The Carolinian [January 17, 1969]

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The Carolinian Volume XXXXVIII University of North Carolina at Greensboro, N. C— Friday, January 17, 1969 Number 24
Legislature Overrules Board's
Decision To Validate Election
Precedent h Established Four Hour Session Votes 47-35
"This particular session was
extremely important in
establishing a precedent for how
this kind of problem would be
handled by legislature," Dr.
Margaret Hunt, Legislature
advisor, said of the special
session of legislature.
"I'm very pleased with the
conduct of the legislators
themselves. I thought that most
of them were concerned with
trying to find the facts and with
trying to resolve an extremely
complicated problem."
She further commented, "I
think that the proceedings were
conducted impartially, and I
think that the session also
revealed several problems which
the legislature might want to
handle in the future."
During the special session of
Legislature, Dr. Hunt addressed
the representatives. In her
address, she told them that there
were several interpretations
possible of the section
concerning appeals to legislature
of Elections Board's decisions.
She informed the body that they
could either consider itself as a
judicial body or as a fact finding
body.
"The real purpose in this kind
of meeting," she stated, "is for
the legislative body to find out
what the facts are."
Dr. Hunt also said that she
felt that aince the Legislature
had approved the Elections
Board and had approved iu
policy, then it can be said that
the Elections Board is an agent
of Legislature. Therefore, it can
act instead of its agent.
She finally urged the
representatives to base their
decisions on the evidence
presented in the session, not on
opinions of proposals involved
or attitudes toward people
involved.
Ketner Resigns Due
To Outside Pressures
"I have not resigned from
caring; I have just released a
title," stated Linda Ketner,
Freshman Class President, in a
recent interview with the
Carolinian. Miss Ketner
explained that she wished to
continue working with the
student government in any way
she could.
Asked to state the reasons for
her resignation, Miss Ketner
replied, "I'm so exhausted from
outside pressures that I do not
wish to comment further and
I think I can be more effective
outaide this imposed situation."
Miss Ketner added that her final
decision had nothing to do with
the GIC issue.
"I wish I could do something
to expose the pressures exerted
on me, but most of the pressures
have been done anonymously
and there have already been
enough rumors and lies on this
campus. Additional comment
from me would further
complicate the situation."
Miss Ketner turned in her
resignation to SGA President
Randi Bryant on Friday,
January 10, but Miss Bryant has
not yet officially accepted the
resignation. Miai Ketner does,
however, consider her term of
office ended.
Miss Bryant commented on
Linda Ketner's resignation. "I
think it's very unfortunate that a
person of Linda Ketner's
obvious ability and integrity
should feel pressured into
resigning. She's done, for all I
can tell, a tremendous job in her
office and I hate to see such
potential as she has displayed
wasted. I think it's a shame she's
resigning. She has been subject
to what I would consider some
very unfair treatment." Miss
Bryant added that she knew of
no one who could have
withstood such pressure and that
she did not consider Linda
exceptionally weak (because she
had to yield to these pressures).
"In fact," Misi Bryant
continued, "I consider her
exceptionally strong, but the
pressures were exceptionally
great."
How the position will be
filled will be determined by Miss
Bryant. The alternatives are an
election or an appointment by
the SGA President, according to
the Bylaws of the Student
Government Association.
Miss Ketner wished to assure
the Freshman Class that their
programs would continue. She
explained that twenty-nine such
programs were now in the
works, eighteen of which were
originated this year, which are
concerned with such areas as
educational reform, town
students, community projects,
incoming freshmen, and
increasing enrollments and funds
at UNC-G.
The conventional class
government has already been
restructed into a seven board
executive council in order to
produce more efficient
government. The programs are
firmly established and will be
continued. Miss Ketner stated,
"We now have a concrete
foundation and there is no
earthly reason why the
Freshman Class can't be one of
the most active and effective
classes on campus."
Miss Ketner did issue an
By NANCY MOORE
Assistant News Editor
In an unprecedented action,
Legislature Tuesday night
overruled the refusal of the
Elections Board to invalidate the
January 9 referendum. Provision
was made for another
referendum to be held within
four weeks of the beginning of
second semester.
The four hour special session
of Legislature met to hear an
appeals of an Elections Board
decision. The Elections Board on
Friday, January 10. denied the
contestment of the preceding
day's referendum. The
referendum involved two issues;
the first being acceptance of the
Greensboro Inter-Collegiate
Council's Constitution and the
second concerning the
responsibility . of legislative
representatives. The contestment
presented by William J.
Burckley, John L. Pinnix, Jean
Titus, Beth Bolin, and John A.
Robinson, Jr., was based on the
grounds that the election was
not conducted under the
Elections Board policy and that
gross irregularities occurred.
After the contestment was
denied, this same group, with
the exclusion of Mr. Pinnix and
with the addition of Miss Sarah
Barnhill, then appealed the
decision of the Elections Board
to Legislature. This sppeal was
made under the authority of
Section M of the General Policy
of the Elections Board, which
states that appeals of the
Elections Board's decisions shall
be heard and ruled upon by
Legislature.
The following is a
chronological account of the
appeal to legislature:
The session began when Pam
Greer, Chairman of Legislature,
outlined the procedure for the
evening. She stated that the
meeting would be conducted in
the form of an investigative
committee, in that both the
contestors and the Elections
Board would each have a
30-minute debate period, with
each member speaking being
subject to questioning after they
spoke. After this presentation
there was to be a general query
period, to be followed by fifteen
minutes of general debate.
The house rules were
suspended so that Dr. Margaret
Hunt, faculty advisor to
Legislature, could speak to the
representatives. She stated that
she was not partisan, but only
concerned with the integrity of
the legislature as a body. She
referred to the session as a'grave
responsibility since any sction
would set a precedent because
such a situation had never
occurred before.
The house rules were again
suspended so that
non-representatives could speak.
All members of the Elections
Board who were present at the
original contestment hearing and
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The following is the text of the two motions introduced by
Mary Knight at a special session of Legislature held on
Tuesday January 14, 1968.
(1) "Legislature overrules Elections Board's decision and
declares the election of Jan. 9, 1969 invalid and demands
that Elections Board set a date for the referendum to be
rescheduled within 4 weeks after 2nd semester of the
1968-69 school beginning." passed 47-35.
(2) "That the chairman of Legislature shall appoint a
committee to review election board policy and that said
committee report to legislature by the first election of any
type." passed by unanimous consent.
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certain members of the group
contesting were allowed the
right to speak.
Elizabeth Bolin spoke first,
arguing for the appeal. Miss
Bolin said that the Elections
Board decision did not represent
the entire campus opinion. She
felt that violations of the
Elections Board policy had been
ignored, and that the students
should be given the opportunity
for another referendum.
Dale Presson, chairman of the
Elections Board, spoke against
the appeal. She reported that
seven of the ten members of
Elections Board were present at
the contestment and that all
members had been notified of
the hearing. She then continued
to read the majority report
submitted to the Legislature.
She also stated that each
member of the Elections Board
entered the hearing with the
realization of their responsibility
•a impartial jurors. She
concluded, "The burden of
proof rested with the
contestors."
William Burckley then spoke
in favor of the appeal. He
referred the representatives to
the Elections Board statement
that "Since the Elections Policy
(section I.A.) differentiates
between an election and a
referendum, the regulations
concerning campaigning for
elections would not apply to the
referendum." Mr. Burckley went
on to note that if "referendum"
and "elections" were used
interchangeably in certain
instances, such ss students
confined to the infirmary being
able to vote in a referendum as
well as in an election, then they
should be used interchangeably
in all instances.
John Robinson then spoke in
favor of the appeal. According
to Mr. Robinson, the Board had
previously admitted in
discussion that irregularities had
occurred, and such difficulties
should be sufficient grounds to
invalidate the election.
Miss Sarah Barnhill then
spoke in favor of the appeal,
stating that her statement of
appeal would speak for itself.
John Pinnix then spoke in favor
of the appeal.
Jim Lancaster then spoke
against the appeal. He read
definitions from a letter from a
Greensboro lawyer, to whom
information concerning the
contestment and subsequent
sppeal were submitted for
clarification by Legislature
representative Erskine Walther.
Randy Friddle then spoke
against the appeal, clarifying the
Board's position on the
campaign material that was
supposedly within fifteen feel of
the polling place, which is not
allowed by Elections Board
policy. Mr. Friddle stated that
on two occasions, at 8:30 and at
10:00, the dorms were checked
for literature within the
restricted area and any literature
found there was removed to
beyond fifteen feet.
At approximately 11 30 p.m.
a five minute recess was called.
During the query period that
followed, several points were
brought to the attention of the
assembly. Miss Presson stated
that the reasons for the denial of
the contestment were contained
in the second page of her report
to Legislature. Miss Presson also
stated that there were "gross
irregularities", but these were
not considered by the Elections
Board to be sufficient grounds
to invalidate the election.
In the general debate period
that followed this, a motion was
made by Miss Mary Knight that
Legislature overrule the
Elections Board decision and call
for a new election. After
discussion, which included
passage of an amendment which
extended the time limit from
two to four weeks after the
beginning of the first semester, a
stand up vote was taken of the
representatives. The motion
passed, 47-35.
Miss Knight then proposed a
second motion calling for the
Chairman of Legislature to
appoint a committee to review
the Elections Board policy and
that said committee would
report before the next election.
This motion passed
unanimously.
Pam Greer, Chairman of
Legislature then announced that
interviews for legislative
committees, including the
special committee to investigate
the Elections Board policy,
would be held Monday, January
20, at 7 10 p.m. Interviews are
open to any student.