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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 1977)
e Battalion u> up for A&v onner (.300),) 6), centerfielj . first base: 331), design, t (.309), left, e (-SOQ), tli Whiddon (.U n McMathji Turner (.3sij expected.fon lileaeherswiil students wi" harge with u, will be admit for 50 cents Vol. 70 No. 104 10 Pages tudent elections draw some complaints Corps suspected of bloc vote as Cadets win one-third of open positions in SG elections Tuesday, April 12, 1977 College Station, Texas News Dept. 845-2611 Business Dept. 845-2611 Battalion photo by Kirn Tyson Craig Gontarek, a sophomore electrical engineering major, examines a copy of The Quadrangle which lists cadets running in the student elec tions. Elections were held last week. ,000 vote last week By KIM TYSON Battalion Staff One-third of the 80 positions open in last week’s Texas A&M Student Govern ment elections were won by members of the Corps of Cadets, an occurrence some believe to be the result of a bloc vote. Owen Massey, a civilian junior who ran and lost in his bid for vice president of finance, said he believes the Corps voted as a bloc with the aid of its newspaper, The Quadrangle. The Quadrangle listed the names of Corps candidates and their prospective positions and was put under Corps room doors last Tuesday. Massey said he’s had 1,700 copies of The Quadrangle, along with an attached note, printed at his own expense. He plans to distribute them around north campus living areas before the Thursday runoff elections. Massey said he hopes to inform students in the northern area of campus about the Corps bloc vote and to encourage them to turn out for the runoff elections. The 26 positions won by Corps students, up from 14 members this year, com prise about 30 per cent of next year’s student senate. Eight Corps members are also involved in runoff elections, seven of them for class officers. Only seven per cent of the student body are members of the Corps. Three executive positions were won by Corps students: vice president of ex ternal affairs by Phil Sutton, vice president of finance by Mike Springer and vice president of academic affairs by Mike Humphrey. The executive committee consists of the student body president and five vice presidents. The executive committee had no corps members this year. Robert Harvey, Corps commander and runoff candidate for student body pres ident, said having 71 Corps members run for office probably helped a large percentage of Corps students win. The decision to issue a list of names and positions was made by the Corps staff and not one individual, Harvey said. He said he knows of no other time that the Corps put out a publication of this kind. He said that after some discussion the staff decided they had the legal and ethical right to publish and distribute the list. “We believed that the Corps wanted a list of the CTs running. We think if they wanted it and if we could do it legally, we ought to print such a list,” he said. Geri Campbell, student government election commissioner, said there was nothing illegal about issuing the list in the newspaper. “It’s legal because candidates can hand out their flyers,” Campbell said. “The Quadrangle is a newspaper, and a newspaper has the right to print what it wants and distribute it. “I don’t know if it’s that fair, but it’s the same as anybody’s campaign flyers.” She said there was no way to determine if there was a bloc vote because all the ballots were mixed together when they were counted. She estimated that about 7,000 students cast their ballots in the election. John Oeffinger, former president of the Memorial Student Center, helped Record turnout in SG elections Kerley. Starts: By DAVE TEWES Battalion Staff (Approximately 7,000 students voted in [ident Government elections last week, largest number of students ever to rote in a Texas A&M election. “That’s a hell of a lot of people when you compare this election to a national election or a student body election on another campus,” 1976-77 Student Body President Fred McClure said yesterday. “Out of about 45,000 students at the University of Texas, only about 3,000 turned out.” /DTP mot) iy atmosphtf' FRIDAY v M 3le or-2 Student runoff election to be held Thursday Robert Harvey and Stan Stanfield will be the candidates for Texas A&M University Student Body President for 1977-78 in Thursday’s run-off election. Neither of the two nor a third candidate, Scott Gregson, won a majority of the nearly 6,000 votes cast in last week’s election. Twenty-one per cent of the Texas A&M student body voted. Mike Humphrey defeated Scott Farthing for vice president of academic affairs. Phil Sutton de feated Joe Martinez and Philip Fleer for vice president of external affairs. Mike Springer won vice presi dent for finance against Owen Mas sey. A run-off election between Jim Connor and Allison King for vice president of rules and regulations will also be held Thursday. Jeb Hensarling and Vicki Young will also be involved in a run-off for vice president of student services. Senior yell leaders for 1977-78 are Joe Reagan, Tim McManus and Ric Bowen. Joe Wright and Jeff Han cock were elected junior yell lead ers. (See related stories. Page 4.) The Daily Texan, the student news paper of the University of Texas, esti mated 4,500 students voted in their stm dent government election six weeks ago. There were approximately 1,500 more votes cast in this election than last year’s. McClure said the increase in votes was due to several factors. “I think that this election was com plemented by the fact that we added three polling places at the (shuttle) bus stops,” he said. He added that good weather also helped the election. It is unlikely that any unusual campaign tactics or issues accounted for the in creased votes, McClure said. Volunteers ran eight polls on the main campus and one at the College of Veteri nary Medicine. Many of the volunteers came from such service groups as Omega Phi Alpha , Alpha Phi Omega and the Off-Campus Student Association, McClure said. Votes were tallied by 7 p.m. Friday, but results were not made public until about 10:30 p.m. McClure said that the delay was caused by a lack of people to count the ballots. “What happened is that some of the people went to class when they were sup posed to,” he said. “There were others of us that decided not to go to class so we could continue counting ballots.” Geri Campbell, Student Government election commissioner, said that at times, there were only five people counting bal lots Thursday night. “I called people I know and people in other organizations at three in the morn ing,” she said. “When you call them at three in the morning, I think they know you are serious.” A large number of write-in votes also caused a delay in counting the votes. Campbell estimated there were 800 write-in votes. . ‘Lights-out’ leaves north mall in dark Streetlights in the north mall area of the campus were out last night, leaving the area along Ross Street from Spence Street to the Fish Pond and around the Sterling C. Evans Library unlighted. No report that the lights were out reached the Physical Plant Department last night, the plant dispatcher said this morning. That department is responsible for maintenance of all facilities on campus, including lighting. The lights may have been turned out during electrical repairs or may have not been turned on last night, the dispatcher said. Workers from the plant’s electric shop will check the lights this morning, she said. No crimes were reported in the un lighted area, a University Police sergeant said this morning. Complaints filed on campaign technique ady By LADONNA YOUNG Six complaints were tiled against Scott I regson’s campaign for student body pres- ilent of Texas A&M University during I Wednesday’s student government elec- tons. | Three written complaints came from rocker residents and one oral and one itten complaint from Davis-Gary resi- Weather II Mostly cloudy and mild tonight and nrow, with a 20 per cent of rain tomorrow. High this in will be 81 with a low to- . High tomorrow wilt be Winds will be southeasterly during the afternoon hours today and tomorrow at 15-25 m.pCh- To night's winds wilt be about 5-8 dents. Both are men’s dorms on the north side of campus. The complaints accused Gregson of cluttering the dorm hallways with cam paign literature, a violation of election rules. The complaints and evidence were turned in to Election Commissioner Geri Campbell Wednesday morning. The evi dence included a picture of the literature in one of Crocker’s halls and 125 loose Gregson campaign flyers collected from the four floors of both Davis-Gary and Moses halls by Stan Stanfield, candidate for student body president, and one of his workers. Stanfield said Campbell told him the commission had two alternatives. First, Gregson would be restricted from all lit eral and verbal campaigning on the elec tion days, or secondly, he would be dis qualified from the elections. Stanfield said he felt the restrictions would be heavy enough and that Gregson didn’t need to be disqualified. Campbell called Gregson at 4 a.m. and told him he would have until 12:30 Wednesday after noon to stop his campaigning. The sixth complaint was filed by Stan field Wednesday afternoon. Stanfield said he was campaigning out side Legett Hall when Mark Whitt, freshman chemical engineering major, approached him wearing a Gregson cam paign button and carrying Gregson flyers. Stanfield warned Whitt about the restric tion and that his actions could result in Gregson’s disqualification. “I didn’t have any beef about the cam paign badge because supposedly that was their own private property,” Stanfield said. But he added that the stack of flyers was definitely against the rules. Stanfield said that as he and Whitt parted, Whitt made the passing comment, “Next time I see you, it’s not going to be your party. ” A complaint was filed with the election commission, and Wes Harris, chairman of the student government judicial board, called for a disqualification hearing. The hearing was cancelled later when Stanfield told Harris he wouldn’t testify at the hearing, because he had decided the incident was an isolated case of an un happy campaign worker. Gregson wasn’t notified of the cancella tion until 8:30 Wednesday night. “I was guilty until proven innocent,” Gregson said last night. It’s legal to put campaign literature under doors Gregson explained. He said he did this, but the flyers found in the halls were either kicked there or dropped there after people read them. He said he would have been a “fool” to do anything to jeopardize his campaign the night before the elections. He said he didn’t bring suit against the commission’s restriction because it would have been a bad reflection on him, and might have postponed the elections. Gregson said he would not actively campaign for either Stanfield or Robert Harvey, third candidate for student body president, in this week’s runoff elections. count the votes. He said that he could definitely see that the Corps voted straight-line tickets because he noticed the living areas on many of the ballots. Stan Stanfield, Harvey’s opponent for student body president, said he thought the campaign literature was unethical because no other large group on campus tried to organize its members to vote for candidates in their areas. “You’ll have dorm support anytime but the dorm itself doesn’t endorse it,” Stanfield said. “It’s not an organized effort on the part of a specific group of individuals, in this case the Corps staff. “Take Moore Hall Council. That council can’t come out and endorse somebody. That’s entirely unethical. But the Corps can do it.” Harvey said the Corps staff thought the plan was ethical since it informed a large group and encouraged people to vote. The Quadrangle stated, “This is not intended in any way as an endorsement, but to inform. “I’m sure that the fact the Corps voted en masse and were aware CTs were running had an effect, Harvey said. “Any large homogeneous group would have a large effect on election results.” Harvey said the vote was a mass vote and not a bloc vote. “A mass vote is when the Corps all votes. A bloc vote is when the Corps votes blindly for all Corps candidates,” Harvey said. He pointed out that Harry Warren was defeated in his try for vice president for student services and should have been elected if the Coips was voting in a bloc. Terri Pylant, a freshman accounting major, said she thought the publication unfair but similar to national elections. “I don’t think it’s fair, she said. “But you know they do the same thing in national elections. All you do is pull a lever and you vote a straight party like the Corps is turning into a political party. Some Corps members said they had their activity cards checked to see if they had voted. Stanfield said he felt this was pressuring them to vote. The number of Corps members in next year's senate could have some effect on some of its legislation, Stanfield said. Of the two positions which initiate much of the legislation, Student Body president and Speaker of the Senate, the Speaker posi tion could be elected by the large number of corps students giving them a chance of having another Corps member in a power position. Harvey said 14 Corps members this last year in student government did not tend to vote together and he predicted next year’s would not vote together on all issues that come up. Both Stanfield and Harvey said the Corps could have a large impact on the runoff election since it usually has a larger percentage of return voters. Geri Campbell said she is expecting a maximum of 4,000 students to vote in the runoff election. regson accused of election violations Baking area construction underway at Duncan Hall By MARIANITA PADDOCK Fresh bread will now be baked at Texas A&M University at a cost of approximately half a million dollars. All bread goods for the University will be baked in the kitchen of Dun can Dining Hall upon completion of a new baking area. The baking area is currently under construction in the southwest corner of Duncan’s kitchen. It will be built and completed by Dec. 1, 1977 and the cost will be $529,933. Part of parking lot 26, which is adjacent to Duncan’s kitchen, will be used for the addition to the pres ent baking area. Approximately seven spaces will be used. The construction cost is funded by auxiliary enterprise fees, which are from food service revenues. Presently facilities at Duncan provide donuts and sweet rolls, which are distributed to the campus cafeterias. The added oven and walk-in freezers will aid in distribu tion. Lloyd Smith, assistant director of food services, said yesterday he ex pects about three-to-four added employes. Three-to-four windows will be sealed and the wall next to the ovens torn down in preparation for the new area. Originally, the Duncan baking facilities were built to serve only Duncan. Later, they were ex panded to serve Sbisa also. Last spring, a spokesman for the food service department said the baking service should either discon tinue or should be renovated. Smith said the baking area is cramped, not air-conditioned, and the walls and floors are cracked and not present able or sanitary. Food services decided to reno vate the area because it is cheaper to make its own baking goods than to buy them in the open market. Smith said. The production of all baked goods, in the long run, will keep the meal plan stable, he said. Smith estimated the bakery will produce 1,500-to-2,000 loaves per day. Battalion photo by Betsy Kelley Baking ovens in Duncan Dining Hall line the wall that is going to be knocked out for remodeling.