Election organizations come under fire

Controversy over student-government practices at several universities, including Penn, has prompted some to doubt whether a nominations and elections committee can effectively and fairly run an election and make decisions while remaining completely autonomous.

Columbia University recently disbanded the group responsible for administering and overseeing student-government elections.

Arbitrary selection of members and failure to publicize campaign events were the Columbia College Student Council's main criticisms of the Commission on Elections, Nominations and Appointments.

Penn's equivalent of CENA, the Nominations and Elections Committee, has also come under fire this year.

After the NEC's controversial selection for positions on the University Council -- a body of administrators, faculty, students and staff that meets monthly to discuss issues of overarching importance to the University -- several student groups criticized the NEC for a lack of transparency in its decision-making and member-selection processes. However, student government leaders at Penn say that it is unlikely the NEC will be disbanded.

The CCSC plans to select five students to sit on a new elections board next fall. The applicants will undergo a more formal application and interview process than currently exists.

According to CCSC University Senator Jennifer Schnidman, the change is "more like a renaming." The new elections board will revise CENA's existing constitution and bylaws and no longer select its own members.

However, CENA Chairwoman Christine Jelinek -- one of only two official CENA members -- emphasized that the closed self-selection process for new election-committee members is crucial to the nonpartisan nature of the body.

"It is our suspicion that all members of the election board will be chosen because of their relationships with the incumbents themselves and that election appointments will be doled out in exchange for election favors and or sabotage, depending on what you want to call it," Jelinek said.

Schnidman, who helped draft the proposal to disband CENA, denied these allegations.

"The current procedure allows a lot more bias because anybody can be on CENA, and there are no guidelines to ensure that people are impartial," Schnidman said. "None of us want anyone to sabotage anyone's campaign."

Jelinek denied the charge that CENA had not adequately publicized campaign events by pointing out that voter turnout was the highest it had been in three years.

Jelinek predicted that the change will have a negative effect on voter turnout, calling it the "end to a fully functioning democratic process."

Schnidman said there is no way of knowing what effect the change will have.

CENA members believe that those who initiated the disbanding had their own agenda in mind when drafting the proposal.

Jelinek said that CENA's dissolution was used to "intimidate the election board" after several of the proposal's supporters were charged with violations by CENA during the election.

"That's ridiculous and childish," Schnidman said, denying the allegations. "We're all very professional."

Penn's Undergraduate Assembly Chairwoman Rachel Fersh and NEC Chairman David Diesenhouse do not anticipate that the NEC will disband in the near future.

"I hope it won't ever come down to that," Fersh said.

In response to criticism of the NEC, the UA Steering Committee -- a board of student leaders from major groups across campus -- recently formed an ad hoc committee to address the NEC's recruitment process and ways to maintain the body's autonomy while making its decision process more visible.

The committee has already met twice this year for discussion and plans to meet again at the beginning of next semester to make formal recommendations.

"I'm glad that at Penn we're addressing our issues through dialogue," Fersh said.

Diesenhouse said that student government benefits from a permanent, independent nominations and elections committee.

"I hope the decision is right for [Columbia's] student government," Diesenhouse said. "I don't think it would be right for ours."

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