YSU Controversy dogs election

The disqualified candidate was organizing a sit-in.
By RON COLE
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Controversy and student government elections at Youngstown State University go hand in hand.
The annual springtime balloting for study body president and vice president invariably ends in dispute.
Nothing, however, has sparked quite the level of outcry of this year's elections.
"We had a quiet year," SG President Joe Gregory said. "It looks like we're going to go out with a bang."
The story is long and complex, but the bottom line is this: The president-vice president slate of Rajah James and Nazim Wahab got the most votes in the April 18-19 election but did not win.
"Hopefully we can get this resolved within the university," said James, a sophomore computer science major from Everett, Wash. "But right now I am looking for a lawyer."
Editorials: In two scathing editorials last week, The Jambar, YSU's student newspaper, said the situation is a farce and abuse of power and called for Dr. Cynthia Anderson, YSU vice president of student affairs, to intervene.
"It's been heated, and it's been a tough issue," said Marty Manning, YSU associate director of student life and SG adviser.
SG represents the student body in all campus issues and is in charge of allocating about $30,000 annually to various student organizations, Manning said.
The president is compensated full tuition for one year, while the vice president gets half tuition, he said.
This year's election pitted James and Wahab against Joseph Long and Michelle Hettinga.
Ruled in violation: On April 16, SG representatives voted that the James-Wahab slate violated election rules by campaigning off campus and ordered the candidates to apologize and restricted future campaigning by the duo.
On April 18, the SG's grievance committee received a complaint that James-Wahab had violated the campaign restrictions and voted to disqualify them from the election. In a special meeting April 19, SG's main legislative body voted to uphold the disqualification.
By then, however, the election was already over, and the final tally showed James-Wahab winning 457 votes to 324, a 59 percent-to-41 percent margin.
Veto overrruled: Gregory, current SG president, vetoed the disqualification, but SG's constitution and bylaws committee ruled last Monday that Gregory did not have veto authority and that the disqualification would stand, Manning said.
Gregory, whose one-year presidency ends this spring, said the controversy is unfortunate, especially give James-Wahab's substantial margin of victory. He said the previous three SG elections were decided by 25 or fewer votes, compared with James-Wahab's 133-vote margin.
"It puts us in a situation where obviously we're getting a lot more attention than we're used to, and the way we handle this is going to greatly impact how students view us," Gregory said.
Opinions: In an online poll by The Jambar, 84 percent of respondents said they did not think the election was resolved in a fair and unbiased manner.
In an editorial, the newspaper said James-Wahab were railroaded and that Anderson should intervene. Anderson could not be reached to comment.
James said current SG members "orchestrated the whole thing from the beginning" because they want to "keep their power and keep control of the money."
He said he plans a sit-in at SG's final meeting of the academic year this afternoon.
"This isn't over," he said. "We're not giving up."
Long, a junior political science major from Niles and a member of SG's legislative body, said campaign rules were "made blatantly, blatantly clear" to all candidates before the election.
"If there are going to be rules, they have to be followed," he said. "It would be ridiculous to have rules and not enforce them."
"The thing that makes me most angry isn't winning or losing, but it's this whole idea of a conspiracy," he added. "It's just ridiculous."
Manning said SG's bylaws and constitution may have to be amended to help better address such election disputes.
"The challenge now is that it's going to take courageous action to rise above this and pull everyone together ... to build some bridges and mend some fences."