Election Brings Out the Hard Sell at UC Berkeley : Education: Stung by classmates’ apathy, fiercely competitive student candidates resort to goofy gimmicks--and high jinks worthy of national politics.

For the past two weeks, students at UC Berkeley on their way to class ran a gantlet through Sather Gate, where would-be campus leaders waved placards and handed out campaign literature promising to increase financial aid, bring fast-food to the dorms and cut parking fines.

If it has proved anything, this year’s campaign for student government--which ended Friday--has shown that a campus known for its political activism has a rabid dislike for its own politicians.

“You can part a crowd with these signs,” said Grant Harris, 18, who carried placards for a friend’s campaign. “People start walking diagonally away from you and you have to run from one side to the other to catch them.”

More than 90 students campaigned for the 20 seats on the Senate of the Associated Students of the University of California, which controls a $700,000 budget for student groups and activities and has a say in operations of the university’s $17-million bookstore business.

Stung by the apathy among their classmates, the student politicians resorted to the outlandish to grab attention. Men wore dresses, women donned Star Trek outfits and $500 evening wear, and some candidates resorted to outright bribes.

Chris Groen, 19, was passing out okra, oranges and carrots, then stuffing his flyers in the hands of passersby. “You’ve got to make them smile,” said Groen. “Then they’ll take your flyer.”

And students who avoided being accosted by campaigning candidates could not escape the barrage of literature that covers campus billboards and bulletin boards in every classroom.

Until two years ago, candidates could post their flyers anywhere, and most did, plastering the walls and chairs inside classrooms and lecture halls. Now, the student Senate limits its hopefuls’ materials to designated bulletin boards.

“I’m annoyed by it all,” said Paul Mulbrecht, 22, a senior from Valencia. “It’s even worse than the presidential election. At least then you could turn off the TV and get away from it. But here, you do what you’re supposed to do--you go to class--and you’re bombarded with it.”

Despite the apathy among student voters, competition is intense and has led to campus high jinks that rival national politics.

The current president, executive vice president and two other student leaders were detained by university police last week after allegedly trying to break into a campus building to remove flyers at 2 a.m.--an incident that the school newspaper compared to the Watergate break-in. No charges were filed by the police or the university’s office of student conduct.

And Monday, Senate President Andrew Wong was caught in a scuffle with a female senatorial candidate. Both wanted to file charges against the other, and police eventually termed it a “mutual assault.”

“These are some of the finest minds competing for positions of leadership (on campus), and they are not demonstrating the qualities we would like to see,” said UC Police Capt. Guillermo Beckford.

Students posted flyers and ripped down their opponents’ posters on a daily basis--a battle so intense that some students got up before dawn to begin. “I’ve seen the (student Senate) president’s car out on Sproul Plaza at 6:30 a.m.,” said candidate Briny Friedman, 21, who is majoring in conservation and resource studies and has tried to win votes by offering to recycle opponents’ flyers.

“These things are all part of the campaign,” said Wong. “It’s the negative aspects of national campaigns transformed to the local level.”

The competition is strongest between the two principal parties: CalSERVE, which represents many of the university’s minority students and focuses on social issues, such as affirmative action and Proposition 187; and the Coalition of Parties, which includes fraternity and sorority groups and more conservative students, and campaigns largely on campus services and safety issues.

There is a lot for the two groups to fight over--especially at the executive level. Although officers in the Senate receive only $2,000 a year for their work, they share a $125,000 allowance that can be used to hire student workers for their offices, or travel to conferences around the country.

Wong, 20--who heads the Coalition party--said he has 10 assistants who each receive a monthly stipend of $50 to $200. He has traveled to Texas and Southern California several times for school government conferences.

The senators aren’t paid as well, but receive a variety of perks--free football passes, after-hours parking in a campus garage and free admission to many campus events--that can make them the envy of classmates.

In addition, they have control over how much space and money is allocated to various student groups and command the attention of campus administrators. “People (in the administration) who blew you off actually listen to you,” said senator Esa Yu, a sophomore from San Marino.

But to the voters--who spent much of their pre-election time trying to sidestep the hoopla--it’s all a mystery. “No one knows what the Senate does,” said senior Mark Mandell, “except the senators.”