The_Rambler_1975-10-28

              - - :;H!'.OLR"Y
f . •• I V
u m H Y T s B l A t^
Funded by your Mandatory Activity Fee as distributed by tbe S.G.A
VOLUME 46
NUMBER 5
OCT. 28.1975
ELEVEN CANDIDATES
DISQUALIFIED
FROM ELECTION
DRASTIC AaiONS BY S.G.A. HALT VOTE MANIPULATION SCHEME
The Events
By Ron Shandler
On Monday October 20,
1975, Student Government
president Mark Natelson and
his executive board moved to
disqualify eleven candidates
from the S.G.A. elections
and further barred these
same eleven from any
student government as-sociated
work for the school
year 1975-1976.
The following is a log of the
events which led up to this
decision which has a'ince
caused much heated friction
between the Farmingdale
Athletic Department and the
S.G.A.
Tuesday October 14
Rambler is distributed with
pre-election coverage. Vot-ing
booth is late in arrival
thus delaying elections one
day.
Wednesday October 15
10am: Elections begin. All
runs smooth
3PM: Booth is closed with
total of 189 first day voters.
4PM: Mr. Natelson shows me
a copy of an Athletic
Department flyer containing
misleading election in-formation.
On college
stationery, it listed solely the
athletic candidates running
for office. The initials B.H.
appeared at the bottom. A
vaguely related earlier in-cident
is then described to me
concerning a student without
his I.D. trying to vote and
saying "If I don't vote.the
coach won't let me play ."Two
witnesses at S.G.A. office
verify. 4:30 P.M.: No Id Hall.
Aforementioned flyers are
posted in various areas
surrounding equipment
cage. We ask person behind
counter for copy of flyer (as
we were told they were being
given out there) but person
expresses no knowledge of
same.
SGA pres. Mark Natelson discusses elections
4:45PM: Meeting is arranged
with Dr. Paul Bedell, Vice
President of Student Affairs.
Mr. Natelson presents
charges and evidence and Dr.
Bedell shrugs off incident
as"normal election oc-currences."
Thursday October 16
9:30 A . M . : Meeting called at
Dr. Bedell's office. Con-frontation
between Mr.
Natelson and mr. Thomas
Watt. Director of Physical
Education. Rambler As-sociate
Editor. Phil Schiliro,
was also present.
Assessment of meeting
follows:
Mr. Natelson: very angry,
rash, occassionally unsure
of accusations. Charged that
Athletic interference was
i l l e g a l and should be
stopped, even though
damage had been done.
Claimed that elections are
individualistic, not group
supported.
Mr. Watt: very emotional,
defensive and physical.
Quesrioned accuracy of ac-cusations
and requested
proof. His defense relied on
admittance of limited guilt.
Mr. Bedell: acted as
mediatior solely .Meeting
brought Issues out into the
open yet proposed few if any
solutions.
10 AM: Final day of elections
begin.
2PM: Prospective candidate
Kevin Spiegel enters Ram-bler
office and openly voices
opposition to electioneering
taking place at that very
moment. Rambler Advertis-ing
Manager.Mike Ippolito,
and I go to investigate and
find person stationed at
polls, giving incoming
voters the flyer and telling
them that the names on the
list were the only candidates
running. We attempt to sto
the practice and security is
called in. Person at booth is
r e m o v e d and v o t i ng
proceeds.
3PM: Voting booth is closed
and elections are completed
with a total of 320 registered
votes, barely 5 percent of
campus population.
3:30PM: Dr. Bedell is called
down to Student Activities
Office for official results of
vote. Votes are tallied and 90
percent of names on flyer fure
elected.
4PM: An infuriated Mark
Natelson calls an informal
meeting in S.G.A. advisor
Mike Mitura's office. No
initial action is decided on
but a meeting is arranged
with administrative V.I.P.
John Reilly.
C M T n i f l
with RAMBLER editors
Doc Clare. Phil
Schiliro, and
Ron Shandler'
The Charges
t y Phil Schiliro)
On October 16, 1975 at a
meeting between S.G.A.
president Mark Natelson and
Athletic Director Thomas
Watt the charges involving
the alleged actions taken by
the Athletic Department to
manipulate votes at the
S . G . A . election were
brought out into the open.
Neither Natelson or Watt
were particulary accurate in •
their statements, and neither
person was flexible in their
views. Because of this,
RAMBLER conducted its
own investigation and found
some of the charges true, and
some false.
Charge No.l
A t h l e t i c s were ad-monished
by the coaches that
if they didn't vote for
literally. Thus, accusations
were made on a statement by
one player who was upset
with himself. The "no vote,
particular candidates, they - n o p l a y " charge is not a valid
wouldn't play. Mr. Fred
Acee, Lacrosse Coach, was
chosen as the most blatant
offender.
No coach ever told his
players that if they didn't
vote they wouldn't play.
Coach Acee did admit that he
told the players that certain
people were running for
senatorial positions. In ad-dition
to this, he told them
that athletes would probably
have to buy their own
equipment next semester
because of the low athletic
budget. Coach Acee denies
telling the players if they
didn't vote they wouldn't
play. The charge itself
stemmed from one of the
Lacrosee players. He was
apparently trying to vote and
forgot his I.D. card. When he
was told he couldn't vote, he
8aid,"If I don't vote. Coach
Acee won't let me play this
afternoon." Nearby S.G.A.
people heard this and took it
one, but S.G.A. officials
should not be condemned.
They reacted as anyone
w o u l d , under the
circumstances.
Charge No. 2
The Athletic Department
d i s t r i b u t e d sheets an-nouncing
the candidacy of
only the athletes running for
office. There is a question if
the sheets should have been
issued.
These sheets were def-nitely
detramental to the
successful running of the
elections. They gave the
athletic candidates an unfair
advantage and put undue in-fluence
on many unknowing
voters. In addition, they were
used for electioneering
purposes and attached to
copies of What's New" as
they were being distributed
to the dorms.