CSUN Student Senate to Decide Campus Government

It’s not ended yet. The seesaw battle over the Cal State Northridge student government election will continue today at a student senate session.

The student senate will decide whether to allow the incumbent party to retain control for the period beginning June 1. The alternative is to turn power over to another slate, which has been accused of violating school election rules prior to its victory at the polls in March.

After surviving two previous challenges, that victory by the We the People slate--the first for an all-minority group--was set aside by a school committee last week, following weeks of acrimony.

If the Associated Students senate allows that decision to stand, “We will sue the student senate and the university,” Joaquin Macias, 26, We the People’s one-time president-elect, said Monday.

The senate is dominated by the rival Students First faction.

Jon Hatemi, the current vice president and Students First nominee for president, and Bradley Marsh, the current president, could not be reached for comment.

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The voting in March was unusually competitive, with We the People earning 200 more votes than Students First, out of 2,411 cast. The typical CSUN student government election draws a scant 500 votes.

We the People was accused of campaigning during classes, rigging the phone-in voting system, benefiting from faculty support and spending $300 over the $500 campaign spending limit.

The student government elections committee refused to overturn the results, however, saying the rules provide for penalties only against individual candidates, while the campaign rule accusations were lodged against the entire We the People slate. A subsequent student senate session on the issue also took no action.

But last week the Constitutional Affairs Board ruled that the We the People slate should be disqualified for the campaign violations, allowing the presidential and vice presidential candidates of Students First to take office.

Both committees are composed of CSUN student volunteers.

Today’s Associated Students meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the student senate room in the student union.

“I can’t wait until this is all over,” said Yolanda Kairouz, the nonpartisan student director of CSUN’s elections committee. “I’m a student here, that’s my first priority. All this mudslinging and politics isn’t very pretty.”