University of Virginia Library

Electoral Nuisance

I believe that the time has come
for this university to either learn
how to conduct a civilized election
campaign, or abolish them totally. I
presently live in the Emmet dorm
and for the past two weeks have
been bothered almost every night
by people campaigning for some
position. I feel this to be an
intrusion of privacy and must stop.

Most students do work at night
and find it a nuisance to be
constantly interrupted by someone
telling them how great they are
and that you should vote for them.
In the five minutes they spend on
each floor or in a room, nothing is
really learned about the person or
his ideas. All it does is disturb
everyone on the hall.

But this is probably the best
part of the campaign, for not only
are we bothered by these student
campaigners, but they leave their
mark all over the university with
pieces of paper proclaiming "VOTE
FOR ME". Every morning I wake
up to find papers stuffed under my
door or lying in the hall, and
"adorning" the bulletin board at
the entrance to the dorm. But the
most disgraceful part of these
papers are that they are plastered
all over Cabell Hall. Anyone who
has been there the past few days
has probably had trouble finding
walls, doors, and even floors
through the notices. The front of
Old Cabell Hall looks as if it was
made from paper and now there is a
banner across the lawn proclaiming
someone for vice-president. When
will all this stop?

And then, what will happen,
after the elections are over, to all
these papers? Who will clean up the
university? When will it finally get
cleaned up, next week, next month,
or will it ever recover?

The solution could be for the
candidate to set up booths at
Newcomb Hall and around the
campus, talking to people as they
walk by. But whatever the solution,
please stop polluting the beauty of
this campus and invading the
privacy of students.