March 16, 1995
Two separate grievances have been filed against the Student Struggle slate which is trying to unseat the party that has controlled student government almost consistently for the past decade.
The grievances address Student Struggle's allegedly holding a forum March 9 at the Cantina in Mary Ward Hall at 7 p.m., according to Steve Navarro, chair of the Associated Students election committee. If true, this would be a violation of election code 17B which states, "There will be no unauthorized campaign demonstrations or forums."
Troy Buckner-Nkrumah, presidential candidate for the Unified Student Movement, said he filed one of the complaints. "We just happened to be going down to the dorms and we saw these big signs in the window that said Student Struggle Social," Buckner-Nkrumah said. He said some of the people he was with, but not himself, went into the room where the signs were posted and removed literature that was being circulated.
He said he did not enter the room but, "We thought, well that's not right, we'll have to check it out with the (elections) committee." After learning from the committee that the forum was not approved, Buckner-Nkrumah filed a grievance.
The second grievance was filed by Jon Artigo, an independent presidential candidate. "I'm the biggest underdog in this race," Artigo said. "I abide by all the rules, so if I see something like this going on I'm going to file a grievance."
Artigo said a friend of his was at the event and informed him that Student Struggle was discussing its agenda. "That's campaigning in my mind."
"We were just chillin' with the residents," said Kenyan McCarthy, the Student Struggle presidential candidate. "All we did was eat some cookies and chips and drink some soda."
McCarthy said that Lael Sigal, a residence assistant, invited Student Struggle to a "social" and that there was no structured debate, forum or demonstration. He said that this is the first he has heard of the grievances and he is not concerned because the allegations are false.
Sigal, a member of Student Struggle, said she invited the slate to the residence halls for the purpose of socializing and that "anyone who wanted to come was more than welcome." Sigal said she can't remember if there was any literature at the event but she knows that there were no speeches given.
Navarro, who said he is not affiliated with any party currently, said the complaints will be investigated as soon as possible. He said that the elections committee is empowered to disqualify either one candidate or the entire Student Struggle slate, but it will have to first determine the level of the violation. Navarro said because the election code simply says "unauthorized forum," the elections committee will have to decide how to interpret the code. He said the committee will also "have to determine if the violation unduly affected the outcome of the elections."
The results of the elections will not be official until they are tabulated by the elections committee and approved by the Legislature. The Legislature is expected to rule on the outcome Wednesday.