Yesterday, (Feb. 27) Lars Angenent and I wrote a letter to the Daily complaining about the GSB election commissioner’s poor conduct and general rude behavior at the polling room in the Memorial Union on Tuesday, Feb. 26. We, together with Vanessa Lutz, a member of the International Student Council who was present at the time Mr. Flaugh was rudely trying to ignore my complaint, went to the GSB meeting held on Wednesday night to issue an official complaint about the election commissioner.

While we were respectfully and politely received, I was dismayed at the lack of resolution that was reached at the meeting. It seems as if there really is no one that Mr. Flaugh is accountable to in GSB, even though he is the election commissioner. One senator, Mr. Amman, went so far as to say that Mr. Flaugh was, at the very least, only guilty of “… poor customer service.” I disagree wholeheartedly. People do not go to the polls in order to purchase a tin of tomato soup, they are there to exercise their right to vote. Accordingly, this important privilege should not be hampered by uninformative and arrogant people whose very job is to help a voter sort out any confusion.

Mr. Hamilton, another senator, mentioned several times that he did not think that Mr. Flaugh’s follies should be discussed by GSB. I wonder why not? Is Mr. Flaugh not chosen as election commissioner by members of GSB, and thus accountable to them? I do not believe that either of the senators I mentioned meant to trivialize the issues we brought up; indeed, as I mentioned before, everyone was exceedingly polite, if ineffective.

When Mr. Flaugh was, finally, brought before us, and made his apology, I was at least thankful that he did not try to lie his way out of the whole thing. Of course, he could not have done so, even if he wanted to, as there were witnesses to his actions.

While his apology may have seemed sincere that night at GSB, I question the authenticity of such an apology: how sincere is an apology for wrong-doing before a firing squad? Would Mr. Flaugh have sought me out and apologized had I not gone to the trouble of making an official complaint to Terri Houston, Carol Cordell, and GSB, as well as writing to the Daily? I sincerely doubt this. Indeed, Mr. Flaugh could not have cared less about his maltreatment of voters unless they, on their own, bothered to find out to whom, exactly, he was accountable. He was hoping that we were typical, apathetic students who would feel intimidated by his childish display of arrogance and not take any action against him. Mr. Flaugh also cited the fact that he was “tired” from a long day of working at the polls as an excuse for his rudeness. This is simply not an acceptable manner of getting out of inexcusably bad behavior. If such is the fragility of Mr. Flaugh’s nature, he should not be appointed to a public service position.

As an adult, l hope that he knows that one cannot weasel one’s way out of actions one chooses to take by offering ineffectual explanations.

Furthermore, while Mr. Flaugh may have looked apologetic at the GSB meeting, squirming in his chair like a miserable little boy who was caught with dirty hands at the dinner table, this was not at all what he was like earlier on that day; when he was telling me that he was not accountable to anyone, he was a legend in his own mind: unpunishable, and above criticism from minions such as myself. A small amount of power and responsibility had suddenly transformed this student into The Dictator of Elections for Life; yes, Mr. Flaugh had a problem with being a novice at handling authority.

Of course, the primary reason we went to the GSB meeting on Wednesday night was because we hoped that our complaint would trigger some change on the final day of elections; we hoped that students who came to vote on Thursday would be treated more politely than we were and given better information, had they asked for assistance.

We hope that in future elections, the ballot papers will contain all the information necessary for the voting procedure, so that voters will not have to depend solely on monitors for assistance. As Ms. Vanessa Lutz mentioned to me after we spoke to the GSB, “The elections are much too important for them to be orchestrated by a few people who are bound to make mistakes.”

If any wrong-doing is found on the part of Mr. Flaugh by GSB, we hope he will be reprimanded fairly and appropriately. We were not wanting an apology from him, as a forced apology means little to us. The damage he may have caused to other students by misinforming and intimidating them is irreversible.

Indeed, while Mr. Flaugh may not be accountable to anyone at GSB, he does, as pointed out previously, have to answer to the entire student body. If anything, he needs to make his apology to all of these students to whom he is unmistakably accountable.

Neelika Perreira

Alumnus

English Literature