Eigenmann referendum contested

While the presidential vote is being contested in Florida courts, on a decidedly smaller scale a campus vote might be contested in a student-run court.\nA referendum to merge two dorm organizations representing more than 9,000 students has been cast into doubt, at least temporarily, by an apparent mistake in the Eigenmann Residents Association constitution and a contestment to throw out the Eigenmann referendum.\nThe Nov. 28 referendum was to determine if the Eigenmann Residents Association would become part of Residence Halls Association. To pass, it had to be approved by both organizations.\nRHA's 10 residence halls passed the referendum, 414-21, said senior Chris Boudi, RHA election commissioner.\nAt Eigenmann Hall, 25 students voted against the referendum and 15 voted in favor of it, said senior Cynthia Frazer, Eigenmann Residents Association vice president for finance and election commissioner.\nBut because the Eigenmann Residents Association constitution requires only a 20 percent consensus, the bill was considered passed, said Sarah Nagy, Residential Programs and Services assistant director for student involvement and orientation.\nUnder Article VIII, Section 1 of the Eigenmann Residents Association constitution is the sentence: "Upon approval of 20 percent of the residents voting, the amendment shall become part of this Constitution."\nBut the provision is a mistake, said senior Dietrich Willke, president of Eigenmann Residents Association. \n"The purpose of the sentence was not as it reads now," Willke said. "The sentence doesn't really make sense if you're looking at a democratic way of voting."\nSenior Jason Dudich, president of RHA, said the wording of the Eigenmann constitution is clear.\n"Going by what is stated in the constitution and what is in the rules, Eigenmann has to abide by the rules, no matter what," Dudich said.\nDudich pointed out that the constitution was approved by the students of Eigenmann, and he said they should stick to what it says. \nBut a formal contestment has been filed, and the merger of Eigenmann Residents Association into RHA will likely come down to the Eigenmann judicial board, Nagy said. She said results won't be certified until the contestment is cleared up.\nAnd the judicial board is not scheduled to meet until January, said sophomore Mark Illingworth, Eigenmann Hall director of business operations.\nIllingworth filed the contestment last night. He was one of four who wrote the Eigenmann Residents Association constitution.\nThe contestment to the Eigenmann judicial board argues that changes must be made because of the sentence's ambiguity, Illingworth said. All four of the writers of the Eigenmann constitution support the contestment, Illingworth said.\nThe contestment requests the judicial board hear arguments as soon as possible. It argues that the Eigenmann constitution is "ambiguous and written incorrectly," therefore the board should use its authority to declare the amendment null and void. \n"I don't want to fight," Illingworth said. "I just want to see the mistake corrected. It's grossly unjust the way it is now."\n"As a framer of the ERA constitution I can say with certainty that we did not intend for the constitution to be interpreted the way that it was," he said.\nIllingworth said he believes common sense dictates an amendment can't be passed without a majority.\nJunior Sara Ripp, a senior vice president of Eigenmann Residents Association, saw it much simpler.\n"I'm for what the students want," she said. "And the majority voted no, so I go with them." \nTo be considered, a contestment must be filed with Frazer within 48 hours of the vote, Illingworth said. When she receives it, she can decide either to approve contestment (allow it to be heard by ERA judicial board) or she can decline it.\nDudich said he said he has faith in Eigenmann Residents Association to handle the contestment situation.\n"Eigenmann will look at if the majority speaks louder than what the constitution says," he said.\nThe RHA constitution requires a two-thirds vote to pass amendments, Nagy said.\nAfter meeting with the four authors of the constitution, Illingworth said he changed his mind about a contestment he originally planned to file.\nHe said he was prepared to file a contestment on four grounds: the Eigenmann judicial board has judicial review of all legislation, the board must "declare null and void legislation" interfering with a center's operation, the Eigenmann General Council didn't inform the students of Eigenmann properly as determined by the constitution and the General Council's vote by e-mail to allow the referendum violates the state's sunshine laws.\nThe confusing part of the Eigenmann constitution was noticed prior to the referendum, Frazer said.\n"I had questioned the constitution before the election," she said. "People were confused about the interpretation."\nBut she said nobody could tell her how to interpret the amendment rules.\n"Even to the end of the evening, I did not know how the votes would be tallied," Frazer said.\nFrazer volunteered to serve as the election commissioner when Eigenmann officials told her they planned to pay someone to do it, she said.\n"No one was going to run the table down there," she said. "They were going to use the general council fund to pay someone."\nAlong with the fact that only 40 out of 1,000 residents voted, that is evidence that many in Eigenmann are apathetic, partly because it's not a controversial issue for many students, she said.\nAnother problem was promotion. Illingworth said the referendum wasn't adequately promoted -- and that's why only 40 people voted.\n"There wasn't a lot of opposition, because not a lot of people knew about it," he said.\nDudich agreed.\n"I do have a concern that maybe some things weren't conveyed to the residents and maybe some things were not answered," he said.\nIf the judicial board decides to uphold the merger of RHA and Eigenmann Residents Association, as of January, Eigenmann will be considered a voting member of RHA, except for financial matters, Nagy said. Eigenmann activity money would be first transferred to RHA beginning fall semester 2001, she said.