ASUO rules Geary’s bid illegal
By KEVIN HACKETT
Of the Emerald
Craig Geary, whose write-in bid for the
ASUO presidency has been ruled illegal, is
urging his supporters to cast a protest vote
for him in the ASUO runoff elections which
begin today.
"We re going to tell the students who
want to vote for Craig to write him in, bend
their ballots and then sign a recall petition,"
according to Geary campaign representa
tive Carol McMullen.
Geary, third-place finisher in last week's
presidential primary, was told his write-in
campaign violates the ASUO Constitution
by Jamie Burns, ASUO vice-president for
administration and finance.
Geary notified Burns of his intent to run a
write-in campaign last Friday. Bums said
at that time, he thought the campaign
would be legal and gave Geary his okay.
"To be frank, I made a mistake,” Burns
said Tuesday. “I said it was fine on Friday
but after looking at the constitution over the
weekend, I decided it wasn’t. There was
confusion and it was entirely my fault.
Write-in campaigns aren’t specifically
mentioned in the constitution. Section 10.2
of the constitution states: “A majority of
votes cast in the ASUO Executive election
shall be necessary to elect. If no candidate
receives a majority, a run-off election shall
be held within one week between the two
candidates receiving the highest number
of votes.”
Concerning this section of the constitu
tion, Burns said, "My interpretation of this
is that the election is between two people ’
Geary calls the constitution "vaguely
worded."
Bums said the ASUO Elections Board
will not count any votes made for Geary.
He asked that students refrain from bend
ing their ballots.
“All that's going to do is cost us time and
money. The IFC and EMU Board positions
will also be on the computerized ballot.
Bent ballots will be kicked out by the com
puter and will have to be counted by
hand.”
Burns said Geary s best avenue for pro
test would be to challenge the election
procedure before the ASUO Constitutional
Committee. If the committee upheld
Geary’s challenge, another election would
have to be held.
McMullen sized up Geary’s reasons for
continuing his campaign. “Most people
when they lose by a couple votes think,
‘Well try again some other time.' We re
saying why not try again now.”
The ASUO presidency won’t be the only
position students will cast their votes for
today and Thursday. One position each on
the Incidental Fee Committee and the
EMU Board will be up for grabs. Four Stu
dent University Affairs Board positions will
be decided as well as the offices of senior
class president and vice-president, junior
class president and sophomore class
vice-president.
The polls open at 10 a.m. Voting will be
conducted at booths in Room 150, Geol
ogy in front of Gilbert and the law school
until 4 p.m. The booth at the library will
remain open until 6 p.m. and at the EMU
until 7:30 p.m. Dorm residents may vote at
Carson Hall or Hamilton Complex dining
room from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 to
6:30 p.m.
1
Survey studies campus core
Survival Center aims
to ease traffic flow
and noise pollution
By E G WHITE-SWIFT
Of the Emerald
Ken Kesey and an assistant at
torney general for Oregon have at
least one experience to share
They can confer with a Univer
sity vice-president, a fire mar
shall. the director of student af
fairs and about 1,200 other cam
pus motorists that were checked
at an interview station at 13th Av
enue and University Street yes
terday.
The traffic survev interviews
will be conducted again today
from 7:30 a m. to 6:30 p.m.
Motorists are detained for 30
seconds while they answer sev
eral questions posed by teams of
student interviewers.
After the interviewer notes the
time, type of vehicle, approximate
age of driver and number of pas
sengers in each vehicle stopped,
the driver is asked:
• Is the origin of your trip on
campus?"
• Is the destination of this trip
on campus?"
• What is your association with
the University?"
If the response to the first two
questions is "no," then the drivers
are asked why they are using the
intersection.
"Most of the people not as
sociated with campus are lost,
looking for their motel on Franklin
Blvd," said student interviewer
Jeri Blodgett. "Quite a few,
though, are just cruising the cam
pus."
Blodgett and 25 other students
are asking the questions as part
of a survey of the intersection
funded by the University’s plan
ning office. The planning office
will publish a report on the survey
results later this spring. It will be
submitted to the student-faculty
planning committee and to Uni
versity Pres. William Boyd as a
guide for future planning.
“Not only are we interested in
the volume of traffic, but also the
nature of the traffic," says Eric
Those weren't ticket officers stopping drivers Tuesday on the corner
of 13th Avenue and University Street. They were just interviewers
polling the drivers on their destinations and origins as part of a traffic
survey being conducted by the Survival Center. The survey continues
todav
Wolfe of the planning office.
"There has been a lot of interest
expressed in this intersection s
traffic patterns.
"Proposals to close the inter
section or change the whole 13th
and University corridor to a one
way street with bicycle lanes
have surfaced at planning meet
ings," he adds.
Although some motorists avoid
the checkpoints, Wolfe estimates
that close to 70 per cent of the
traffic passing through the inter
section will be checked. Bicyclists
and pedestrians are not being in
terviewed, as they are not chan
nelized through any specific cor
ridor like the cars.
The traffic survey was initiated
by the University’s Survival
Center, which also coordinated
the hiring of the student inter
viewers. Survival Center director
Bruce Walker says he has been
trying to involve the University
administration in the intersection
planning for over a year, adding
that the administration has begun
slowly to cooperate on what he
considers the major transporta
tion problem on campus.
"The intersection is the core of
the campus, as far as pedestrians
and bicyclists are concerned,”
Walker says. “With cars tunneled
through the area, the transporta
tion modes of people in a hurry
conflict and a safety problem has
occurred. It also creates air and
noise pollution in the campus
core.”
Walker, Wolfe and other cam
pus planners hope that two days
of questions will provide the in
formation to settle the conflict of
students, faculty and machines
all moving in different directions.
Amazon tenants
protest rent hike
By RICHARD SEVEN
Of the Emerald
About 50 Amazon area residents marched into the University
.Housing Council (UHC) meeting Tuesday, protesting a proposed $10
rent increase.
Carrying signs and chanting "No way, we won’t pay,” the demon
strators encircled the council and began to fire a barrage of questions
at housing director H P. Barnhart.
Bill Groesz, a spokesperson for Amazon Community Tenants
(ACT), listed three major demands of the tenants:
One, we want no rent increase for three years,” he said. "Two,
we want a separate rent council. You can sit on this (UHC) council but
you have no power; you can only advise and represent. Three, we
want a serious study done of the co-op proposal. We just won't pay
any rent until this situation is resolved.
The co-op proposal involves a plan under which residents of the
Amazon community would manage themselves instead of having the
University housing council administer rules.
“Four years ago we paid $42.50 and now they re raising it to S80.
Ten bucks a year is hard to justify and it hurts, he said.
The tenants also criticized the council for its "cosmetic improve
ments." They claimed the council was wasting money on mainte
nance the tenants could do themselves.
Donald Lee. assistant director of housing, said part of the problem
is differing prerogatives.
The tenants are thinking short run — from year to year. We have
to think of the next 30 to 40 years. The only insurance that the area will
continue to be livable is to put money into it and maintain it, Lee said.
The tenants complained that while their increase was S10, the
other married student housing project in the Westmoreland area re
ceived oniy a S1.50 increase.
Lee claims the rates were established on a cost per unit basis and
Amazon is simply the more expensive of the two to maintain.
Barnhart explains. "We are a debt service Our properties are
self-supportive and self-liquidating. We have to pay for all the ex
penses. supplies and maintenance salaries — it s a high cost expense
operation. We give them $1.000 a year, almost as a gift in lower rates.
He cited inflation as the main reason for the increase.
The Amazon residents see it another way:
"They re justifying raising our rent by comparing our rate with the
rest of Eugene-Springfield. but we re not in competition with private
landlords, said Groesz. "We ll not pay administration costs The hous
ing is shipyard barracks — no mortgage or property taxes. The in
crease is insane.
The Amazon Project is now paid off while the Westmoreland area
is still in debt. The protesters complained that the council is making
them subsidize Westmoreland. Barnhart responded by saying that
although Carson dormitory is paid off. it must keep contributing to all
dorm housing.
“This was a distracting way to do business," Barnhart said, refer
ring to the mob questioning. "It s their right to ask questions and the
answers are available, but many won t accept the answers.
The battle over the rent increase is expected to remain strong until
a public hearing May 17 in Room 101, EMU, at 7 p.m.
f
Terms extend at Bookstore
Members of the Bookstore’s board of directors will serve
two-year terms rather than one-year stints as the result of ballot
ing Monday and Tuesday.
The amendment, which required a two-thirds majority, re
ceived 120 yes votes and 33 no votes. The change is aimed at
providing more experienced board members who will be able to
spend more time in active service. The two-year positions begin
with the 1978 elections.
In addition, seven new board members were elected. They
include Steve Girsch, faculty position; Ann Nakashima and Jeff
Warren, sophomore positions; Phil McConville, student-at-large
position; Pat O'Malley and Charles Lundeen, graduate student
positions, and Grace Thomas, freshman position.