Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Council Majority becisipn Written By Leaders For Student Group Beall Eligible Lost Year And Neglected Opportunity To Run BY SOL BLATT, JR. Last week the Student Council met to decide whether or not Willis Beall was eligible to run for Presi dent of the Student Body. Mr. Beall claimed first that under his constitutional right lie should be allowed to run at least one time while he was at Carolina, and ac cording to his contention he was not eligible to run last year. He was coming before the Student Council because of a ruling n1ade by the Student Council this year stating that no person could run for President of the Student Body un less he had between 93 and 105 credits in June. There were four exceptions to this ruling, as follows: 1. That a person who entered school in February could drop back and run in that class after lie had dropped back z semester. 2. That if a person in the en gineering school, because of the ex tra-credit courses taken in that school should have an over abun dance of credits and still have only been in school three years, he should be allowed to run. :1. That a student having made all A's in his entire three years in school and due to this fact had an extra supply of credits should be allowed to run and should not be excluded because he had an over supply of credits. 4. If any person apparently had been done an injustice bf the de cision of the Student Council, that he could come before us and appeal. Since Mr. Beall will have 119 credits in June, 1941 and since lie did not come within the above ex ceptions he came before us and ap pealed from the decision of the Student Council declaring him in eligible this year. As I have al ready stated, he felt he was not eligible last year, and under this ruling he was not eligible this year, and lie felt that lie should certainly be allowed to run one time. After much discussion, the Student Coun ciP narrowed the point down to the restriction as to whether or not Mr. Beall could have run last year. We reached the conclusion that had Mr. Beall been eligible and able to run last year, then lie certainly should not be able to run this year, but had lie not been able to run last year, that we would make an exception to our rule and let him run this year. That decided, we appointed a committee to look up the facts in the Registrar's office as to Mr. Beall's credits and report back to us at a Student Council meeting on Thursday. On Thunrsday, after much discussioni, the Student Council v'otedl, seven to five not to allowv him to runi this year, onie member refusing to vote, and one member being libsent, andl the President not b)eing able to vote unless there had been a tie. On Friday there was a petition handed to the President of the Counicil requesting a meeting of the Student Council to reconsidler the action that they took on Thurs (lay. Such a meeting was called for Monday afternoon and this meeting was held. According to our rules, to reconisidler, the motion F OR.... 0LUNCH *PARTY *ICE CR1 *BREAKF COLUMBIA -SA 1246 Lai Think of COLUMBI) -Proa ~:Solel At 'T'} Makes to reconsider must be made by a person who voted negative on the majority side of the question. In other words, a person must move to reconsider who had voted not to allow Mr. Beall to run. After some discussion on Mon day, a motion to reconsider was asked for, and because there was' no such motion to reconsider since no one had any new evidence to offer on the subject, the Student Council passed a motion to prepare a statement for public record, by those voting on the majority side as to the reason they took the ac tion that they did, and also a state ment by those voting on the mi nority side as to why they decided as they did. The two statements are as fol lows: Report Qf the Majority In order to clarify, not justify, our decision as regards our ruling declaring Willis Beall ineligible to offer as a candidate for the office of Student Body President for the year 1941-42, we, the majority mem bers of the Student Council submit the following report: 1. That it was the unanimous opinion of the Student Council that every student should have one, and only one, opportunity to offer as a candidate for the office ot Student Body President. 2. That it is our opinion, after an exhaustive investigation, that Willis Beall was eligible to offer for the office of Student Body 'President for the school year 1940-41, and would have been allowed to do so hadf he made application. The rea sons for the above conclusion are: A. That the Student Council is the sole and supreme body to con strue the Constitution of the Stu dent Body and to decide upon the eligibility of the candidates for the various campus offices. The au thority for this function is as fol lows: 1. Student Body Constitution of 1937 (which was in effect last year, at which time we contend that Beall could have qualified to run for the office under consideratioti), Article 4, Section 1. "All Elections shall be conducted by secret ballot and shall be under the supervision and cont,rol of the Student Council." This constitution is published in The Gamecock each year. 2. We quote from page 28 of the Garnet and Black for the year 1939; "The Student Council must per form the duties outlined by the Constitution including the super vision of all elections and deciding on questions pertaining to nomina tions and eligibility of voters and candidates." :. We quote from the Garnet and Black of the year 1940; "With two exceptions, the Student Council has no0 cxcuse to meet--one meeting to have their pictures made for tile Year Book, the other to supervise electionls by deciding questionls in regard to nominations and the eligi b)ility of voters and canldidlates." 4. We quote Mr. \V. Flinn Gil landl, Assistant Registrar. a. "The Registrar's Office takes no part in determining the eligib)ility of candlidates for student offices, such being the prerogative of thle Student Council, whose duty it is to enforce thle By-Laws of tihe Stu dent Body Constitution." h. In answer to the following question, Mr. Gilland answeredl. Question: In your opinion, who declares tile class standing of tihe student as relevant to elections tile Registrar or tile Student Couni cii? ES SUPPLIES EAM AST NDWICH SHOP sy Street L DAIRIES ucts ie Canteen Beal Answer: "In my opinion, it is a matter to be determined entirely by the Student Council. Once per session the Registrar's Office classi fies students according to classes (Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior) as prescribed by the regu lations of the University Faculty, which are published in the Univer sity catalogue. These classifica tions are based solely on academic standing and to my knowledge the Registrar's office has never made any attempt to regulate the .policies of the Student Council in classify ing students as to their eligibility for the various student offices, nor does it intend to do so in this in stance." c. The statement in The Gamecock that Mr. Gilland said that Willis Beall was ineligible to run for the President of the Student Body last year was not true. We quote Mr. Gilland again. Question: Did you tell Willis Beall that lie was not eligible to run for Student Body President last year? Answer: "I did not because had he asked me this question I would have told him that the Registrar's Office takes no part in determining the eligibility of candidates for student offices." B. That based on the ruling of the Student Council of last year, Willis Beall could have at that time qualified as a candidate for Student Body President. This conclusion is founded on the following facts: 1. In as much as Ryan Scott, who had seventy-six credits on Feb ruary 1, 1940, and who was taking enough work to give him eighty nine credits in June, 1940, but who only had 77 credits in June, 1940, was allowed to run, and 2. In as much as Sol Blatt, who had only been in school two and a half years in February, 1940, was allowed to run, therefore 3. Willis Beall would have been allowed to run because his status was as follows: a. As of February 1, 1940, Willis Beall had 76 credits, with a condi tion subsequent that lie take. Eco nomics 22. Also, that he registered for enough work to give him 89 credits in June, 1940, which lie comi pleted. Had lie included Econom ics 22 as one of his co(irses, lie would have had 72 credits in June, 1940. b. He had been in school two and a half years as of February, 1940. C. That had Willis Beall returned to academic school this year he could have easily graduated in the Class of 1941 by taking fifteen cred its the first semester, and one extra subject the second semester, which lie would have been permitted to take had lie requested permiission from the extra course cotmmittee b)ecause be would .have beet: a senior atnd would have neededl it to gradluate. However, lie selected to enter Law School, makitng it inm p)ossible for hinm to take those re qluip.d courses necessary for him to obtain his academic dlegree. At p)resent his status is that of a ris ing Jutuior in the Lawv School atnd in tihe ev'ent that lie has niot gottetn his reqluiredl work off by3 the end of tnext year (1942) he would still be it: the satme situation as lie is this year it: as tmuch as lhe would niever hav'e completedl his required work in academnic school to make binm atn eligible, catndidlate for a B ach:elor o Arts dlegree. Therefore he would PINTING I1 1224 Report be eligible in 1942 to be candidate for both President and Vice-Presi dent of the Student Body, were the contention of Willis Beall alldved. D. That socially Willis Beall was considered, and considered himself, a rising Senior as of last year, as evidenced by the fact he voted in the Rising Senior class elections of last year. E. By his own admission in giv ing information to the Blue Key Directory, he classified himself as a Junior last year. Therefore we have concluded af ter earnest deliberation 'that Willis Beall was an eligible candidate for Student Body President last year and that he is not again eligible to run for this office, because he has already had his opportunity to run. Respectfully submitted, James Galloway, Dan Hollisv Bill Rhodes, Maude Byrnes Chisholm, Frances Meeks, Barney Timmons, David .Murray. Minority View According to the unanimous agreement of the Student Council that each student should have one opportunity. to run for President of the Student Body while a student at the University of South Carolina; and since it was further agreed that if Mr. Beall was ineligible last year, he should be allowed to run this year; and since the Student Council further agreed that if he used due diligence in ascertaining his status last year, and conscien tiously came to the conclusion that he was not eligible, theni he should be allowed to run this year, the question resolves itself into whether he was eligible last year or exercised such deligence. We, the minority, base our hold ing on the following facts and cir cumstances: 1. Under the Student Body Con stitution one in order to be eligible for President of the Student Body must be a "rising senior." The Registrar's Office does not class one as a rising senior until he has accumulated a total of ninety-three (93) credits. Since Mr. Beall was to have accumulated only a total of eighty-nine (89) credits by June, 1'I40, we definitely conclude that he could not have been deemed a "ris ing senior." 2. We contend that the supreme authority as to a student's class standing was, and always has been, the records of the Registrar's Of fice. Certainly this is the most de sirable criterion, as the files of the Registrar's Office are a matter of public record and not of opinion, and thus not susceptible to the in evitable infiltrations of political and human p)rejudices. 3. We are satisfied that Mr. Beall usedl duie dliligence last year, in that he inivestigated the files and records of the Registrar's Olfice and ap plied his findings'to the best of his ability to a literal interpretation of the Student Body Constitution. Any irregularities that may h'ave been committed in closed meetings of last year's Student Council let ting dlown the bars of eligibility in the case of certain other candidates I ALWAYS OPEN Toddle House 1419 Gervais Street Company EPARTMENT 3 93 4 Main o Favn Strong favorites to cop top honors University of North Carolina pugilii titalist, upper right, Bob Farris, 15N ball, 1940 heavyweight runner-up; Gennett, 125 pound co-captain. cannot form the basis of an op)inion or knowledge of an outside can didate's eligibility, when his ineligi bility was apparent to him, and any other reasonable and pruident per son, from the face of the Consti tution. 4. 'Mr. Beall swore that to the best of his ability hie used duie dili gence and was firm in his conviction that hie was ineligible last year, and in reliance on his testimono andOthe honesty and integrity of all University students, we Carliav formed or opinion. Therefore, from the foregoing facts and circumistances, we ear nestly and sincerely think that to declare Mr. Beall ineligible this year becoeeiet of hithliyl e sed udient gence and tatir nhi onverninbony thatl ver toa inegicaitieard andice einceon hs t epriono anthsced rhoety.n neiyo allUniersty tudntly w Ni holson formeduoir opinion, heefre,frmildred foong facs ad ircmAe ,w eeg r BIGG n sER-ElyTkThERt darMr SATS ll nelg eti 'a w oulAt lpie t(eto thEVERsiutAlGE. ruit t bEoVIESi(lYof ieStd Woy a( hano oenn w YhOU AertEhnalte ad nic iSTY.Cilst ler eoeO thi sardrgt Cliv bown >red Torheel Ptunci - . in the fifteenth annual Southern cor its pictured here. Upper left, Elden ( -pound champion, now fighting at 14 lower right Morris Moskov, 155 I Mental Contests Prelims Are Held Prelininary examinations in the South Carolina High School League's annual mental contest pro grai will be lheld throughout the state between MNarch 31 and April 4. The University )ersoniel bureau is thte testing agenicy which haindiles the contests eachi year. Winners froneiarly ten thousand pu)i1s wlho will take part in the )re V. ere's thie treat you ret ggtin step V that'sDO B 1eireshing ilavo everY day. M sweeten yoX your smile, t0e * .'%vyou canl e** dailY- Thuy s ers .' ference boxing tournament are the Red) Sanders, last year's 165-pound 5 pounds; bottom left, Gates Kim ound alternate, and center, Andy limninaries will come to Columbia in April for the state-wide High School Week. The schools partici pating in the mnental contests this -ear will number about 175, the in fluence and participation of the con tests increasing annually. ELITE CAFE ''COLUMBIA'S MOST UNIQUE" Where Students Meet and Eat 1736 MAIN STREET :-: ALWAYS OPEN GUM inn1Tto che ret resions,7:.:~ ea4 -U goles brihte g a it coss so va1 packages today