Constitution defeated, 599-339
By RICH WISEMAN News Editor
The proposed ASUSC constitution was soundly defeated, 599-339. in a comparatively light vote of the student body yesterday.
The Student Court validated the election after a brief meeting at 10:15 last night.
The present constitution, ratified March 30,1966. remains in effect.
The filing for office process had been frozen until the constitution vote yesterday. If accepted, the constitution would have eliminated nine offices, most significantly one of the two vice-presidents and the Associated Men's and Women's presidents. It would have also reduced the office of international students representative to nonvoting status.
Prospective candidates may file petitions beginning next Monday (previous-lv announced candidates must refile)
and have until April 2 to do so. Campaigning will begin upon return from Easter vacation (April 12). The election is scheduled for April 20 and 21.
Last-minute opposition seemed to spell doom for the constitution. Paul Bloland, vice-president for student affairs; Errol Gerson, international students representative; the. conservative Free Trojan; Tom Levyn. ASSC vice-president for programs, and John McGuinness, AMS president, all announced their unhappiness with the document either yesterday or Tuesday.
It seemed that constitution backers sensed defeat. Randy Goodwin, Free Trojan editor, was the only spectator in attendance at the reading of the vote.
“Two things caused the defeat of the constitution.” he said. “One was the obnoxious railroad job—it was atrocious that it only took two hours and 45 minutes of the council's time to draft it.
“Also, the foreign students organized
against it.” He said Gerson had five students soliciting “no” votes.
Goodwin said the Free Trojan editorial lambasting the alleged railroading could have brought out 200 to 300 moder-ate-to-conservative voters.
Goodwin called the vote turnout “much too low” and said it indicated a general lack of interest on the part of the students to the “way the ASSC plays politics and ignores things like parking that students are interested in.”
“I don't consider 600-400 a valid election." Chuck Jones, ASSC vice-president for academic affairs and a supporter of the constitution, said when he was reached for comment. He blamed the anticonstitution coverage in the Daily Trojan for the defeat.
“It s the first time I ever saw a paper endorse something and cover it like this.” Referring to the front-page article on Bloland's criticism of the consti-
tution. he said. “This is the only campus in the world where an administrator can say something and everybody bows down and accepts it.”
Goodwin said in reply that he didn't think the Daily Trojan reporting contributed to the defeat. He said it was the newspaper's obligation to print the other side after it endorsed the constitution.
“The Bloland article probably alienated as many students as it convinced them.” he said.
This is the second year in a row that a proposed constitution has been rejected by the voters. Last year's proposed constitution, featuring a revised preamble that assumed the administration acts in bad faith in not recognizing students' rights and a provision for three minority group representatives, was defeated 755-567. The turnout for that election was termed tremendous by election officials.
University of Southern California
VOL LXII
NO. 91
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1971
DID YOU VOTE?
Students relaxed in Alumni Park yesterday as the lull in constitutional election voting continued.
ASUSC CONSTITUTION
Foreign rep wants vote
By ANDREW ERSKINE
Errol Gerson, foreign student representative, took to the soapbox yesterday in protest to the new constitution, which would make the foreign representative a nonvoting member of the council.
Gerson was appointed by the council on March
2	to fill the vacant foreign rep seat.
“My main contention is that I resent the relegation of the foreign rep to nonvoting status.” Gerson said.
“The council justified this by saying that we are a special interest group, but so are the Panhellenic and Interfraternity Councils. To make the foreign students a whipping boy in this case is a travesty.”
Panhellenic and IFC representatives will retain their voting status under the new constitution.
“The council says that only a very small percentage of the foreign students turned out for the last foreign rep election, but only 76 students voted for grad rep." Gerson said.
“What it boils down to is that the council thinks that the Greeks have more voting power than foreign students.”
Gerson said that an amendment to the ASUSC constitution which would give the foreign students a voting representative was proposed at the ASSC Executive Council meeting March 4 after Gerson left the meeting. It was defeated by one vote. Gerson said if he had been there, the vote would have been a tie. Sam Hurst. ASSC
president, would have then cast the deciding vote in order to break the tie.
When asked his opinion of the other parts of the constitution, Gerson said. “It is a good constitution. It s workable and it gives more control to the students. I wish the students could vote on it by parts, but you can only vote for or against the whole document.
If the constitution is ratified. Gerson will introduce an amendment at the next council meeting that will institute the position for a voting foreign representative.
If the amendment is not passed, he said he will recommend to foreign students that they not pay the $4.50 student programming fee.
Painting missing
A painting valued at $1,500 was reported missing yesterday from the Commons Cafeteria area.
The painting by Edgar Ewing, professor of fine arts, was hanging on the wall across from the Smoke Shop. Mrs. Doris Kent, secretary of Fisher Gallery, said that someone from the bookstore called her yesterday afternoon and asked if she had had the painting removed.
Mrs. Kent then called Ewing to see if he had removed it. He had not. and she reported the painting missing to the campus police.
She described the work from the artist's “Las Vegas Series” as 50 by 40 inches in size and predominately orange, violet and gray.
(Continued on page 6)
Court asked to ban Free Trojan
By TERILOBREE
A request for an injunction to prohibit distribution of the Free Trojan on the USC campus was filed with the Student Court yesterday by Michael Lance Trope and Jack McNamara. Trope led an unsuccessful attempt to impeach ASSC President Sam Hurst last fall. McNamara is independent representative on the ASSC Executive Council.
Trope and McNamara accused the Free Trojan of being a publication that is nothing more than a political advertisement for particular political candidates.
They made the accusation that the nature of the Free Trojan's advertising is unfair, citing as an example a quarter-page ad in the Oct. 21 Free Trojan allegedly purchased for $1 by certain political candidates, while the same space would cost considerably more if purchased by other individuals.
A suit was filed against the Free Trojan last year for many of the same reasons as stated in the suit of Trope and McNamara. The court decided that the Free Trojan could be distributed in and around election time because it was objective in its coverage of the news.
When asked about the case John McGuinness, former editor of the Free Trojan, appeared confident that the court would rule in favor of the Free Trojan.
“There's been a precedent set,” he said, referring to the court's previous decision that allowed the Free Trojan to distribute on campus.
“It’s the same newspaper,” he said. “I don’t see how they can change their decision.”
Randy Goodwin, editor of the Free Trojan, was not available for comment.
Trope and McNamara maintain that the Student Literature Code specifically states in Section I, part A, number 4a. that all literature published or distributed on campus must have the name of the individual or individuals or recognized campus organization distributing or posting the literature, and that no students may use the title of an unrecognized group.
“The Free Trojan is published under the name of ‘independent students,’ which is not a recognized campus organization. Thus they are violating the literature code.” said Trope and McNamara.
Both Trope and McNamara said they believed it should be established where the funding for the Free Trojan comes from, to insure that it is not connected with a national political organization. They said they felt the Free Trojan owed students the courtesy of telling them who is financing the publication.
Trope and McNamara believe that the Free Trojan is a front for the Young Americans for Freedom, as almost all the candidates endorsed by the publication in previous and current elections hold substantial positions in YAF.
“I think the Free Trojan is insulting everyone's intelligence by saying that YAF doesn't back them.” Trope said.
He supports his statement with evidence from numerous back editions of the Free Trojan which, in his opinion, played up such candidates as John McGuinness and Jim Lacy.
For an example. Trope said, there was an article that appeared in the Dec. 7. 1970 edition of the Free Trojan about the multilevel parking facility which is planned for construction. The article attributed the origin of the plan to the Board of Trustees, which is true, but it continues by saying that John McGuinness campaigned hard for the issue. Trope said.
But there were a lot of other people who worked hard on it who were not mentioned in the article, he said.
Trope and McNamara also accuse the Free Trojan of making
(Continued on page 6)