| Show Were the Elections Really A Rip off f by Janilyn 11 Snarr On Monday April 28 a aletter aletter letter was distributed around the thc Campus This letter writ written ten by Dennis Huston a Senator Senator-at Senator Large was entitled entitled tIed Elections Rip Off In this letter many accusations accusations accusations ac ac- were made against the student body officers and other persons involved in the elections that were held at on April Many students read the letter and have been con con- However few have been concerned enough to go and talk to the student body officers themselves to find out the other side of the story So on May 1 lat at 11 1145 45 am a.m. I sat down with members members members mem mem- bers of the Executive Council and went over Mr Hustons Huston's letter point by point In this article I will bring to light both sides of the story in an effort to better inform the students ts In I n Huston's Hustons H list on s 's letter he lie claimed the following Glenda Garcia as head and in fact only active member member mem mem- ber of the elections committee commit commit- tee requested that the Executive Executive Executive tive Council lower the standards to run for student student student stu stu- dent body office Upon the Councils Council's decision to lower the standards Glenda resigned from the elections committee and submitted her application to run for office April 1980 as she now q qualified u under the new lowered standards The Executive Council agrees this is what happened However they feel that Huston Huston Huston Hus Hus- ton should have made reference reference reference refer refer- ence first to the fact that in order to have any changes made in the elections policy the changes must first be approved approved approved ap ap- proved by the Executive Council Secondly by lowering lowering lowering lower lower- ing the standards it enabled more people to run Because without the lower standards only three of the nine persons who ran for a student body office would have been eligi eligi- ble So Glendas Glenda's request was not for self self centered and selfish selfish selfish sel sel- fish reasons as Hustons Huston's letter implies Huston also claims The standards to run for student body office depend on where you get your information Hours Laws By-Laws 25 13 Points West 22 12 Elections Policy 22 13 Executive Council 22 10 The Executive Council agrees that this statement is also true many changes were made which created a lot of sion Hustons Huston's third point Upon Glendas Glenda's resignation resignation resignation tion from the election committee committee committee com com- Roxann Ferguson President seized power and became the self- self appointed elections com com- According to the Laws By-Laws this is a position to be filled by the student Senators only Jerry Jensen Executive Vice President did not at attempt attempt attempt at- at tempt to fill this position from within the Senate as his position dictates he lie should In rebuttal the Executive Council pointed out that it is the Councils Council's responsibility to oversee the elections and when Glenda resigned there was less than a week before the campaigning was to begin Someone had to take control of the elections in order to get the new officers elected by the end of April because the Laws By-Laws state that the elections will be held in April The Council decided that since the Senate had shown very little interest in what had already been done they would handle this res res- They therefore appointed Roxann as chairperson chairperson chairperson chair chair- person of the elections committee Hustons Huston's fourth point Upon becoming aware of the above situation I along with three others approached approached approached ap ap- Jerry Jensen and the Executive Council and requested to serve on the election committee At that time Jerry Jensen appointed the four of us to serve on the elections committee I was appointed to co-chair co the committee with Roxann Fer Fer- guson Roxann stated that the lowered standards would not be changed This was on Friday April 11 1980 Les Ashton Vice President of Finances said that Huston and the three other Senators approached him at a Senate meeting held April 10 1980 at which he was filling in for Jerry Jensen because Jerry was unable to attend They did not approach Jerry until the following day at a meeting meeting meeting meet meet- ing which Les had set up for them The Council agreed that at that meeting Jerry Jensen appointed the tour mentioned above to serve on the elections committee Huston Huston Huston Hus Hus- ton was also appointed as co-chairperson co of the elections elections elections elec elec- committee with Roxann Ferguson However the Council stated that the lowered lowered lowered low low- ered standards would not be changed This statement was made after Huston accused the Executive Council of being inconsistent Roxann stated that the Council had made a decision and would stick by it because if they kept changing the Council would be inconsistent as Huston Huston Huston Hus Hus- ton had accused This did occur on Friday April 11 1980 Hustons Huston's fifth point On Friday April 15 1980 I was informed of Roxann's Roxann's Roxann's Rox Rox- anns ann's candidacy as well as Jerry Jensens Jensen's Carol Whites White's Brad Caspers Casper's and J Janilyn Snarr's all of whom are members members members mem mem- bers of the present Executive Council I was then placed in co-chairmanship co with George Gibbons Vice President of Public Relations The Executive Council agrees that this statement is correct Hustons Huston's sixth point I then became aware that on Monday April 14 1980 Roxann Ferguson had submitted submitted submitted sub sub- her application to run for student body office which she accepted and approved herself continued on page 4 Elections continued from front page 2 When questioned about this Roxann replied I I submitted my application to Carol White It also was approved by Judd Morgan a counselor not by myself If look on the application you will see that this is correct Hustons Huston's seventh point Also on April 15 George Gibbons held an elections meeting with only two members members members mem mem- bers of the committee present and gave Janilyn Snarr special permission to run even though she did not meet the already lowered standards Brad Casper Vice President President President dent of Social Activities and a member of the Executive Council stated At that meeting George Gibbons Kyle Bywater Cal Corbridge and J John olm of the elections committee were present Also Janilyn Snarr and myself were there The proposal was made that Janilyn Janilyn Janilyn Jani Jani- lyn be allowed to run for office because in years past the candidates have been given the Summer Quarter after they have been elected to make up any of the qualifications qualifications qualifications which they might have been lacking This proposal proposal proposal pro pro- passed by bye byea 3 a 4 4 0 vote The Executive Council also noted that of the five people on the elections committee commit tee I Huston luston was the only committee committee committee com com- member not present even though he lie had been in informed informed informed in- in formed about the meeting Hustons Huston's eighth point The elections committee met on April 17 with all five members from the Senate present George declined to attend because he lie was playing pool The committee members members members mem mem- bers upon reviewing the situation situation situation situ situ- decided that there had been too much favoritism confusion and corruption in inthe inthe inthe the proceedings of the election election election elec elec- tion to this point They therefore therefore therefore there there- fore voted to delay the election election election elec elec- tion for two weeks in an effort to give all students a fair understanding of the rules They also voted to re return return return re- re turn the qualification standards standards standards stan stan- dards to run for office to those stated in the By The committee felt this would eliminate any favoritism to any individual or group T The he Executive Council once again agrees that the statements are true however Dennis Huston does not give a full account of what hap hap- For example he he- makes no mention of the fact that the committee meeting was originally scheduled as a Senate meeting However because because be- be cause there was not a quorum of Senators at this meeting so no official business could therefore be conducted the meeting was dismissed The elections committee then decided decided decided de de- that they would meet in the Senates Senate's place Because of his prior commitment George told the committee he lie would be unable to attend at atthe atthe atthe the earlier time Hustons Huston's tenth point On April 18 1980 I discussed discussed discussed dis dis- cussed all of the above with Curtis Smout College Center Director and advisor to the student body officers He said that the committee was probably probably probably ably correct but it was too toolate toolate toolate late for any action When questioned about the above Curtis Smout said that he lie didn't get a chance to discuss anything with Huston Huston came in and told Smout what had been de de- He also told Huston that the decisions might be correct but that they had wasted too much time and it was too late to rectify matters Hustons Huston's eleventh point Later that day the elections elections elections elec elec- committee and their advisor advisor advisor ad ad- visor met with the members of the Executive Council to tell them of the decisions they had made After a heated heated heated heat heat- ed discussion a compromise was reached It was decided that the elections would be postponed two weeks the GP A would be set at 22 and the number of hours for the proceeding quarter would be 13 hours Roxann stated that she could see no reason why the Executive Council would not accept this compromise in their next meeting The Executive Council did not meet with the elections committee J Jerry erry Jensen and Roxann Ferguson were the only members of the Executive Executive Executive tive Council that were there for the entire meeting George Gibbons was there for part of the meeting but had to leave because of another appointment There were not more Executive Council members present due to the short notice given regarding the meeting Also Dennis didn't really tell all of the facts about the compromise He didn't bother to mention the fact that the compromise they offered was either postpone postpone postpone post post- pone the elections for two weeks put the GP A at 2 22 2 and have the credit hours remain at 13 or postpone the elections for two weeks put the credit hours at 10 10 and have the GP A remain at 25 Roxann stated I can see no reason why the Executive Council will not be willing to accept these changes in their next meeting Roxann was referring to the amended Laws By-Laws rather than to the compromise itself Hustons Huston's point During the week of April 25 21 the Executive Council met and decided to disregard the elections committee and run the elections the way they saw fit Again t the he Executive Council agreed with the fact that they did meet on April 21 At this meeting they discussed discussed discussed dis dis- cussed the compromise and decided to stand firmly on the decision they had already made They felt it was too close to the election day to so drastically modify the election election election elec elec- tion rules It is unfortunate that confusions confusions confusions con con- fusions such as these exist in student body groups To avoid such problems in the future a few suggestions can be made The first suggestion would be that the SL Student Student Student Stu Stu- dent Senate needs some very dedicated people who are willing to spend the time and energy it will take to change the SL Constitution continued on Oll page 9 Elections continued from page 4 and Laws By-Laws so that they will work together rather than contradict each other The second suggestion would be that there exist better communication between between between bet bet- the student leaders and the student body and also between the different groups of student leaders This could be accomplished by using student student student stu stu- dent publications more es establishing establishing establishing es- es individual contact and open forums where the questions that arise can be voiced and answered by the responsible parties The third suggestion would be that you the students of SL get in in- Help to conquer the Student Apathy that is overwhelming overwhelming overwhelming over over- whelming our campus In the recent elections only 11 percent percent percent per per- cent of the entire student body cast their vote This includes day night and downtown downtown downtown down down- town campus students That means that 89 percent of our student body is The comment was also made that Its not the 11 percent that complain and moan every time something goes wrong Its It's the 89 percent percent percent per per- cent that didn't care enough to put in their two-cents two in inthe inthe inthe the first place so they're doing it now Once again I repeat The best way of seeing that tl things like this dont don't happen again is b by y combating Student Apathy and letting others know we really do care about the future of |
