University of Virginia Library

Election Seen As Mandate For
Continued Council Liberality

By Rod MacDonald
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Bud Ogle said Wednesday as the votes
came in, "I'd love to be there when the
Board of Visitors' members open their
newspapers and see these results." That
Mr. Ogle would be pleased and the Board
unhappy with the liberal victory should
be obvious after the Board said his
Council Presidency was far to the student
body's left and hence "unrepresentative."

But in a very important election that
may even be a student watershed, the
students proved once again that at this
time they favor the Council's liberal and
aggressive leadership over the more
restrained version of student government
advocated by Council opponents. In
nearly every election defined on those
terms, the present Council received
endorsement.

In the College, the Virginia Progressive
Party swept all four seats at stake, with
the low man (Ken Lewis) beating the
Jefferson Party's top man (Henry Bowden)
825 to 781. And in the graduate
school Judy Wellman, who as editor of
the Virginia Weekly represents the radical
press, trounced Pedro Saavedia, who had
campaigned for severing funds for student
publications, and Tom Biggar, a liberal
student.

Drag Effect

The College voting statistics were
interesting, showing a drag effect on both
major parties. In the VPP, it is obvious
that the presence of Kevin Mannix on the
ticket greatly helped the party's cause.
Probably no single College student has
worked harder at the often-burdensome
task of handling Council details, and his
grasp of the subjects was obvious in his
campaign.

On the other hand, the Jefferson Party
was probably hurt by having Bill Hurd on
its ticket. Mr. Hurd, a first-year man, had
been hoped to lure many first-year votes
to the party because first-year men
customarily vote more frequently than
upperclassmen; but his right-wing politics,
which he had hoped to hide by not
campaigning in the first-year dorms,
became evident anyway. The result was a
negative effect one dorm counselor
reported his hall was not voting for the JP
because "Hurd is one of those guys."

Not Overwhelming

But the JP's loss was not an
overwhelming one, and for that reason
the present Council, despite its popular
mandate, must watch its step. Both Mr.
Bowden and Quinn Spitzer ran closer to
the VPP candidates than had the
conservative candidates in the spring
1969 elections, and as the JP strengthens
its organization (which is fairly good
now) it should pick up support.

New parties customarily do well in
their first elections, such as the old
University Party, which started by winning
but closed with a whimper after two
years; and the VPP itself, which took five
of the first six places last spring.

The JP did not fare so well, however;
and as the spring elections usually
produce more radical result than do the
fall one, it could be assumed that the JP
will have an even tougher fight in the
spring.

On the other hand, many of the
better-known fraternity men stayed out
of the entire race this semester, and the
JP hopes to field a more renowned ticket
against what it hopes will be a weaker
VPP slate. After all, it will be difficult for
the VPP to come up with two incumbents
such as Mr. Mannix and Tony Sherman,
and a well-known (active in Transition
Fund and Experimental University) candidate
such as Buzz Waitzkin.

Council Mandate

So the Council's present mandate,
though sweeping, has some underpinnings.
Students may, for example,
soon the enough of its motions on grape
pickers, General Electric strikes, and
letters to Spiro Agnew that the "extraneous
motions" will become the real issue
the conservatives have been trying for a
year to make of it.

But for now it appears Bud Ogle has a
good bargaining position when he meets
with the Board in February, for it has
been proven that he is "representative."
The students have shown they want the
type of leaders the Council has offered,
and in so doing they have closed the
hypothesized "gap" between the Council
and its constituents.

Bruce Wine, founder of the VPP, said
more than a year ago that he hoped the
student political system would soon
re-orient itself along liberal-conservative
lines rather than fraternity-independent
lines. In a year that prediction has been
borne out, and for the first time the
students have given an incumbent Council
a clear charge for "more of the same."