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2 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004 Students react to board ruling BY AMY KINGSLEY STAFF WRITER After the controversies sur rounding last-minute campaign violations, students will have a new perspective on the student body president election as they log on to Student Central and cast their ballots for a third time next Tuesday. In the wake of Tuesday's Board of Elections decision, students had varying opinions on the fairness of the punishment, the trustworthi ness of the candidates and the prospect of another week of cam paigning. The allegations and the decision of the board have shaken many students’ trust in both candidates. “I think after this whole thing, both candidates’ reputations are slightly damaged,” sophomore Joyce Yang said. Many said the controversy revealed the cutthroat personali ties of the candidates. “I would trust them with run ning student government, but I probably wouldn’t want to be friends with them,” said Megan White, a sophomore education major. Despite the uproar, many stu dents said they will not change their vote in Tuesday’s election. Staunch supporters of both Calabria and West said they were VOTES FROM PAGE 1 n’t realize his mistake until after the election. He e-mailed Anderson the morning after the runoff election to notify her of the incident “It was just my fault I did some thing stupid,” he said. “I take responsibility.” Anderson said only she has access to the vote tallies through her SPUING BRIAN AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE SKOALS e .|NTE G A Chapel Hill Tradition for Over 5D years ~! rsprinTßreaFspecW ~ "| I Trip inspection I 1.;*,,!, -. aa o„ I I* 100 pt inspection k ■ ■ • Tire rotation fe . • Bumper to bumber inspection | | • Break Inspection I . •Itemized lists of both safety & maintenance issues . • Top off anti freeze • Check all fluids Expires 04/01/04 |~Basic AligiiEWEt FYs* jwjatjgir*s~ ”~! 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I I : vZ rust and | Conditioneradditive for smoother shifting • Utilize conditioner to extend life of coolant & cooling i reconditioning seals components Expires 04/01/04 These Prices Are For A Limited Time So Stop In Today MiluhyLihA wrww.chelre.com ' " -~r 010-067-7002 009.987-7098 909-980-8000 Shuttle service provided to and from campus FREE RENT* • FREE CABLE* • FREE HIGHSPEED INTERHET* i 000 aviji All within 2 miles of UNC campus! a -000-266-34 J ■ shadowood@atmco.com iHifIMdIMHW www.aimco.com 3 a—/ _r -J JJ J J JSSWsBgpSSBIIJII(gjr =r rthC ”° ~na t co * ®®® wt *"■ 9*®®* jLshadqwoqd m-f 9:oo-6.oo. sat io-5 Sun i-5 O- 5S‘ Wait list for Summer & Fall. ' " ' Apartments vindicated by the board’s decision. However, a few undecided vot ers said the violations would change their vote. The elections board’s decision to penalize only West caused some students to have less faith in her. “Obviously, both of their integri ty is in question,” said Anna Hartzog, a sophomore journalism major. “But I’m leaning to trusting Calabria more.” But Lizzie Carr, a junior psy chology major, said that although she didn’t vote in the runoff elec tion, she thinks that the elections board unfairly punished West and plans on voting for her next week. “She got punished for the actions of her boyfriend,” she said. Many students said the board came to the fairest possible deci sion regarding the allegations. “I think it was a good decision,” said Georgia Alwon-Mount, a freshman majoring in biology. “Everything was kind of unclear. Nobody really understands com pletely what happened.” Others said they believe that one or both of the candidates should have been disqualified. “If there were all these viola tions, why weren’t candidates dis qualified?” asked Justin Carpenter, a sophomore majoring in political science. Opinion differed about whether Onyen and password. She provided this information to board members so they could access the vote counts and make sure the campaign ran smoothly while she was out. “I am the only new member on the board, so I am not as clear about policies,” Sidden said. “He should have not been in the office, but I didn’t even think about it at the time.” An e-mail was sent to the “I would trust them with running student government, hut I probably wouldn’t want to be friends with them.” MEGHAN WHITE, SOPHOMORE the candidates were aware of the activities investigated by the board last week. “I don’t think they were doing it with malicious intent,” Alwon- Mount said. “I don’t think they knew about it.” Some supporters of both Calabria and West said they tried to keep an open mind throughout the controversy. “There were violations, but they seem to be minor,” said senior busi ness major Diane Green. “I don’t think the candidates knew about them.” Alternately, some said they believed that West’s boyfriend, UNC alumnus Alistair Cooper, should have better heeded the elec tion rules. “I felt like he should have known better,” White said about Cooper’s actions. “It was very arrogant of him to think he wouldn’t get caught.” Fatigue with the election process and dismay that the stu dent body president has yet to be elected dominated discussion of American Civil Liberties Union listserv at 6:17 p.m. that night, encouraging members to vote for West because of a six-vote margin. “I don’t know if it was substanti ated, but I just wanted to let the membership know what I was hearing and that it would be a close election,” said Tom Filopoulos, co president of the ACLU, who sent the e-mail. Although Anderson said she Naurs another runoff. “Elections get kind of annoying,” said Matt Taylor, a junior majoring in journalism and political science. A couple of students expressed extreme contempt for the election process. “I had no interest in student government before, and I have even less now,” said Brett Clippingdale, a junior majoring in computer science and French. Although some students said the increased publicity will keep students interested in the election, most said turnout likely will be low. “Asking people to vote three times for the same candidate is a bit much,” White said. For many students, the events of the last week have cast a pall on the office of student body president. Sophomore journalism major Matthew Pyrtle said, “Whoever wins, this presidency is going to be marked by controversy.” Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu. thought the vote counts were secure during the last election, she will keep her password to herself during next Tuesday’s race. “It is unfortunate that this hap pened,” she said. “But somehow lit tle mistakes happen, and they shouldn’t get blown out of propor tion.” Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu. CORRECTION The front page memorial piece for Robert Kirkpatrick that ran in Wednesday’s paper neglected to mention that he also is survived by a son, Robert G. Kirkpatrick 111, a member of UNC’s class of 1993. To report an error contact Managing Editor Daniel Thigpen at dthigpen@email.unc.edu. oljr Uaihj (Ear Bed P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 ElyseAshbum, Editor, 962-4086 Advertising & Business, 962-1163 News, Features, Sports, 962-0245 One copy per person; additional copies may be purchased at The Daily Tar Heel for $.25 each. C 2004 DTH Publishing Corp. All rights reserved Pregnant ? You dont have to make this difficult decision alone. All Services Free and Confidential . • Free pregnancy tests • Positive options f V \ t; ft • Medical and community referrals I J • Compassionate post abortion support J PREGNANCY jHK|| SUPPORT SERVICES 431 W. Franklin St., Ste 23, Chapel Hill, NC 27516 (919)942-7318 pss@pregnancysupport.org I % k M, Tu, W, Fl 2 noon - spm; Thurs 3pm - Bpm uniquities www.uniquities.com /N Spring Break L ± rrowiottcm/ ( I Buy a new bathing suit and I receive a goody bag courtesy of Luxe and Caju Salon °ff er 9° od wllile supplies last limit one per customer 17 1 l- /u chapel hill • 452 w. franklin st. • 933-4007 raleigh • 450 daniels st. • 832-1234 ■Mg JM DTH FILE PHOTOS/BRIAN CASSEILA Candidates Lily West (left) and Matt Calabria testify during the Board of Elections hearing Tuesday night. The BOE ruled to hold a second election. Board releases ruling rationale Cites strong evidence against West BY BROOK R. CORWIN UNIVERSITY EDITOR Since it postponed certification of the results of the Feb. 17 runoff election for student body president last week, the Board of Elections has fielded numerous allegations against the campaigns of candi dates Matt Calabria and Lily West. But after weeklong investigation that comprised 42 written testi monies, at least 8 hours of deliber ations and a two-hour open hear ing, the board ruled Tuesday night that only one-hour’s worth of actions from a single UNC alum nus were directly responsible for casting the race in doubt. The board released the full rationale of its decision Wednesday. The board ruled that a prepon derance of evidence indicated that Alistair Cooper, West’s boyfriend, maliciously solicited votes in the Undergraduate Library computer lab in the final hour before the polls closed on election day. The decision’s rationale states that because Cooper is not a stu dent, deciding the election based on his actions alone would be an injus tice to the concept of student self governance. “While the board found the actions of a certain West cam paigner to be reprehensible, student government will not change its course because of the actions of one nonstudent,” the rationale states. The board defended its ruling based on the detailed testimony of several witnesses unaffiliated with either campaign. Computer records obtained by the board prove that Cooper logged into the computer next to one such witness, senior Barbara Herrmann, at the time she cast a vote for West. Herrmann’s testimony gives an explicit account of Cooper posing as an exchange student who pres sured her into voting for West. In Tuesday's public hearing, West ®ljr laiUj (Ear was unable to provide evidence to defend Cooper, saying she did not know for sure what took place in the lab and took Cooper’s word on faith. A number of other allegations were also considered at the hear ing, but none were supported by factual evidence, said BOE Chairwoman Melissa Anderson. Among these were two allega tions against the Calabria cam paign for illegal political solicita tion campaigning within 50 feet or visible sight of a computer lab outside Davis Library and the Undergraduate Library. Anderson said Calabria was able to defend the allegations success fully through the presentation of photos and detailed measurements that proved it was impossible for a violation to have occurred. But Calabria, the board ruled, could not supply such factual evi dence supporting the two other charges against West’s campaign: using Cooper as an illegal cam paign worker and illegal political solicitation in the Carolina Union. The charge of illegal political solicitation was dropped and Cooper was ruled to be advancing the West campaign only on the night of the election. Less than two hours after the board’s announcement Tuesday, the Calabria campaign filed an allegation, accusing the West cam paign of negative campaigning. But Anderson said Wednesday that she quickly dismissed the charges, which involved a student’s Instant Messenger profile. She said the board only will only consider seriously allegations with strong evidence that are in direct violation of the Student Code. “I’m looking at the letter of the law,” she said. “It has to be a clear violation.” Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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