Most Conservatives Rejected in Disputed USC Student Elections

USC’s purportedly corrupt student body elections produced diverse results Friday, as three members of a controversial conservative slate won seats alongside an openly gay undergraduate, believed to be the first on the Student Senate.

All told, the conservative coalition, composed of members of the right-wing Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) and members of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, suffered more defeats than victories.

Of 15 candidates on the conservative slate, 12 lost, according to the unofficial results announced by elections manager Hanh Cao. The three conservative victors were incumbent Brad Walters and newcomers Michael Williams and John Nasir.

The conservative slate accused student officers of conspiring against them when another election, two weeks ago, was nullified amid widespread allegations of ballot-stuffing and other violations. Some conservative candidates were disqualified for irregularities before that election.

Cao, a member of the student judicial council, said the overall victors reflect a broad range of USC student political views. The Student Senate controls nearly $1 million in student funds and occupies an advocacy role on a wide range of campus issues.

Several incumbents and other candidates who campaigned against the conservative ticket won seats on the 32-member Student Senate, Cao said. The victors also include some conservatives who have no affiliation with the conservative slate.

“It really swung in all directions, liberal to conservative,” agreed Brett Spivey, believed to be the first openly gay student to win election. “It should be a good representation of the campus. . . . The campus is getting much more diverse in thought.”

Spivey is a member of the Gay and Lesbian Assembly for Student Support, a group that some conservative candidates targeted for defunding. Gays who had previously served on the Student Senate had been closeted about their homosexuality, Spivey said.

Only 1,375 of USC’s 15,900 undergraduates voted during 2 1/2 days of balloting. Cao called this “a good turnout,” although the estimated voter turnout for the first ballot, which lasted four days, ranged from 2,100 to 2,300. Those ballots were never counted.