University of Virginia Library

Tragi-Comic Elections

Student elections have often displayed the
comic touch in the past, but few have
exceeded the one that took place in the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences yesterday.
Unfortunately, the division between
comedy and tragedy blurs when the possible
consequences are as serious as we think they
may be.

Sure, everyone got a laugh out of what
happened in Rouss Hall where the graduate
economics students vote, if they vote at all.
Someone posted a sign reading "Vote Wenzl -
Stop SDS" over the ballot box. Thurman
Wenzl, president of SSOC, may well have had
his disagreements with SDS, but only when he
found them too conservative. Nonetheless, 11
out of the 12 ballots cast by the economics
students were for Mr. Wenzl. Adam Smith
would disown them.

Not as funny, however, was the fact that
only one candidate ran for President of the
Graduate School and the seat on the Honor
Committee that goes with it. In fact, only one
position on the entire ballot, which presented
the candidates for both school officers and
Student Council, was contested. No doubt the
candidates who were elected are capable and
will do well in their positions. No doubt many
of the graduate students could care less. Only
200 of them voted. The total enrollment is
over 950.

Graduate Arts & Sciences is not alone,
however. The student body is replete with
"rotten Boroughs" where anyone with a few
friends and the initiative to make up some
posters can get himself elected. The result is
that student government is open to legitimate
criticism for being unrepresentative. It can
never become effective until can confidently
assert that it truly represents its
constituency. The people will get the kind of
government they deserve.

Even more disturbing are the reports we
have been hearing of certain irregularities in
the electoral processes. Tales of ballot stuffing
and illegal electioneering around the polls are
circulating widely. Their existence alone is
enough to shake the confidence of the student
body in the electoral process, and the current
council can ill afford to let them go
unanswered.