University of Virginia Library

Rod MacDonald

It's That Time Again

A meeting last week between
Whitt Clement, President of the
College, and Joel Gardner and Stu
Pape of the JP and VPP produced
the date (March 17) for the biggest
election of the year President of
the College.

With the date announced, the
campaign that has long been on the
minds of the potential candidates is
now in the open. Although still a
month away, the position of Honor
Committee Chairman is important
enough to those individuals to be
an important issue now, making the
steps to the position worth examination.

In the past the selection
methods were simple: Skull and
Keys and the Sceptre Society
elected their respective presidents
in the fall, and the winner ran for
the post in the spring. In the caucus
meetings one candidate succeeded
in dumping the other president,
leaving himself with a divided
opposition and assured victory. That
road worked well for Pete Gray,
Larry Altaffer, and Whitt Clement;
but those societies are dead, making
the new methods important.

No Clear Leaders

Both the remaining parties, the
Jefferson Party and the Virginia
Progressive Party, have fourth-year
presidents, so no clear-cut party
leader has emerged. The battle is
still wide open, with the contenders
unannounced; there are several
changes possible in the lineup of
candidates.

Most third-yearmen make their
move in the second semester, and
there are now only four high ranking
third-yearmen: Kevin
Mannix and Tony Sherman of the
Student Council, and Doug Bain
and Steve Brickman of the IFC
governing board. The other potential
candidates are members of the
University Union or Senior Counselors,
and have faced no important
electoral tests. Mr. Sherman is
unlikely to leave the Council, as is
Mr. Mannix; Mr. Bain is apparently
holding out for the IFC presidency.
Mr. Brickman is still a mystery
man, who might possibly run for
the College Presidency and would
be a tough candidate to beat if he
should.

At least two others are thinking
seriously of running Mike Murphy
of Phi Kappa Psi and either Dave
Morris or Dave Bowman of Zeta
Psi. The former has been an IFC
committee chairman, worked for
the Union, and could have run for
Governing Board last spring but
declined; the latter two are both
Senior Counselors following the
similar route of previous Zete
contenders Pete Gray, Bick
Cardwell and Pete Schmidt.

Party Alignment

The interesting question is the
party alignment. Mr. Bowman or
Mr. Morris would almost certainly
run through the JP, while Mr.
Murphy is reportedly thinking of
trying for the VPP's nod. The VPP
problem is that the party is far to
Mr. Murphy's left, and may turn to
a more liberal candidate such as Mr.
Brickman, an AEPI but generally
acceptable to the VPP membership.

The election has always run
counter to Council contests in that
students choose a traditional, less
flamboyant man for College
President than they would want on
the Council. The reason, as Charles
Murdock found last year, is that the
job is not political but
administrative, and many students
who otherwise vote liberal want an
Honor Chairman who puts the best
non-political image forward in representing
the Honor System. This
factor works heavily to the JP's
advantage, for the tweedy candidates
generally run more conservative
than the non-tweeds who
comprise the VPP. The latter party
may have to forego its radical wing
for this election, while the JP can
for once nominate an out-and-out
conservative and have a fair chance
of victory.

The upcoming election will also
produce the most unlikely political
event of the year, the JP's convention.
Some night this month the
party will meet and hold elections
for all four party officers and three
nominees for the College offices.
No one can hold two positions
simultaneously, meaning the party
will have to come up with seven
competent persons to fill the posts.
Still, the convention..should be
exciting and should at least produce
a party president who will support
the JP nominee for College
President, avoiding the situation of
some past elections when the party
president gave little help to his
nominee.

Party Membership

One further note: anyone who
wants a voice in these elections
should recognize that the real
selecting is done in the party
meetings. Once the general election
has begun there are only two
candidates for three, if an independent
chooses to be a martyr)
from which to pick the Honor
Chairman. Moreover, the parties
need funds to help their candidates
go out and get their programs to
the students, programs on which
the students can make a reasonable
judgment. The remedy for this
problem is membership. It is hoped
that many students will join a party
and pay their dues, both to help
select a candidate who will represent
their wishes and to help
finance his campaign. An ignorant
and apathetic electorate deserves
what it gets.