Campus briefs
Brachvogel, Quinn-Shea win runoff election, will lead AS
The student body president and vice president were chosen in a runoff election last week.
Sean Brachvogel will take over as president of Associated Students next year. Katherine Quinn-Shea will be the vice president.
They ran on a platform that included medical amnesty, an hourly car rental service for students, expanding the Be Heard program and improving campus sustainability.
Brachvogel and Quinn-Shea received 492 votes, or 53.77 percent of the vote, according to an e-mail from Umang Desai, current AS vice president.
Andrea Carrera and Katherine Nicholson received 423 votes, or 46.23 percent, Desai said in the e-mail.
Less than 20 percent of the undergraduate student body voted in the runoff, as only 915 votes were cast.
Brachvogel and Carrera had received the most votes in the original election on Tuesday, April 21. The third ticket, Nicholas Duston and Richelle Neal, was not included in the runoff because they had received the least amount of votes in the original election.
Since neither Brachvogel nor Carrera won more than 50 percent of the vote, or received 20 percent more votes than anyone else, a runoff was held Thursday.
Applications for hired positions, as opposed to elected positions, are available now. Positions available include: junior senator, senior senator and other advisory board members.
Senior Ball tickets still on sale
Despite an e-mail and a forum designed to educate seniors about the cost of the event, Senior Ball ticket sales are still lower than anticipated.
Amanda Collins, senior class chair, said on Wednesday that about 350 tickets had been sold. She had previously told The Santa Clara that she hoped to sell around 600 tickets.
Ticket sales for the May 15 event will continue through Friday at 5 p.m., and can be purchased in Benson room 1.
Collins said the forum on Monday night went well, yet, they had hoped for a bigger turnout.
"We felt there were a lot of questions and misunderstandings about what was going on with the Ball," Collins wrote in an e-mail. "So we wanted to give everyone with those a chance to come talk to us."
Changes to the Senior Ball format from years past came about after the university had to pay for damages caused by previous senior classes.
Collins and other Senior Ball committee members were required to find a format that the administration approved. The format they decided on included busing students to and from the Ball, which will be on a boat this year.
Students raised concerns about the format and the increased price for the Ball, which costs about $50 more than in past years.
Swine Flu epidemic 'dynamic and evolving'
Those with flu-like symptoms shouldn't go to class or work, according to an e-mail from Cowell Health Center staff.
The swine flu, which is a strand of flu that originates in pigs and can be spread to humans through close contact, has caused schools to close and travel advisories to countries and areas where outbreaks have occurred.
"The swine flu epidemic is a dynamic and evolving situation; there are still many unknowns about this new strain of infection," wrote staff physician Lauren Salaices in an e-mail to the campus community.
The e-mail encouraged students to wash their hands and employ other practices to prevent the spread of germs.
"Symptoms of the swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue," she wrote. "Some people with swine flu have also reported runny nose, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea."
According to the Web site for the Centers for Disease Control, 10 cases had been confirmed in California by 8 a.m. on Tuesday. Fifty-four cases have been confirmed in other states.
From staff reports. E-mail news@thesantaclara.com.