The GSB elections that are held every year in the spring often cause confusion among voters. This year, most students go to the polling booths knowing which presidential and vice presidential candidates they want to vote for, but are misinformed about the voting procedures for the senatorial positions. While the Daily has done an exceptional job of informing students about the issues, it is also imperative that those who work at the election sites are polite and informative to students with questions. Unfortunately, we know of at least two instances when persons working in the Oak Room of the Memorial Union did not properly inform students about the possibility of voting for the international seats by giving up the right to vote for other senatorial seats. Not only were they not informative, but they were also extremely rude and acted as if they were absolutely not accountable to anyone.

Right before I went to vote, I talked to an acquaintance who had already voted on Monday. She told me that she had gone to the Oak Room with Daily in hand, so that she knew for sure that she would not forget the names of the two write-in candidates for the international seats. Unfortunately, she was unaware that she could not vote for the collage representatives if she chose to vote for the international seats; nor was she informed of this by one of the people working at the polls. It was only afterwards that she was told that she had no chance to vote for the international seats because she had voted for other senatorial positions. In addition, they were rather rude and intimidating to her when she asked questions.

After hearing this, when I went to vote, I made sure that I said that it was the international seats for which I wanted to vote. I was led to a booth by a man, of whom I asked, in order to be absolutely sure, if I can write in the names of both Speroni and Chekhuri in the spaces provided. He told me that I could only write in one name. So, of course, this is what I did — thinking that those who worked at the polls would not misinform me. I know that I asked the question clearly, and that the man told me that I could only write in one candidate’s name. Soon after I walked out, my friend Neelika Perreira, an alumnus who was very involved with international student issues while she was in school, informed me that I should have written both names in the slots. So I went back in to complain, and was brushed off with placatory remarks such as, “Oh, don’t worry, Casey Powers won’t win: everybody has been writing in the names of those two people that the International Student Council endorsed.” In addition, the man who had misinformed me now flatly denied he had done so. He now tried to tell me that he had told me I could write in the names of both candidates.

Obviously, anyone can make a mistake after hundreds of students have asked questions about voting procedures: this is not what prompted me to write this letter. It is the fact that no one wanted to be held accountable after misinforming me, and that they tried to cover up their mistakes by lying. Furthermore, how would they know if Casey Powers had been getting any votes or not unless they had been looking at the ballots? Is that not a violation of election procedures?

As I had to rush off to class, Ms. Perreira went to the Oak Room and asked to make an official complaint about the person who had misinformed me. She asked one of the women sitting at the table for the man’s name, while pointing him out discreetly, so as to not cause him any undue embarrassment. At this point, the man was called over, and Ms. Perreira asked him for his name, explaining that she wanted to make an official complaint about his actions. He said to her (in front of several people who can attest to this), ” Who are you going to complain to? There really is no one whom you can complain to. Nobody really supervises me.” To this arrogant remark, Ms. Perreira informed him that he was, of course, accountable to someone, and that she was going to write a letter to the Daily. After this, the man reluctantly identified himself as Ryan Flaugh, and added that she could contact Terri Houston (the assistant dean of students) or Carol Cordell (the student organizations development coordinator), while saying that “. . . they really are not my supervisors, so I am not really accountable to them.” As I mentioned, all this was said in front of other people who can attest to the accuracy of my words.

Indeed, we did take Ryan Flaugh’s advice, and made an official complaint to Terri Houston and Carol Cordell; they both saw copies of this letter before it was sent to the Daily. We also presented our complaint to GSB at Tuesday’s meeting and talked to several candidates about the absolutely unacceptable levels of rudeness and arrogance which are exhibited by some of the people working in the Oak Room. Ultimately, I hope that our letter to the Daily will make Mr. Flaugh realize that he is indeed accountable to someone, and that, yes, we can really complain to “someone” about him. As international students, we have just as much right to make our voice heard on this campus as any other group. Misinforming, then trying to lie one’s way out of trouble, and, finally, attempting to intimidate us into keeping quiet will simply not do. Everyone is accountable to someone else; and you, Mr. Flaugh, in your position as election commissioner, are accountable to the entire student body.

Lars Angenent

Graduate Student

Environmental Engineering

Neelika Perreira

Alumnus

English Literature