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October 2015 news the stentorian | ncssm North Carolina state primary elections moved up to March 15 BY Claire Yin Staff Writer Governor Pat McCrory recently signed into law a bill that moved North Carolina’s state-level primaries to March 15 of next year, the same day as the state’s presidential primaries. The move, to a date seven weeks earlier than usual, was designed to increase the state’s influence in choosing the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees. North Carolina will now be a winner-take-all state, meaning that the top voted individual in the Republican primary will have all of the state’s delegates. However, the legislation will allow Democrats to distribute their delegations on a proportional basis. The bill was created in hopes to save counties money. Primaries for Governor and other Council of State seats were previously set for a separate date of May 3. Holding another primary would have cost counties an additional $9 million. Changing the law will also speed up the decision-making process for possible candidates for many elected posts. The candidate filing period for many races—Governor, Senate, Congress, the General 7 NC voters wait in line at a polling place. The state legislature recently passed a hill to align state and federal primary elections in mid-March. Assembly and its judges—will now begin on Dec. 1, which is 10 weeks earlier than the usual deadline. Democrats who are opposed to the new bill argue that the move will help incumbents, current political officers, by allowing potential primary opponents less time to make decisions to enter the race and to raise funds more quickly for campaigning. “If you’re an incumbent. that’s a major advantage,” said Sen. Jeff Jackson, D-Mecklenburg. But Republicans say that no one will be denied the chance to run for office. In a separate section of the same bill, legislative party caucuses, which are groups of Republicans and Democrats in the House and the Senate, are allowed to form their own political committees called “affiliate party committees.” McCrory, along with state Republican activists, had shown concerns regarding provisions related to campaign finance. These committees allow the House and the Senate majority and minority caucuses to raise money to support candidates without going through the state party infrastructure. “Caucus leadership will be able to spend this money however they see fit, unbound by the party rules traditional party leaders are constrained by” said an email sent by the North Carolina Republican Party to its members. “They will be able to insert themselves into primary contests. These committees will enjoy the right to use the names, abbreviations, and symbols of the state parties and generally exercise trademark rights.” The N.C. Republican Party called it a “surprise poison pill” since committees will have to compete with state parties and channel money to candidates who would normally receive it through the parties, which they believe will make the parties irrelevant. North Carolina hopes for an increased voter turnout due to the state’s primaries coinciding with the presidential primaries, which is a highly anticipated event. The first Democratic presidential debate took place on Oct. 13. Within weeks of the debate. Democrats Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee have dropped out of the race, leaving three Democratic candidates: former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vermont 'Senator Bemie Sanders, and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. Fab Lab dedicated to Haughton, accomplished NCSSM alumnus BY Cheryl Wang Editor-in-Chief On Thursday, Oct. 22, NCSSM hosted the dedication of the new Peter T. Haughton Fabrication and Innovation Laboratory. In front of the so-called “Fab Lab,” located across from Hill, Chancellor Roberts delivered a speech in honor of the lab’s namesake, Peter T. Haughton, followed by a tour and demonstration of the lab from NCSSM students. Carl Ryden, the driving force behind the lab’s creation also addressed the crowd. The Fab Lab was envisioned by Carl Ryden, an NCSSM alum of the class of 1989. He currently serves as the chair of the NCSSM Foundation. Focused on engineering as well as business management, Ryden holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management as well as a Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering from MIT. Now developing pricing management solutions and loan pricing systems, he is the Chief Executive Officer of Precision Lender based in Charlotte. Ryden named the Fab Lab after his friend Peter Haughton, class of ’89, who passed away in 2006. After graduating from NCSSM, both Ryden and Haughton attended MIT as MIT’s Leaders for Manufacturing, a program that combines engineering with business management. There, they saw MIT’s famous Fab Lab that inspired Ryden in the creation of the lab on campus. Haughton was an important member of the MIT Leaders for Manufacturing program (LFM). He brought members of the program together as a close-knit family despite the rigorous coursework of the university. As a result of his contribution to LFM, MIT established a fund in his name after his death geared to foster a sense of community. The money collected by the fund will be used to host annual inter-class activities. “Pete was incredibly gifted at mathematics, but he found his greatest pleasure in using his genius to create beautiful and useful things,” Ryden said. Inspired by Haughton, Ryden believes that more students should be involved in interdisciplinary studies with hands-on experience while building a sense of community and developing meaningful relationships. As a result, Ryden envisioned the Fab Lab as a place where students can explore interdisciplinary subjects with a variety of new technology. “The Fab Lab lets students get their hands on physical things and better understand the consequences of decisions that they make digitally,” says David Bryan, the Fab Lab manager. “It is a comprehensive lab, bringing capabilities from woodworking to metalworking, plastics, and electronics.” Besides its educational value, the Fab Lab also represents the successful partnership between private and public entities. This state funded the building of the lab while Ryden and other private donors equipped the lab. Besides Ryden, other donors include Ryden’s business partner Michael Epstein, Peter’s mother Kristina Haughton, Alan English ’99, and Jeremy Mario, Haughton’s classmate at Duke University. Students now work on projects for various classes involving computer and industrial design. NCSSM Foundation President Katie Wagstaff believes that “this is a phenomenal opportunity for students across our state- through our residential, online, and summer programs- to experience such sophisticated equipment.”
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