The Torch, April 7, 1980

              Torch
Vol. 72, HO. 23
USPS 988-720
Monday, April 7, II
Campaigners deride incumbents
By Kevin Conley
Gripes against the incumbent Student Senate dominated the responses
of presidential and vice presidential
candidates at Wednesday's candidate
forum sponsored by the Torch.
All eight candidates running for the
two student offices took digs st the
present Paul Henry-led senate. Complaints ranged from calling it poor at
communicating with students to label
ing it "asinine."
Rick Cory, Doug Evans, and Brian
Popp are vying to take Henry's place
as president in the April 9 election.
Niels Andersen, Cliff Bryan,
William Caldwell, Dave Erickson, and
Jerry Huener represented those seeking office of student body vice
president.
Caldwell withdrew from the race
Friday.
A crowd of approximately 30 asked
questions during the two-and-a-half-
hour press conference.
Cory said students received a "very
bad deal" from this year's senate
because if failed to relate important
issues to the students.
Both of the' other presidential
candidates judged the senate more
harshly. "Senate leadership is not
acting in the best interests of the
students," Popp said. Evans accused
the present senate of ignoring the
average student because its leadership has been  "hand-in-hand  with
'Campaigners' to 10
Among the
candidates
presenting their
views st Wednesday's forum
are, from left,
Dave Erickson,
Doug Evans,
Rick Cory, Brian
Popp, Niels
Andersen.and
and Bill Caldwell
who later w
drew from
race
Elections: a look back
1979 campaign accusations aired
By Dan Friedrich
"To this day, I want to know who
was throwing bricks through my
window the weekend before the
election. . .One morning I woke up to
the sound of cracking glass. That's
just an example of the lengths this
stupid thing went to."
That's how Mara Kleinschmidt, one
of the three defeated candidates for
student body president last year,
describes that election.
A lengthy Torch investigation into
the presidential race during that
election has revealed numerous Election Code violations, common use of
"gifts" to finance campaigns without
formally exceeding spending limits,
questionable neutrality on the part of
the Elections Committee, and at least
the one instance cited above of
property damage apparently connected with the election.
With present Elections Committee
Chairman Kathy Hern reporting
numerous allegations each day about
campaign violations in the current
senate races, a look at last year's
proceedings may put the election into
perspective.
While all persons interviewed
agreed the election was a fiasco, they
didn't agree on much else. Some
representative remarks:
Paul Henry, the winning candidate:
"In my lengthy experience in campus
Eolitics, last year's election was the
loodiest, and I ascribe that to the
S'Sting personality of Howard Wertz.
e was so vicious all the time.
Personal attacks all the time. I mean,
come on, that's not what politics ia
about. . .The kind of venom that he
spewed out and the kind of allegations
never occurred.
"I was totally unprepared for what
happened in the last election. If I had
Research
Notebook
been prepared, I would have paid
much closer attention to the campaigns of the other candidates in order
to document the violations that were
perpetrated by their organizations.. .1
learned that politics is a very dirty
game and I don't intend to be involved
in it again."
Candidate Howard Wertz: "It clearly was not a fair election. . .Paul
(Henry) put people on (endorsement)
posters when he had only asked them
if he'd make a good president. . .The
whole election was really rancid the
way Paul ran his campaign."
Lori Pless, campaign worker for
Henry: "I just don't think you'll get
an honest campaign on this campus.''
Larry Meister, the other candidate,
died following an automobile accident
last semester.
O
Among the recurrent charges was
that Henry had overspent the $25
spending limit in the Elections Code.
Kleinschmidt said, "It put me in a
state of incredible disbelief that he
could put up all his things for under
$25."
Wertz echoed her: "I didn't know
how anyone could have that many
posters and pay a fair retail rate."
The posters in question were printed at Boy-Conn Printers, Inc., in
Valparaiso, Boy-Conn Manager Gary
Connors verified. Their cost was ' 'less
than $25, but not (by) much,'' he said.
They were on high-quality poster-
board and included a picture of
Henry.
Pless admits Henry "didn't put in a
receipt (to the Elections Committee)
for tape or anything," saying these
were supplied by campaign workers
like herself, ana were consequently
excluded since the Elections Code
"says only candidate expenditures."
But she denies Henry spent more
than permissible on the Boy-Conn
posters. "Paul was in charge of
ordering things for DTP (Delta Theta
Phi law fraternity, of which he is a
member) and he ordered a lot of
things. . .from Boy-Conn. He got a
discount. . .The receipt he turned in
(to the Elections Committee) just had
his posters on it. He originally got a
y receipt with Delta Theta Phi stuff
*   mixed in with his posters. So he just
^     'Accusations' to 2
^-
^
Tuition, room,
and food fees
to swell in fall
Tuition charges at VU will be
increased between 12 and 16 percent
for the 1980-81 academic year.
Tuition in the College of Arts and
Sciences and Christ College has been
set at $1,750 per semester, up $190
from 1979-80. For the Colleges of
Business Administration and Nursing,
tuition will be $1,800 per semester, up
$240 from 1979-80; and for the College
of Engineering it will be $1,850 per
semester, also up $240 from the prior
year.
For the School of Law, tuition will
be $2,200 per semester, a $220
increase over 1979-80.
A measure taken by the university
to offset the tuition increases is
removal of all former instructional,
laboratory, and studio fees, which will
now be covered by tuition — with the
exception of such special fees as those
related to music and the professional
semester for education students.
Steady increases in fixed costs,
including energy,, utilities, and food,
were cited as reasons for the setting of
meal plan charges at $440 to $525 per
semester, depending on the plan
chosen, and room rent at $400 per
semester.
As a result of board approval for a
student-fee increase approved by
student referendum last fall, the
general fee will be increased by $3 per
semester, to $86 per semester.
VU President Robert V. Schnabel
blamed inflation for the tuition increases and added, "We commit
ourselves to continue searching for
ways to help meet students' financial
needs."
Family problems
to be topic of
annual meeting
VU will host the annual "Families
in Trouble" Conference April 10.
This is the third consecutive year
the conference, a collaborative effort
of the Hammond Public School System. Purdue University Calumet,
Indiana University Northwest, and
VU, has convened in northwest Indiana.
The goal of the conference is
two-fold: to make available to the
general public professionals such as
school teachers and counselors, nurses, members of the clergy, psychotherapists, and employees within the
criminal justice and social service
systems, and to make available to
university students information on
recent developments in a wide range
'Family'to 10
Inside
••♦
Tenure tightrope
— page 2
Senate 'Steeplechase'
—pages 6,7,8 & 9