Abortion Issue Heats Up Race for Campus President

A traditionally routine Glendale Community College election for student body president has turned into a heated debate this semester over abortion and whether it is appropriate for the leading student official to take a stand on the issue.

Walter Ortiz, a 22-year-old architecture major, is running for reelection at the college against Vice President Mercedes Delaney, 19. But unlike many reelection bids, this campaign will not be a cakewalk.

Ortiz has faced mounting criticism that his antiabortion views have impeded his presidency. And to add to his problems, his critics will ask the student legislature today to approve a recall effort against him.

Ortiz and Delaney say the main issues at the campus are typical: recycling, student apathy and the need for more parking space.

But a recent campuswide surge of disagreement over abortion has overshadowed those problems, the candidates said--although the college has no policy or funding mechanism that directly links the campus or the student legislature to the issue.

Some students agree.

“At a place like Glendale College, where student money has not been spent on abortion, I don’t see what the purpose is of making it an issue,” said Moses Remedios, a leader of Collegians for Life, a campus antiabortion group formed last fall. Ortiz also is a member.

“But if someone’s going to make a big issue out of it, we’re ready to give it a fight,” Remedios added.

Indeed, the controversy has sparked interest in the elections among the college’s 13,000 students, who will vote on May 1 and 2. Ortiz won last semester’s presidential race with 251 of 475 votes--a voter turnout of 3.6%. Delaney garnered 215 votes to become vice president.

Ortiz has been criticized in recent weeks by two fledgling campus groups--Collegians for Choice, an abortion-rights organization formed earlier this year, and the Student Voice Coalition, which is concerned with a hodgepodge of issues and considers itself a watchdog of the student legislature.

Those groups have criticized Ortiz for what they see as a failure to deal with campus issues such as the lack of student parking, said Shaunn Cartwright, a leader of the coalition.

But Ortiz has been criticized most for his involvement in Collegians for Life and the Glendale College Republicans, as well as his vocal opposition to abortion-rights advocates who have spoken at the college, Cartwright said.

“Walter can’t keep his political views separate from his personal views,” she said. “A lot of people were upset when he came out so adamantly pro-life after the election” last semester.

Hoover Zariani, a leader of Collegians for Choice, said many students were unaware of Ortiz’s views when they voted for him. “If I had known, I wouldn’t have voted for him. I think it affects every way you look at things, so it’s important to know where the candidates stand.”

Ortiz acknowledged that he has made statements at abortion events or to abortion-rights advocates. But, he said, his comments have been misinterpreted. He said he was accused of calling students “baby killers,” but said he used the term only jokingly with a friend who advocates abortion rights.

“My personal opinions in no way affect my ability to run the legislature,” Ortiz said. “And as Walter Ortiz, I reserve the right to believe what I want to believe and join the clubs I want to join.”

There is no policy that restricts the student body president from active involvement in clubs, according to the college’s student activities office.

“Everybody is going to look to you as president first, so it comes down to using personal judgment,” said Joseph Wilke, a former student body president who is now the student election commissioner. “But personally, I think it’s great that he’s taken the opportunity to become involved.”

Delaney, Ortiz’s opponent, said that she has an opinion about abortion but that she does not believe the issue is pertinent to the election.

But, she added, “A president has got to be careful of entanglement.”

“Walter has very strong convictions,” Delaney said. “I see it as courage, but as . . . president, his first duty should be to his students.”

Hoping to unseat Ortiz, Collegians for Choice and the Student Voice Coalition last week co-sponsored candidates for president, vice president and at-large legislative representative. The presidential candidate the groups endorsed, James Mixon, on Monday dropped out of the race, but on Wednesday announced that he would mount a write-in campaign at the urging of his supporters. Eve Kevorkian, who had declared for vice president, decided to run for another office.

Mixon and other critics have led an effort to recall Ortiz, who has about six weeks remaining in his first term. It may have little effect, they acknowledged: About 100 signatures have been gathered on a petition for a recall vote by the student body, but signatures from 15 of the students, or about 2,000--are needed to initiate the vote.

Mixon said the group will ask the student legislature today to call for such a vote.

Mixon appears to have the support of Collegians for Choice and the Student Voice Coalition, which had been prepared to back Delaney. But a write-in campaign won’t be easy, Mixon said Wednesday.

“I don’t know if I’ll win,” Mixon said. “But at least this will show we’re not happy with Walter.”