At yesterday's senate meeting, held at the ILC, student lobbyist Alistair Chapman spoke to senators about the upcoming voter registration competition.

The competition will begin on Monday. Various groups on campus will compete for five weeks to see who can get the largest number of people to register to vote.

The greeks, residence halls, and clubs will participate in the competition with a winner from each group receiving a specific reward.

The different groups can get any outside member to register to vote.

Senator Sara Birnbaum asked Chapman if ASUA can also have its own competition to challenge each ASUA officer to get as many people to register as possible.

Chapman said that it could be done but that everyone in ASUA should already be registered.

"I will make it my personal responsibility to make sure everyone in ASUA is registered," Chapman said.

The UA is already competing with NAU and ASU for votes. The losing university must have its student body government officials wear an "I love (winning university's name)" on the first day of second semester.

School pride is at stake, Chapman said.

In previous years, UA has been the winner, and Chapman said he hopes the winning streak continues.

"It's my responsibility to make sure you guys don't have to wear those shirts," Chapman said to the 10 ASUA senators.

The competition between the three universities will end Dec. 5.

Chris Johnson, director of the digital media resource center, spoke to the senators about what the ILC hopes to achieve in the future.

One project, which should be finished by December, is a learning object depository, where students and faculty can put all of the work in one spot so anyone can access it.

Johnson said ILC staff is also looking to establish a video capture system in four of the main lecture halls at the ILC.

The system will tape classes and then stream them on the web, so students who need to know what happened in class can access the video by typing in a keyword in the database.

Johnson said that the ILC also wants to develop panels, similar to the one in the UA Bookstore, which will have information posted for students to see in various places on campus.

"We'll always be doing something and finding new ways to do them," Johnson said. "The ILC was built to build a sense of community for new students, it is dedicated to the first year experience."

Senator Birnbaum said she is concerned about the ILC's policy on access to porn.

Johnson said in response that porn is a freedom of speech issue, and that the ILC does want to preserve that right.

"I personally find it objectable, but I also like that part of the constitution and will defend it," Johnson said. "Students come here for information and this is available."

He said that overall the ILC doesn't have a problem with students accessing porn.

A representative from the "Freshman Diaries," Lena Levovich, spoke to senators about the documentary that will take place at the UA next semester.

Senators said they are concerned about how the UA and its

students will be portrayed in the documentary.

Levovich said that students shouldn't worry about the UA being portrayed badly and hopes that the crew's reputation will speak for itself.

"We couldn't do what we do if we don't have respect from the people we are working with," Levovich said.

Senator Nick Bajema asked how the crew will deal with underage drinking.

"We would never do anything to put people in legal jeopardy," Levovich said. "We are not interested in that nor do we encourage it, we only show underage drinking if it relates to the student's story."

She also emphasized that the crew would never stop anyone from drinking but also would never let students endanger themselves.

ASUA senate approved the Appropriations Board consent agenda for $2,379.15. Gamma Beta Phi and the Student Chapter of National Art Education Association were not given funding.

Gamma Beta Phi did not receive funds because it requested money for an event that had already passed. The board does not consider requests for events that have already taken place.

The organization had originally put the request in last week, but the request had to be tabled after a representative for the group failed to show up to the meeting.

The board was unable to fund Student Chapter of National Art Education Association because its membership was over 50 percent graduate students.

Due to a low number of entries, the Graduate and Professional Student Council has extended the application deadline for the upcoming Student Showcase from Friday, Oct. 24 to Monday, Nov. 3.

While there have been as many as 150 entrants in recent years, just three days before deadline, there are only 28 entrants. There are 22 awards up for grabs.

Winners of the showcase are invited to present their exhibits at the Phoenix Student Showcase, where they have an opportunity to interact with Arizona Congressional members. There is also approximately $10,000 in cash prizes.

The Student Showcase, an annual student-organized and -run research fair, takes place Homecoming weekend, Nov. 7 and Nov. 8, in front of the Student Union Memorial Center.

The Showcase is an opportunity for all undergraduate and graduate students to present their research or research proposal. For more information, call 626-7526. Applications are available at the GPSC Web site:

www.gpsc.arizona.edu/events/showcase/showcase_00.html