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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Thursday, March 28, 2024 Vol. 77 No. 24
THE student voice since 1960
STUDENT BODY MARKS IN LARKIN
Knapp elected vice president, Ford elected student trustee PRESIDENT
VICE PRESIDENT
STUDENT TRUSTEE
Barrett Larkin
Mo Abuzaneh
Lucia Knapp
Kaia Ford
Jared Jess
513
485
940
655
297
50.69%
47.92%
96.71%
67.81%
30.75%
Results are unofficial until ratified by the Student Senate on April 1. The president, vice president and senators will take office April 15. The student trustee will take office July 1.
Muslim students share insights on practicing Ramadan on campus CAMELA SHARP reporter Muslims on campus are having difficulties practicing Ramadan, as many who fast during the month are having trouble finding food options on campus. Changes are being made to fix that. As SIUE works to accommodate each of their students’ individual needs, they accept the direction and suggestions made by students. Thanks to the Muslim students of SIUE, they can have a better idea of which steps to take and which changes to make. Asmaa Khalid said that she would like to see an increase of zabiha and halal options in the MUC. “[I would like] access to zabiha and halal meat, which is basically the Muslim, kosher version of meat,” Khalid said. “It follows certain guidelines for butchering and cleaning of the meat.” Muslim students have discussed their concerns and desires for dining hall options for Ramadan. Janyya Faadir-White, a Somali American student majoring in psychology, said there are some halal options, but no zabiha options. Many Muslims participate in Ramadan, which is a month-long practice where they will pray, reflect, get together as a community and fast. Their fast is from dawn to sunset. Faadir-White said that the ending
time of the fast conflicts with the closing hours of food sources in the MUC. “So say if the dining hall closed at 8, right now we’re fasting for Ramadan so we break fast at, like, 7:06,” Faadir-White said. “For it to be open two more hours would be accommodating.” Ridwan Oyebamiji, a Muslim student majoring in biomedical sciences said that the current halal options are not available long enough. “I think one thing too is just more halal options in the MUC,” Oyebamiji said. “There’s currently only one, and it’s only available at a certain time of the day. Obviously, that certain time of the day is when we’re fasting. So pretty much there’s no halal options for us.” Oyebamiji said that there are issues with things like the chicken shawarma meal. The shawarma was introduced specifically for Muslim students but has become so popular to everyone that it isn’t as available to Muslim students as it should be. “The chicken shawarma is a very popular item that a lot of people like, not just Muslims. That’s something that previous students asked for six or seven years ago down the line,” Oyebamiji said. “The chicken shawarma being offered in the MUC is an outcome of the work that students put in, but it’s not necessarily benefiting the people that it was catered for in the first place.” Some non-Muslim students agree on a need for extended hours and would also like to see the Muslim students receive more accommodations.
Griffin Wilson, a student majoring in anthropology, said that SIUE should have a religious consultant to help the school better accommodate students and faculty. “I think if we have a religious consultant at the school, it would be important to get them into the discussion on when we can provide food,” Wilson said. “I definitely think that’s important. Even if it’s late at night or early in the morning, it’s important to have food for Muslim students.” Dining Services is actively working on these issues. Dennis Wobbe, the director of Dining Services, said that they have Muslim staff and they communicate about accommodating the Muslim population on campus. “We have a lot of Muslim students on our team and we regularly consult with them on different items,” Wobbe said. “We looked at the prayer schedules and what our hours are, how they’re conducive.” Wobbe said that Dining Services has consulted Muslim students often to figure out what food they want at Entrees. “They recommended a lot of the fish options,” Wobbe said. “That’s something that Muslim students can have — and vegetarian options, so we’re see RAMADAN on page 3
DYLAN HEMBROUGH editor-in-chief The unofficial Student Government election results were released Wednesday, March 27, shortly after voting closed. Junior business major Barrett Larkin won the presidency with 513 votes. His opponent, biology major and pre-medical student Moayad Abuzaneh, garnered 485 votes. There were 14 write-ins for the presidency. The difference in votes was 28, which is slightly less than the vote difference between President Mackenzie Richards and Ugo Eleonu last year. Graduate student in industrial and organizational psychology Kaia Ford, who was absent from the March 18 debate on account of being ill, was elected the new student trustee with 655 votes. Graduate student in mechatronics engineering Jared Jess, the current vice president, got 297 votes. There were 14 write-ins for this spot. Sophomore political science major Lucia Knapp earned 940 votes and won the vice presidency as the only candidate. There were 32 write-ins for this position. Zach Entwistle (497) and Heaven Watkins (438) won the two spots for senator-at-large. The other three candidates were Carson Baer (419), current Freshman Senator Ben Cole (183) and Landon Winkelman (152). The two international student senators will be Zee Salas (667) and Abdulsalam Odofin-Kamorudeen (469). The other candidate was Mainprice Akuoko Essuman (436). David Ferrier (92) won the position for CAS — Science and Math senator over incumbent Brenden Auerbach (71). Becca Loftus (33) was re-elected as the School of Pharmacy senator over Charlyse Roy (30). The two positions for senator for the School of Business were won by Jenna Nestor (45) and Brian Obi (39). The other candidate was current Fee Commissioner Sydney Euchner (33). The following tallies were collected for the uncontested positions. Roman Becker (senator for non-traditional students; 982), Winter Racine (senator for students with disabilities; 950), Tonanzi Montoya (senator for CAS — People and Culture; 160), Imareon Taylor (senator for CAS — Arts and Communication; 125), Devin Willis (senator for the School of Education, Health and Human Behavior; 124), Iyanuoluwa Fatunmbi (senator for graduate students; 89), Ray Ehrenhaft (senator for the School of Nursing; 70), Aiden Kocher (senator for the School of Engineering; 59), Nicholas Young (senator for the School of Education, Health and Human Behavior; 53), Peyton Lovel (senator for the School of Engineering; 46) and Nick Yuhas (senator for the School of Dental Medicine; 4). All five candidates for the Student Diversity Council were also elected: Megan You (638), Lex Allen (627), Jasiah Andrews (587), Ashton Carter (576) and Natasha Kabir (427). There were no candidates for military and veteran services senator or student athlete senator, so write-in candidates are currently being reviewed. These results are unofficial until Senate ratification on April 1. There were 1,036 voters in total.