Group votes to disclose student body election results
By LAURA ROMPF
Assistant News Editor
In a 17-7 vote, the Senate opted to open the results envelope from the run-off election for 2000-2001 student body president and vice president.
Tallies revealed the Brian O'Donoghue/Brooke Norton ticket won 56.3 percent of the vote, and the Hunt Hanover/John Micek ticket received 41.3 percent. Norton was glad to see the results favored her ticket.
"I'm really glad everyone in the student body has been given the opportunity to see the run-off results," vice president-elect Norton said.
"We're really happy to find out that the student body is behind us as president and vice president," she added.
Before the envelope was opened by current student body vice president Michael Palumbo, there was debate on the relevance of seeing the null and void results. Because numbers had been leaked last week, senators did not want students to assume that senate members knew the results and were simply hiding the totals.
"I don't want this issue hanging over our head," said Phil Dittmar, Fisher Hall senator. "I think we should open it and move on. Students think we are hiding the results from them. My opinion is we should open it."
Others agreed.
"I agree with Phil," said Patrick O'Donnell, Carroll Hall senator. "We all know that the run-off was invalid and doesn't matter, but still we should release the numbers. It is part of the public record, and it should be made public.
"Public disclosure is an important issue," said Cimarron Gilson, Sorin Hall senator. "If some know the results, the student body has the right to know."
"There is student opinion that the senate is full of sneakiness and illegitimacy, we should end this. I am in favor of opening it," said Alumni senator David Zachary.
Overall, Dittmar summarized the comments by saying that students are losing faith in student government and showing the results could help give student government legitimacy again.
"I have had many students ask me [what the results were]. Students want to know. There is a lack of trust and we need to restore this trust," he said.
Despite most senators wanting to open the envelope, some disagreed.
"I have reservations about opening the results at this time," said off-campus senator Pat Foy. "Kelly [Folks] and Becky [Demko] are not here and we shouldn't do this behind their back. There is no final deadline for appeals and we all know there is potential for another appeal. If we open that we could possibly have to choose between what is in the envelope and what we think is right."
Some senators thought opening the envelope after April 1 — when no more appeals can be filed — would be optimal. Still others believed that since the results were null and void, they should never be opened.
Right before the final vote, Palumbo urged the senators to follow their duty. "We do have a duty as senators. Because this is a public document, we should let the public know the information. It is our document now, not the Judicial Council's."
In the end, 17 out of 24 senators chose to see the results.
Dan Peate, campaign manager for the Hanover/Micek campaign, thought seeing the totals accomplished nothing.
"I am proud of Hunt and John for walking away from this," Peate said. "I wish everyone else would have followed their lead."
However, O'Donoghue was glad to see the results.
"We're happy with the results as they turned out," president-elect O'Donoghue said. "We're grateful to those students who supported us through all this and we're not going to let them down."
In other Senate news:
u Kerry Doolin, manager of ND Video spoke to the Senate about undergoing research into changing the store into something new.
"Right now we are searching for the most feasible option which students will use the most," Doolin said.
The two current options are a tanning salon or a knick-knack store.
u SUB presented it's nominations for its executive board of next year: Becky Hagelin as board manager, Elizabeth Efta as director of programming, Katie Leicht as director of operation, Dave Clark as director of creativity and Candis Wilikinson as chief controller. Katie Reicher, the student body treasure for the 2000-2001 year, presented the nominations for the new assistant treasures: Jennifer Wolfe, Katie Heidler and Christina DeFlippo.
u The Senate unanimously passed a resolution requesting additional student member on the First Year of Studies Advisory Committee.
All News Stories for Thursday, March 2, 2000
