University of Virginia Library

Council Investigation

Council Seeks New Senior Class Constitution

(EDITOR'S NOTE: The Cavalier Daily is running
a study of the alleged mismanagement of
the election and operation of last year's
fourth-year class. The first two articles will
review last year's events and the second two
will deal with the attempts of the Student
Council to investigate the management of the
class and propose a constitution for this year's
graduating class.)

First of a series

By Sharon Mayes

Due to the confusion which occurred
last year in elections and the general
management of the senior class's
activities, Student Council is now trying
to create some semblance of a
satisfactory class constitution. Last
September, certain charges were made
concerning the election of the senior class
officers. Those charges foreshadowed
many questions of trust that confronted
the officers which still have not been
answered.

In response to the charges made last
September, upon the request of Jon
Miller and Tim Smith, two defeated
candidates, the Political Societies and
Elections Committee investigated the
Senior Class elections for 1969. The
charges that were brought and the
response that they received concerning
the mechanics of the election seem to
represent two different opinions as
regards the role of the senior class
officers.

On one side there was Mr. Miller
pursuing the investigation because he felt
that the office of class president should be
elevated to where the president is "leader of
student opinion."

On the other side, there was Peter Schmidt,
who won the election for President who felt

that the president does not hold a political
post, but rather is there to deal with the
Alumni and help organize the graduation
activities.

According to the report made by the
co-chairmen for the Political Societies and
Elections Committee on the elections
investigation, Mr. Miller made three specific
charges.

For one, Mr. Miller claimed that "a large
number, perhaps 25 per cent, of the
Presidential ballots were defective in that the
names Jon Miller and Jack Rhoades were joined
to form the name Jon Rhoades. In addition, the
name of Edgar Parrish, candidate for treasurer,
was omitted from a large number of ballots."

after investigation the Committee found
that only six defective presidential ballots were
cast with one containing a Jon Miller write-in.
This was not enough to affect the outcome of
the election. It was also found that other
defective presidential ballots were picked up
before they were used and that good ballots
were always available at all polling places.

However, in addition the Committee found
that on 95 of the Treasurer ballots Edgar
Parrish's name was omitted. Since the winner of
the election received only 67 votes, the
outcome of that election was probably
affected.

Therefore the Committee decided that the
election for Treasurer should be reheld.

Mr. Miller's second charge was that there
were no ballots in the Commerce school the
morning of the first day of the election or in
the Education school by at least 1 p.m. on the
second day. His third charge was that the ballot
boxes were left out all night and that there
were no regular poll watchers.

In the committee's findings the facts remain
uncertain regarding the location of the ballot
boxes. Bob Green, President of the Senior Class
of 1969, who ran the elections, told the
committee that ballot boxes were put out at 10
a.m. the first day and at 9 a.m. the second day.

In addition to the formal charges that Mr.
Miller made to the committee there were
several other accusations in the air at this time.
Although these were not official charges they
do indicate what questions were going through
the minds of many members of the fourth-year
class.

It was reported in The Cavalier Daily that
the election was not even announced by Mr.
Green until after The Cavalier Daily had
finished publishing for the year, giving
relatively short notice for a fairly important
election.

It was also stated that Mr. Green was
seemingly the only person to count the votes
and furthermore that he had discarded the
ballots, since the results were never published.

However, Mr. Green acknowledged and
answered these charges in a long letter to The
Cavalier Daily. In it he claimed the charges were
false, stating that all of the acting class officers
were present when the votes were counted. Mr.
Green also said that he gave the ballots and
tallies he had kept to the investigation
committee.

The committee's report pinpoints the main
issue in one of its concluding statements: "All
future senior class elections should be carefully
supervised by the Student Council. Apparently,
jurisdiction originally rested with Council, but
drifted over to the class officers. The election in
question was definitely mismanaged and poorly
organized."

The point is that there should be a
constitution which specifically states the
procedures so that these procedures can be
followed. It is essential that a clear set of rules
be made so that, in the future, the personal
integrity of the class officers will not have to be
questioned and so that the class can function as
a unit.