By Jessica Wolf
State Press
ASU's Homecoming king and queen may not always represent the best of the entire student body.
The ASASU senate is concerned that only members of ASASU or the Student Alumni Association are chosen for the Homecoming court. The senate passed a petition Tuesday night that calls for a "more fair and unbiased" ASU homecoming court selection process.
"Everyone should have the opportunity to win," said Eric Pezold, senator for the College of Public Programs and the petition's sponsor. "A lot of clubs aren't involved in certain things that SAA or ASASU have outlined as criteria and they get left out of the process."
This year's Homecoming queen is SAA president Hope Billingsley.
The coordinator for the royalty selection committee was Jason Borges, also a SAA member. He planned the selection process, from choosing judges for the royalty selection committee to establishing the criteria for judges to rate candidates.
Four of the 10 judges were SAA members, others were from the Residential Life, Memorial Union Activities Board, Student Life and the Alumni Association.
Four is enough to skew the nominations, Pezold said.
Neither Borges nor SAA officials could not be reached for comment.
Michael Sosso, senator for the College of Liberal Arts, disagreed with Pezold's conclusion.
"While it may be true that mostly people from ASASU or SAA are winning, it is likely that the number of applicants from ASASU or SAA by far is higher than any other organizations," Sosso said.
To remedy that, Pezold said he would like more Homecoming advertising to get a more diverse group of applicants and is also calling for a more diverse group of judges.
He said any change would start at ASASU when the activities vice president appoints the homecoming director. Pezold said he thinks there should be more advertising for this position as well, to create a Homecoming committee that represents a more inclusive part of the ASU community.
Pezold said he would like to see the next homecoming director not be a member of ASASU or SAA.
This year, 30 people applied for the 10 court positions. And the selection process is extensive. Applicants must be a junior, senior or graduate student with a minimum 2.5 GPA and have been enrolled at ASU for at least two semesters. They must also provide a resumé and typewritten answers to questions about themselves and their involvement at ASU.
The applicants are then screened by a panel of judges and finalists go on to an oral interview with a panel of different judges who rate them on these criteria: knowledge of ASU, school spirit, self-confidence, sincerity, goals and communication skills.
Pezold said he thinks the issue is that because the royalty criteria are created by people from ASASU or SAA , only these people have a chance at being in the Homecoming court.
"I'm not pointing any fingers," he said, "but I think it is something that needs to be resolved."
Ofelia Madrid of the State Press
Chad Beedy, a junior studying computer science and Jason Short, a senior studying finance and supply chain mangement show off a new web site they helped design called "Anti Bookstore". The site is a classified service for students interested in buying or selling text books.
By Ganga Subramanian
State Press
Tired of getting only a few bucks back for your books?
A new Web site called "Anti Bookstore" could bring students more cash for their books than the ASU Bookstore. It does this by providing users with an electronic bulletin board of contacts interested in buying books.
"There are times when you buy a book for $80 and sell it for $7," said Jason Short, a finance and supply chain management senior and one of the site's designers. "This service is for people who want to trade books and save money."
The service works like this: Students can log onto the "Anti Bookstore" Web page (http://www.asu.bookout.com) and choose one of two options -- "sell a book" or "buy a book." After entering relevant information about the books, students can access the details of others who are interested in the same books.
"It's just a classified service," Short said. "We are not selling anything."
He and his team set up the Web site for an annual fee of $5 and also paid $20 in setup fees. They will not charge users.
"We are not seeking any money back," Short said.
"We hope some of the bookstores will change their ways," he said. "I understand they have overheads and stuff, but they still make a lot of money," he added.
Jim Selby, assistant director of the ASU Bookstore, said used books are purchased from students at 50 percent of the price of a new book. These books are then sold as "used textbooks" at 75 percent of the price of a new book.
However, if a certain book is not required for any scheduled class in that semester, the books would be purchased from students based on market needs for the book, he said.
Selby said the ASU Bookstore spends a lot time keeping up with editions and checking stocks. Services like Anti Bookstore may not be able to provide this information, he said.
Also, the ASU Bookstore offers return privileges. "What happens when you drop a class?" Selby asked.
He said although the students are not running a for-profit setup, they still have to put time into the effort. The "busy" student may not be able to spare time for the service later, Selby added.
The Web site was set up by three ASU students: Finance and supply chain management seniors Jason Short and Deepa Murali Mohan, along with computer science junior Chad Beedy.
By Jayson Peters
State Press
While students prepare to hit the road for the holiday hiatus, businesses near ASU have found they can adjust to the breaks between semesters.
Campus Corner on College Avenue will cut back its hours to compensate for the absence of students. The store will be open 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., instead of 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., general manager Mike Jennings said.
"The bulk of the business turns into a clothing store," he said. "We experience a significant drop in business starting 2 p.m. graduation day (Dec. 18)."
But he said cutting overhead in this way keeps the business from experiencing any real loss.
Mike Johnson, record sales manager of Tower Records in the Tempe Center, said his store is not worried about the exodus of students.
"In December it's really busy for us," he said. "We normally do double the business of any other month.
"The week after Christmas, however, things die down quite a bit because the students are no longer here."
Johnson said the gift certificates his store sells as holiday gifts keep customers coming back during the student drought. "So all in all, we're not as affected as others in the strip here," he said.
The 43,732 students who attend the ASU Main campus will wrap up finals by Dec. 17.
But some students will continue their education during the break. Patricia Feldman, director of Instructional Programs at ASU, said 1,516 students have already enrolled for the winter session. That's 86 students more than the enrollment in 1997.
And "we're expecting more because students are registering every day," Feldman said.
Changing Hands Bookstore stocks textbooks specifically requested by instructors and mainly serves students in non-book related merchandise. Manager Megan Guest said there is no measurable drop in sales at the end of a semester, but there is a spike at the beginning of one.
"What we see is an increase (in non-book items) that first month back," she said. "Buying a book for pleasure when you've got so much academic reading to do is not really realistic."
Posters, candles, stationary, journals, magnets and bumper stickers are especially boosted when the students return, Guest said.
"While students have always represented a steady part of our business, they've never been our customer base," she said.
Winter visitors and relatives in town for the holidays make up for any business that is lost while students are on vacation, she added.
Campus clubs and organizations may submit written entries to the State Press in the basement of the Matthews Center. Requests will not be taken over the phone or via fax.
Deadline for requests is noon the day before publication and entries will not be accepted more than three working days before publication. Only one entry per organization per day is permitted.
Entries must contain the full name of the club or organization, a description of the event, date, time and the full address of the location. All requests are subject to editing for content, space and clarity. Incomplete or illegible entries will be discarded.
The Today Section is a daily calendar of events printed as a service to the ASU community. Requests are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis and are printed as space permits.
* American Marketing Association -- A speaker from State Farm Insurance will attend the meeting in the MU Pima room 218 at 4:30 p.m.
* Amnesty International - ASU West Chapter -- A meeting will be held in the ASU West SANDS building room 230 at 3:30 p.m.
* Barren Mind Improv -- The last show of the semester will be held in the MU Programming Lounge at 12:15 p.m.
* BSU Christian Ministries -- A free lunch followed by a short message will be held at 1322 S. Mill Ave. at noon.
* Campus Crusade for Christ -- The last semester meeting will be held in the Physical Sciences building room H150 at 7:30 p.m.
* Career Services -- A workshop on job search skills will be held in the MU room 224 at 11:40 a.m.
* Campus Bible Fellowship -- A Bible study will be held in the MU Apache room at 6:30 p.m.
* Child & Family Services -- An Eldercare Support Group discussion will be held in the MU room 211 at noon.
* Christian Students Fellowship -- A Bible study will be held in the MU Turquoise room at 12:40 p.m.
* Counselor Training Center -- Trained Master's and Doctoral students offer free counseling for full-time students, faculty and staff from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call 965-5067 to schedule an appointment.
* Department of Languages & Literature -- Latin American film series: Rojo Amanecer will be shown in LL C57 at 3:40 p.m.
* Financial Management Association -- A meeting and elections will be held in the MU room 203S at 5 p.m.
* German Department -- A German theater production "Herr Peter Squentz" will be shown in the Education Lecture Hall at 7 p.m.
* Justice Studies Academic Student Union -- Elections for secretary and treasurer positions followed by pizza will be held in the MU Gold room north at 4:45 p.m.
* Learning Resource Center -- A workshop on study skills will be held in the MU room 208D at 3 p.m.
* Marriage and Family Therapy Clinic -- Individual, couple and family therapy is available for students, faculty and staff in the Cowden Family Resources Building Room 140. Call 965-9373 for more information.
* Phoenix Union Devils -- A meeting will be held in the MU Pinal room at 4 p.m.
* Society of Automotive Engineers -- A meeting will be held in the Engineering Center room F120 at 6 p.m.
* T.H.E.M. -- A meeting will be held in the MU Havasupai room at 5:30 p.m.
for Thursday