1967-05-09; Central Michigan Life

              JVOt. 47, NO. 49
CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY, MT. PLEASANT, MICHIGAN
Two Acquitted
Tuesday, May 9, 1967
S-Judicinry
Because
ferities
Insuffic
(Photo by D. Johnson)
CHANTING THEIR need for more counselors, the Indian
children and their counselors paraded about campus Saturday promoting the Chippewa Big Brother-Big Sister program. "We're Not Sponsored by the CIA" claimed one of
[ the many signs carried in the event.
by TONY SOMMER
Life Administration Editor
Two poll workers accused
of ballot stuffing in the April
5 student government elections were acquitted by Student Judiciary last night.
Michael Munro, F e n t o n
sophomore and Clift Bergemann, Stevensville sophomore, had been charged with
placing 31 fraudulent ballots
for student body officers and
16 fraudulent ballots for junior class officers in the ballot
box at Warriner Hall while
working there from 4 to 5 p.m.
on election day.
In its decision, the court
stated that there was enough
evidence to prove that the ballot stuffing did take place and
that it probably took place
while the two men were working at the polling place. The
court found, however, that
there was insufficient evidence
Four To Receive 75th Awards
t Annual Honors Convocation
Four 75th Anniversary Distinguished Service Awards
will be presented at Thursday's
Honors Convocation which will
single out more than 1,000 students for their achievements
in academics, athletics, publications, music, speech and
other campus activities.
Receiving the Service Awards
are TJrs. Opal Thorpe Loomis,
Dr. Warren Giese, Robert McCabe and Dr. David Morgan.
Mrs. Loomis, a school nurse
with the Beecher Schools in
Flint, is a former instructor
and nurse at Central. She was
connected with the health service for 18 years from 1942-
^O and is credited with
founding' of the Boosters Club.
Both McCabe and Giese are
Central alumni.  McCabe is
iMik In Class Sent
tudent Request
deputy assistant secretary for
Renewal Assistance with the
US Department of Housing
and Urban Development in
Washington, D.C.
Giese is head of the physical
education department in the
School of Education at the University of South Carolina.
Morgan, director of college
relations for Dow Chemical,
has made contributions to the
increased growth and activity
in many areas at Central, especially in the School of Business Administration.
This will be the second presentation of the 75th Anniversary Awards. The first was
awarded last month to author-
educator John Tebbel, a CMU
alumnus now teaching journalism at New York University.
Carl Haas, director of fine
arts for WJR radio in Detroit
and newly named president of
the National Music Camp and
Interlochen Arts Academy will
give the speech at the convocation. His topic is "American
Culture in Orbit."
to prove whether both men had
polled the illegal ballots or
which specific defendant had
done so.
Bergemann was absent from
the polls for about half an hour
of the time the two men were
on duty. After nearly an hour's
deliberation the court decided
that it could not reasonably
convict both or either of the
men.
The trial was originally
scheduled for Thursday but
was postponed until yesterday
when neither the defendants
nor their counsel, Wallace Tuttle, appeared. Tuttle sent a letter telling the court that he
had not had enough time to
prepare his case.
Prosecutor Brian Veenhuis
based his case on the premise
that the ballots could only have
been tampered with during
that one hour at Warriner Hall.
He pointed out that an empty
ballot box was brought there
at 4 p.m. when the two men
went on duty and was picked
up and returned to the University Center an hour later
for counting.
All Marked Identically
The ballots cast during that
hour were all marked identically. All "of the student body
votes had gone to the Jan
Appel-Dan Van Vleet ticket.
"There is a negligible possibility that someone could
have previously removed the
ballots at random (before the
election) and cast them so that
they would have shown the
correct sequence as they did,"
Veenhuis told the court in his
closing remarks.
Tuttle contended that "the
range of possibilities negates
the circumstantial evidence."
He argued that the action could
possibly have happened in another manner if other people
Rison Maps Out 'Year
by JIM BRAKORA functioning  personalities   in   positions   of  re-
Life News Editor sponsibility has gone out with the coming of
the year of innovation.
"Student government is to represent the Next he turned his attention to the area
feelings, the ideas and the attitudes of all     of communications. First on his list of possible
the students of Central Michigan University,     innovations was some type of student bulletin
Rank in class will be sent
to local Selective Service
B°ards at the end of the current semester by the registrar's
office only upon written revest of a student.
, Men students wishing rank
ln class mailed to their boards
toust pick up a request card
}n the registrar's office and return it on or before June 10.
Rank in class of those who
uo not fill out a request card
jwl] be sent to the local boards
but no promise as to the speed
of Processing will be made,
according to Robert Connell,
assistant registrar. Therefore,
*ariure to request that rank in
class be sent could result in
^-classification or induction.
not just a few."
This was Student Body President Steve
Rison's summary of the job confronting student government in tthe coming year, the
year he has called the "Year of Innovation."
or publication with "possibly a little more work
on the part of individual senators to get these
things tacked up and made available."
Also mentioned as possible aids to communication were the reinstatement of the president's coffee conference on Saturday mornings
It came as  a part  of his  State  of  the     anci the possibility of a "students meet the ad
Campus Address delivered at the Student Senate meeting last night.
To begin his year of innovation Rison
turned a critical eye toward the Senate.
"In the past- there has been a laxness in
the Student Senate . . . The Senate is a major
legislative body ... It is therefore imperative
that this body be a working, functioning organization."
Revitalize Committee System
Getting down to specifics he said, "The
committee system has fallen into disuse and
the committee system, I feel, is one of the essential parts of student government operation.
"Starting right now the committee system
is going to be revitalized and is going to get on
its feet again."
Regarding committee chairmen, Rison stated
emphatically,  "The tradition of keeping non-
ministration,  students meet the faculty  type
program."
Revise Inconsistent Constitution
"In another area," he said, "I would like
to see a constitution committee set up with the
express objective of reexamining and possibly
recommending revisions to our Student Body
Constitution which is, as we all know, riddled
with inconsistencies."
The problem with Venue Committee was
cited as stemming from these inconsistencies.
"Our constitution is not perfect," he noted,
"and if we are under the illusion that it is and
should not be tampered with, then we as representatives are guilty of serious neglect of
responsibility."
Next to come under the fire of the innova-
See — RISON ADDRESS — Back Page
who had handled the ballots
had had the inclination to do
the same thing.
Both Munro and Bergemann
testified and denied knowing
anything about the ballot stuffing.
Counters Note Discrepancy
The discrepancy in the ballots from the Warriner Hall
box was first noted by vote
counters on the night of the
election. Closer scrutiny revealed what one member of
the elections committee called
a "marked similarity" in the
markings of the ballots. The
heavy vote for the Appel-Van
Vleet ticket also was different
from previous voting patterns
earlier in the day. The illegal
votes were not tallied with the
other ballots.
The trial, lasting more than
two hours, included the testimony of many student politicians including former president Bob Ballard, Jan Appel,
Dan Van Vleet, both counsels
and several members of the
elections committee.
I
isc§ra
Ray Kern and Dick Cronk
will engage in an informal debate titled "A Public Discussion on Viet Nam" tomorrow
at 7 p.m. in Anspach 161.
The debate is the result of
a challenge extended through
a letter to the editor by Cronk
to Kern, organizer of the Viet
Nam Peace Committee.
Cronk will team with Tom
Shepard to support the US involvement in Viet Nam while
Steve Ward will join Kern in
opposition.
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W\3(f£WWul
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STEVE RISON
"The committee system is going to be revitalized and is
going to get on its feet again."
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