Chance to vote
draws some
students, while
others opt out
By Marit Karbowski
Mirror Assistant Editor
Senior Deborah Deng got tears in
her eyes when discussing the results
of the first presidential election she
was allowed to vote in as a U.S. citi-zen.
"This is a good change," Deng
said. 'America is getting better."
Most Augustana students voted
in their first presidential election on
Nov. 4, among the 24 million other
18-29 year old voters with a 54.5 per-cent
turnout rate. This was the larg-est
rate since 18-year-olds won the
right to vote in 1972.
Young voter
turnout was up 6
percentage points
from 2004, result-ing
in 4 million
more voters this
year, according
to the Rock the
Vote campaign.
Sixty-six percent of young people
voted for President-Elect Obama,
which had a great influence on the
outcomes of some states.
While some students chose not
to vote for various personal reasons,
there were many students who felt
passionate about the results and were
proud to voice their opinions.
Deng, who was born in Sudan
and became a U.S. citizen in 2006,
said one of the reasons for her ex-citement
was a candidate that she
strongly felt would have a positive
influence on the United States.
"I cried a lot when Obama won:'
Deng said. "It's not about Obama. It's
about people coming together:'
See VOTING, page 11
Barack Obama
Press Photo
Sandra Day O'Connor
3;mirror
: must sees
Columnist irked
by church,
politics blurring.
Page 4
3
2
Advice offered for
landing internships.
Page 5
Athletes are
what they
devour.
Page 10
THE AUGUSTANA
Friday
November 14, 2008 MIRROR Vol. XCVII
No. 7
1908 • CELEBRATING 100 YEARS • 2008
O'Connor selected for Boe Forum
Former Supreme Court justice to speak about experiences
in judicial system to crowd of nearly 4,000 in Elmen Center
By Luke Tatge
Mirror Editor in Chief
In its semi-annual series on public af-fairs,
the Center for Western Studies'
(CWS) Boe Forum will feature a former
Supreme Court justice appointed during
the Reagan era.
Retired associate justice Sandra Day
O'Connor will speak at the Boe Forum on
Public Affairs on Monday, Nov. 24, at 7
p.m., in the Elmen Center.
Originally from El Paso, Texas, O'Connor
received her law degree from Stanford Uni-versity.
President Ronald Reagan appoint-ed
her associate justice of the U.S. Supreme
Court in 1981. She served on the Court
until 2006, when she retired from the posi-tion.
O'Connor's talk, "Reflections from the
United States Supreme Court," will relate
her experiences in the federal judicial sys-tem
to a crowd of students, faculty, staff
and community members.
CWS director of research collections
and publications Harry Thompson said that
O'Connor has been a possible candidate for
the Boe Forum for several years.
"As the first woman justice of the Unit-ed
States Supreme Court, the Boe Forum
Committee knew that she would be able to
share an unparalleled perspective on our
nation's highest court," he said.
According to Thompson, other names
that have appeared on the list include Kofi
Annan, Christiane Amanpour, Tony Blair,
Madeleine Albright and Robert Kennedy,
Jr. He said that a contact from Board of
Trustees member Vance Goldammer made
the presentation of O'Connor possible.
"The Augustana and Sioux Falls com-munities
should benefit considerably by
hearing, in person, a leading judicial figure
speak about the workings of the Supreme
Court," Thompson said.
Junior Boe Forum Committee member
Maggie Van Bockern said that O'Connor's
accomplishments have inspired her in a
possible legal career.
"She's a pretty amazing woman," Van
Bockern said. "To do what she did in the
time that she did it shows her determina-tion
as a woman and as a person:'
For O'Connor to become a lawyer dur-ing
a time when the field was dominated
by men, Van Bockern said that the former
justice's message and experiences will posi-tively
affect the campus community
In its 13th go-around, the Boe Forum,
established by former South Dakota Gov-ernor
Nils Boe and his sisters Borghild Boe
and Lois Boe Hyslop, is an annual lecture
series that brings internationally renowned
speakers to the people of South Dakota and
the surrounding states.
"The Boe Forum provides a unique
opportunity to the Augustana and Sioux
Falls communities to learn about contem-porary
issues from the people who have
See O'CONNOR, page 11
By Amber Wilson
Mirror- Staff Writer
Technology • has opened
many doors for Augustana stu-dents,
and a new technological
advancement has just begun.
This year, in the event of an
emergency, students will be no-tified
via email, a voice record-ing
and text messaging.
Connect-ED is a company
that allows Augustana to reach
the student body and faculty
promptly and proficiently.
With Connect-ED, Augustana
can reach the entire campus
through cell phones, home
phones, work phones, email,
text message, PDA/pagers and
voicemail.
This service will only be used
in case of an emergency on cam-pus.
For instance, in the event
of a severe blizzard and classes
must be cancelled, the students
and faculty of Augustana would
be informed of the cancella-tion
through email and a voice
message on a cell phone, room
phone, home phone or text mes-sage.
Through the myAugie site,
students and faculty are able to
register numerous numbers,
texting and two email addresses
under the Emergency Notifica-tion
System in the services sec-tion
of the site.
Connect-ED was the compa-ny
and system used in the event
of Hurricane Katrina. When
the hurricane hit New Orleans,
one superintendent was out
of the state. She used her cell
phone to call the company and
record the messages sent out to
the students and family of the
schoolchildren. This idea of an
emergency notification system
resembles Augustana's intent for
the arrangement.
Tests will be done periodi-cally
to ensure the system is
working properly. Before the
test will occur, an email will be
sent out to notify everyone of
See EMERGENCY, page 11
Connect-ED available for mass messaging