Council calls for arbitration to resolve A-3 elections

The results from the A-3 Assembly's October election have still not been released, and some have challenged their validity. With the results of October's elections for the Executive Board of the A-3 Assembly still unannounced, the University Council Steering Committee has called for an arbitrator to resolve several questions about the legitimacy of the election. Yesterday, the committee gave School of Social Work administrative assistant Paul Lukasiak and the sitting Executive Board a week to decide whether to enter the arbitration process. Law Professor Howard Lesnick will preside over arbitration, if it takes place. The A-3 Assembly represents hourly-wage employees across the University, in the same way the Undergraduate Assembly represents undergraduate students. Lukasiak, a candidate in the October Executive Board elections, has accused the sitting board of election fraud for failure to release the results and for failure to put several nominees on the ballot. Only four candidates ran for the eight open positions, and only 22 of the eligible voters cast ballots. University Council's interest in the election arises from the fact that the A-3 Assembly chairperson -- currently Karen Wheeler, an administrative assistant at the Center for Community Partnerships -- holds a seat on Council. If the election was not conducted appropriately, Wheeler could be sitting on Council in violation of its bylaws. Wheeler, who is the only A-3 Assembly member permitted to speak about election issues, declined to comment, adding that she would not say whether the Assembly would participate in arbitration. In October, however, she had explained that only two people attended a mandatory candidates meeting. But A-3 Elections Committee Chairperson and Wharton Real Estate Center administrative assistant Yvonne McLean said in October that there had been confusion as to the nomination deadline. McLean said she told Lukasiak he could still make nominations after the October 2 candidates' meeting because she was unaware of a September 27 deadline that Wheeler had cited. Dorothy Stewart, a secretary in the Classical Studies Department, said her name did not appear on the ballot, although Lukasiak nominated her. She added that potential candidates were not notified about deadlines or mandatory meetings. Several weeks after the election, Lukasiak approached Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum, who administers the University's open expression bylaws, and asked her to investigate the election. The University's Open Expression Committee -- an branch of the VPUL office -- referred the issue to University Council Steering, according to Steering Chairperson and Education Professor Peter Kuriloff. Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Chairperson Alex Welte's repeated requests for election results also brought the issue to Council's attention. Welte and other Council members stressed that the issue at hand is not a simple dispute between Lukasiak and Wheeler. "The whole thing has been framed inappropriately," said Welte, a Steering member and fourth-year Physics graduate student. "It is not a conflict between Mr. Lukasiak and the A-3 board." And Kuriloff explained that Lukasiak is currently the only individual involved with the arbitration, but only because no one else has expressed interest in participating. Stewart said she would be interested in the arbitration, although she had not been informed that it was taking place. Welte also complained that the issue has been discussed as a personal fight between Lukasiak and Wheeler, rather than as a question about the legitimacy of the elections and Wheeler's seat on Council. Under Council bylaws, only elected representatives may hold seats in Council. "None of my questions -- and I don't think anybody else's questions -- to Karen had to do with whether she and Mr. Lukasiak can get along -- I don't give a damn," Welte said. "The questions have to do with whether she simply tossed out the results of an election. There is compelling evidence that that is what she did, and the question is whether we are going to allow that." UA member and College sophomore Olivia Troye has also asked Wheeler and her co-chairperson Betty Thomas, an executive secretary in the Office of the Vice President for Finance, for the election results. Troye said the issue "seemed a little weird" to her since no election results were ever announced. Kuriloff said that if the two sides agree to arbitration, they will then sit down with Lesnick to discuss the issues, determine the principles and procedures to be used and agree to be bound by his findings. He added that he does not know what action Steering would take if either side refuses arbitration, since Steering must then decide whether to interfere in the proceedings of another constituency.