jr. Bicentennial Hall, three business professionals participated in a panel discussion tackling the challenges and potential benefits of increasingly common global outsourcing. The event was part of the Professor David K. Smith Visiting Economic Lecture series. Panelists included Scott Hardy, Nick Laird and Michael Zeliger, and the forum was moderated by Pieter Schiller '60, a partner emeritus at Advanced Technology Partners in Waltham, Mass.

Hardy, founder of the NEOS Performance Overshoe, Laird, founder and chief executive officer of Global Realty Outsourcing and Zeliger, a partner at the law firm Kirkpatrick and Lockhart Nicholson Graham, were challenged during the forum to evaluate the changing face of American business in the face of outsourcing practices. The panelists discussed and debated whether or not outsourcing creates more jobs than it moves offshore, whether or not outsourcing jobs means "outsourcing America" and how outsourcing may limit the United States' ability to compete on a global playing field.

The event, which was free and open to the public, was followed by a reception in Bicentennial Hall.



Faculty engage research with indigenous people

Convening tonight at 7 p.m. in the Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room, faculty panelists will talk discuss their work with indigenous peoples. The panel, titled "Learning with the People of the Land: Faculty Perspectives on Working with Indigenous Peoples," will feature Associate Professor of Anthropology David Stoll, Assistant Professor of Music and Curator of the Ethnomusicology Archives Jennifer Post, Associate Professor of History William Hart, New England Consortium Fellow Richard Meyers and Director and Psychologist of the Human Relations Center and Associate Professor of English Gary Margolis.

The event is being sponsored by the Office of Institutional Diversity and Voices of Indigenous People. Professors will address how their work with indigenous cultures has influenced their profession and research, how research contends with indigenous people and the implications associated with doing research with indigenous people.