University of Virginia Library

First-Year Group
Passes Resolution
Urging Write-In

By Grafty Biddle

Seeking to achieve
representation on the Student
Council, the First-Year Committee
unanimously passed a resolution
Monday night to support its own
first-year candidate in next week's
Student Council elections.

The resolution reads as follows:

"Resolved, that the First-Year
Committee encourages and urges all
members of the first-year class to
write in the name of one member
of the class in the upcoming
Student Council elections in protest
of the discrimination against the
first-year class which is obvious in
the present electoral system.
Further, we recommend that the
name be that of Scott Saunders,
chairman of the First-Year
Committee."

Under the present University
electoral rules, there are two
possible ways that a change can be
enacted in order that a first-yearman
may run for Student
Council. The first method, an
amendment to the Student Council
constitution, is represented on the
ballot in the elections next week.

60 Per Cent

In order for this amendment to
pass, it must be approved by a
majority vote of at least 60 per cent
of the full-time student body. The
difficulty with this method in the
past has been in getting 60 per cent
of the full-time student body to
vote

The second method does not
require a constitutional
amendment. This method would be
to change the bylaws of the
Student Council to allow
first-yearmen to run, which would
require a two-thirds majority vote
of the Council members.

The first procedure, an
amendment, would assure the
first-year class that they would have
a representative on the Student
Council.

The second method, however,
would not guarantee a seat on the
Council for first-yearmen who run
for this position. It would,
however, make it possible for more
than one first-yearman to be
elected to Student Council, and
would offer the first-year class a
chance for greater influence on the
Council.

Gordon Calvert, chairman of the
political societies and elections
committee, said that his committee
would meet to discuss two basic
issues concerning this new petition
of the First-Year Committee.

Basic Question

The first basic question, said Mr.
Calvert, is whether or not a write-in
name would disqualify a whole
ballot. When asked by The Cavalier
Daily whether a write-in would
negate the entire ballot, Mr. Calvert
said he felt that it would not.

The second issue to be discussed
at the meeting is whether or not the
committee will count the write-ins.
Mr. Calvert felt that this did not
seem likely, for the simple reason
that in the future the committee
would become bogged down with
too many write-in votes.

In a letter circulated by the
First-Year Committee, the
committee expressed its feelings in
the following manner:

"On December 16 and 17, the
students of this University are going
to be faced with choosing between
a feasible solution to a pressing
problem or a course of apathetic
withdrawal.... The facts are before
you, the rest is up to you as a
responsible voting member of this
University. Vote for first-year
representation.... vote for
progress."