The Student Government Association presidential candidates’ campaign platforms differ slightly, but all three emphasize the importance of being the student body’s voice.

Students can vote for SGA president beginning at 6 p.m. on Monday, March 3. “Hope leads to education, education leads to dignity, dignity leads to hope and hope leads to peace,” said Mariane Pearl in the closing minutes of her speech last Sunday evening in Clowes Memorial Hall.

The topic of her speech as part of the Celebration of Diversity Distinguished Lecture Series was the book Pearl wrote - “A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband, Daniel Pearl.” Fiction writer Antonya Nelson read from her most recent work, a short story called “Or Else,” during a visit to Butler’s campus on Feb. 26 as part of the Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series.

Nelson is the author of eight fiction works and the winner of several literary awards including the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction and the Heartland Award. Report on the Feb. 27 SGA assembly --

Music artist Common will be Program Board’s concert guest this semester. It was announced at last Wednesday’s SGA assembly meeting that he will perform at Clowes Hall on April 3. Time of the concert and a date for ticket sales have yet to be announced. Dr. Jamie Comstock has been named Butler University’s new provost and vice president of academic affairs, and she will start her position beginning July 1. Donald Platt revealed bits of his life through a handful of emotional autobiographical poems in the Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall Thursday night as part of the Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series. Would you say that diversity is part of our university’s core curriculum? Twelve Butler professors will be addressing this issue and more when they present a panel at the sixth annual meeting of the Cultural Studies Association (CSA). Are you a Bulldog? If so, get ready to show off some of that Butler pride during the week before spring break (March 4-7) for the first official “Spirit Week.” The concert committee of Student Government Association's Program Board announced earlier this week that Common will be performing on campus for the spring concert. The media arts department has teamed up with Dawgnet to provide video segments about news around the Butler campus. Butler News, formerly Butler TV, is produced by Butler University media arts students.

Come back to Dawgnet each and every Friday this semester for more media arts video segments. Student Government Association President Laura Michel sat down with Dawgnet to discuss what's happening with SGA this semester and how the new H.U.B. (Helping Unite Butler) will help SGA interact more with Butler students. The HUB is located in the former barber shop next to C-Club in Atherton Union.