Court upholds electionsverdict
By GUNTHER MERLI
Staff Writer
The Student Court upheld its previous decision on the ASSC elections and voted to hear a case charging the acting ASSC president, Joel Rosenzweig, with misfeasance of office in a flurry of motions and briefs submitted to it at two meetings — yesterday night and last Friday afternoon.
In a 3-3 vote (which amounts to a defeat under the court's rules of procedure), the court declined to rehear two issues in the elections — whose names would appear on the ballot and whether write-ins would be allowed — on the basis of a motion submitted by Lee Blackman. ASSC vice*president for academic affairs.
Knowles said. “I didn't expect this to happen” when questioned about the court's refusal to rehear the election case. This means that the election filing period is now over, with only the original candidates having been allowed to file, and that write-in votes will not be allowed in the presidential election.
By the 4 p.m. deadline yesterday, three of the five original candidates had filed for the new election. They are Kent Cle-mence, Chuck Jones, and John McGuinness.
McGuinness. whose grade point average is below the required level for the office at this time, will possibly be disqualified by the court's decision. The determination of McGuinness' eligibility will be made by the Elections Commission.
Two justices had earlier been excluded from this decision by the recommendation of Steve Knowles, chief justice, and the concurrence of a majority of the court members, because they had not taken part in the original election decision. This move left six justices to decide the motion for rehearing.
A brief was submitted to the court by Marshal Oldman, director of programs for the Student Senate, asking that Joel Rosenzweig be declared misfeasant in office and removed from both the acting ASSC presidency and the vice-presidency for programs. Oldman said that Rosen-
zweig had seated Joel Jacobs, Associated Men Students vice-president, as the AMS president at last Wednesday's executive council meeting, in contravention of the student court order declaring the office vacant.
Rosenzweig was not present when the brief was submitted. The court voted 7-0 to hear the case tomorrow at 4 p.m. in Student Union 307.
The court also voted 7-0 to invalidate guidelines for the election set up by the ASSC election commissioners, Nader Oskoui, Lauren Sherman and Pat Nolan.
The election commission had intended to clarify its position with the guidelines, which stated that the five original candidates would be put on the presidential ballot, if they so desired, and that write-in votes would be counted. Blackman appealed to the court part of the commission's decision, that which allowed the candidates to run even if they were no longer qualified academically.
On the basis of this appeal, the court decided that the commission had overstep-
ped its bounds as provided by the ASSC election code and that it had only administrative power in the elections, nullifying the commission's decision. Blackman disagreed with the court, saying that he had appealed only part of the commission's guidelines and not the entire decision.
“The court has become so involved in procedural questions that it cannot get through to the substantial questions which need definitive answers,” said Blackman.
The court reasoned that no new information had been provided by the Student Behavior Committee's clarification of its decision of last spring.
Mark Spitzer. ASSC independent representative who submitted an informative brief to the court concerning the behavior committee's clarification, objected to the tie vote and the court’s meeting behind closed doors. He also argued that the court didn't have the jurisdiction to invalidate all of the election commission's report on the basis of Blackman's appeal.
University of Southern California
DAILY m TROJAN
VOL. LXIV NO. 11
LOS ANGELES. CALIFORNIA
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1971
Three refile in ASSC presidential campaign
% B
CANINE CONFUSION — A pack of six dogs suddenly surrounds a student as she walks on campus and threatens to lash her with their outstretched tails. DT photo by Will Hertzberg.
Three of the ASSC presidential candidates in last spring s invalidated elections filed yesterday for the fall election.
Kent Clemence. Chuck Jones and John McGuinness all beat the 4 p.m. deadline, as did 12 other hopefuls for three other open positions.
Barring a reversal of the Student Court's ban on write-ins. the elections on Oct. 13 and 14 will offer the voters the same presidential choices they had in the spring.
If the court allows write-ins. Jones has said that he will withdraw from the race to support Mark Spitzer, who wants to run as a write-in and has a suit to allow that pending with the court. Spitzer was an ASSC independent representative last year and received an interim
appointment to the same position this year from Joel Rosenzweig. ASSC vice-president for programs, who is serving as acting president until one is elected.
In a prepared statement, Kent Clemence called for the establishment of a student court of appeals over the ASSC court, the appointment of a university ombudsman, wider representation on the Board of Trustees, increased student services and some new academic programs.
The court of appeals would be selected from a rotating pool made up of the presidents of the various graduate schools.
The need for an ombudsman, he said, became painfully apparent last spring. “Much of last year's conflicts could have
LIKENED TO VIETNAM
Rosenzweig hits election, court
By PETER WONG
Staff Writer
The ASSC Executive Council is expected to take no further action on the long-delayed presidential elections when it meets at 5p.m. today in Student Union 311.
However, the acting ASSC president, who does not foresee any council resolutions on the subject, criticized the Student Court for its recent decision that limited the presidential ballot to the five candidates who ran in last spring's election.
“The council made a mistake in referring the entire election controversy to the Student Court, and it's trying to forget it.” Joel Rosenzweig, vice-president for programs and acting ASSC president, said Monday. “However, we should be trying to right this matter in any way possible.”
The court was scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Monday to hear another case about the election controversy. On Friday the court refused to rehear the case filed Wednesday by Rosenzweig and Lee Blackman, vice-president for academic affairs, thereby upholding its previous decision to limit the presidential ballot and to ban write-in votes.
But Rosenzweig said Monday afternoon he would not appear before the court in any new elections case.
“The Student Court has intervened in the ASSC election much as the United States has intervened in Vietnam.” Rosenzweig said. “The justices have subverted the entire election process. They are concerned more with the integrity of the court than with justice for the students.”
The acting ASSC president criticized the presidential candidates in the new election, saying that of the three, “only one of them is available as president — and that smacks of Thieu.” referring to the South Vietnamese presidential election Sunday, in which
the incumbent and sole candidate was reelected by over 90% of the total vote.
Rosenzweig said that the Student Court and the Daily Trojan claimed to speak for the students, as did the ASSC officers, “but the fact is that 16,000 students just do not vote — and someone should do something to get them to vote.”
Rosenzweig criticized an editorial in Friday's Daily Trojan that said the ASSC we Resident Hubbard again this fall for a decision about the elections, terming the editorial appalling.
The council is expected to deal with the problem of filling the vacancy of international students representative. Rosenzweig said that he would ask the Office of International Students and Scholars for advice on an election.
“We have had a very poor turnout for this election in the past. If we want to make this an important office, we should do something about it.” he said.
Council members are also expected to consider a request from the Gay Liberation Forum (GLF) in support of legal action against the Board of Trustees. The board denied recognition to the group at a meeting in June.
Members of the GLF will ask the council for some $550 to fund court costs. Herbert Selwyn. a member of the American Civil Liberties Union, is ready to seek a preliminary injunction against the trustees, depending on the council's action today. Larry Bernard. GLF member, said.
The council may hear reports on the Fee Allocations Board, which is scheduled to meet this morning on the question of paying back 1007c of fees collected from medical students, and on the Student Union Board, which is scheduled to meet Wednesday on allocation of office space for the Black Students Union.
been eliminated, had USC had an ombudsman to sift through the political rhetoric to determine proper procedures.” Clemence said.
Clemence also suggested adding students, faculty, young alumni and members of the black community to the Board of Trustees.
John McGuinness' eligibility for the election had not been conclusively determined by 4 p.m. yesterday, although his application had been filed.
His grade point average is slightly below the required 2.5 he needs to serve, he told the Daily Trojan. However, he had the required GPA last spring.
“My eligibility was confirmed as of the election in the spring and this is the same election. It’s not my fault they postponed it,” he said.
“I'm being unjustly punished if they won’t let me run.”
If elected. McGuinness said he would push for a change in the budget. “I would try to get more money down into the lower groups,” he said, citing the Men’s and Women's Halls Associations and the Interfrater-nity and Panhellenic Councils as examples.
He called the present system nonparticipatory and nondemo-cratic. He supported the request by medical students to administer their own student fees instead of being part of the ASSC budget.
Of Rosenzweig s interim service as ASSC president, Jones said. “I think he's done a credible job for someone who’s been out of student government for two years. He's had the same problems as all new ASSC officers have had.”
Jones said that if elected his first priority will be to completely reorganize the ASSC, including presenting a new constitution for student approval by Nov. 1.
“I d quit pussyfooting about the Statement of Student Rights and Reponsibilities. I'd like to get a signed document from the president and the Board of Trustees guaranteeing students’ (Continued on page 2)