OFFICE takes defeat in stride
Firestone attributes loss to low student turnout
By Julie Sobczyk
Senior Reporter
A small gathering of friends at Crane
River Brewpub & Cafe on Wednesday night
marked the end of a trying campaign for a
defeated but not deflated OFFICE party.
Justin Firestone, the OFFICE party’s
presidential candidate, and his running mates
Chuck Isom and Kevin Gregorius ate and
drank with the rest of their party as they
waited to hear election results.
And when the news came that Firestone
had received only 27.4 percent of the vote,
he said he wasn’t too disappointed.
“I’m fine,” Firestone said. “I was ready
to be president, and I was ready to be a pri
vate individual.”
But the small number of voters was up
setting, Firestone said after learning that only
1,867 students voted in the election -r- an
8.4 percent turnout.
“I was their chance. If students ever have
complaints about the student government
again, it’s their own fault,” he said. “They
had their chance.”
Firestone attributed his loss to the lack of
students who voted. V
“If 50 percent of the students had voted,
we would have won,” Firestone said. “Poor
turnout hampers parties that don’t have po
litical machines behind them.”
As he waited for the results, Firestone said
he carried no expectations about winning or
losing the election.
“We did the best we could,” he said. “We
know we tried our best, and I learned it’s
tough to stand up for what you think is right.”
Gregorius, second vice-presidential can
didate, said the low turnout disappointed him.
Travis Heying/DN
OFFICE Presidential candidate Justin Firestone calls his parents with
election results Wednesday night from Crane River Brewpub & Cafe after
finding out that his party has been defeated by ACTION.
It upsets me that some people at this
university don’t realize what happened to
day,” Gregorius said. “I’m extremely sad
dened that so many votes could be bought.”
Isom, first vice-presidential candidate,
said OFFICE knew that winning the election
would be tough, but he thought they tried
hard.
nrestone said he thought his campaign
was successful because he informed students
about a political machine on campus.
“We were honest with people,” he said.
“We’ll be able to sleep tonight because we
spoke the truth.”
Student voters
value ACTION
representation
By Kasey Kerber
Staff Reporter
Representation and publicity seemed to
weigh most heavily on the minds of students
who voted in Wednesday's A SUN election, ac
cording to a Daily Nebraskan exit survey.
One student voter, a former Association of
Students of the University of Nebraska presi
dent, said he voted for ACTION based on the
party’s representation.
“They were the only party that represented
all parts of campus — dorms, fraternities, so
rorities and off-campus housing," law student
Andrew Sigerson said. “OFFICE did not make
the same attempt.”
But Ben Wallace, a freshman English major,
said he felt differently.
“I think the ACTION party is way too con
cerned about the grecks and doesn’t give the
students in the halls nearly as much consider
ation,” he said.
Students also were affected by each party’s
publicity.
“I went with ACTION because I’m in a so
rority, and ACTION candidates actually visited
us and talked about the issues,” said Stacey
Long, a sophomore arts and sciences major.
More specific issues also led students to
make their choices.
Jason Hutchison, a freshman arts and sci
ences major, voted for the executive officers of
the OFFICE party.
“Some of the the issues OFFICE took a stand
on I agreed with,” Hutchison said. “Things like
student parking and making this campus more
unified when it comes to the students and their
. student government.”
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Action
Continued from Page 1
sues and see where Shawntell is right
now,” he said.
But Marintzer said task No. 1 for
ACTION would be to work to get back
$7 million in university funds that Gov.
Ben Nelson didn’t include in his pro
posed budget earlier this year.
“Because that is going to result in a
9 percent increase in tuition ” he said.
“That’s one of the things I want to get
done right away.”
Opening lines of communication
between student organizations was
another issue Marintzer said would be
Rout
Continued from Page 1
memory. Of the 22,270 eligible student
voters, only 1,867 cast ballots.
“This is the lowest percentage of
students voting that I’ve seen since
1978,” said Marlene Beyke, ASUN’s
director of development.
Voter turnout in the 1990s was at
its high in 1990, when 16.3 percent of
eligible students voted. Turnout in the
1995 election was 12.7 percent.
Student voters offered a variety of
reasons for the unusually low turnout
in this year’s election.
Rader
Continued from Page 1
cannot make exceptions for certain
reasons, such as medical reasons, with
out making exceptions for spiritual rea
sons.
“Because they’ve been granting ex
ceptions for many years, we believe it
displays a discriminatory action,”
Downing said.
John Wiltse, associate general
counsel for the university, refused to
comment on the case until the trial had
ended.
Rader filed for an exception to the
university’s freshman policy in March
1995.
He requested that UNK allow him
top priority for him.
“I think the students told the truth
when they elected the ACTION party
today,” Marintzer said. “We got 70
percent of the vote. Our voters were
out there.”
First vice president-elect Jason
Bynum said ACTION’S diverse ticket
paved the way for the landslide vic
tory. ' 1
ACTION’S slate included 38
women and nine minorities, Marintzer
said.
“We represented so many facets of
the university,” Bynum said. “There
isn’t one person on this campus who
isn’t represented by our slate.”
“To tell you the truth, I didn’t even
know it was today” said Andrew Polt,
a freshman arts and sciences student.
“Not having enough information out
there about the election was the main
thing.”
Another voter said the low turnout
could have stemmed from a belief that
the ACTION party was too strong and
that additional votes from students
would make little difference.
“People lost interest and thought
one party was dominating,” said Jason
Hutchison, a freshman arts and sci
ences student. “They didn’t vote,
which in the end only hurt themselves.”
to live at the Christian Student Fellow
ship facility, which houses 22 students.
That request was denied.
The Board of Regents holds that
there is no evidence that Rader’s reli
gious beliefs stop him from living with
people who don’t have the same stan
dards of behavior, according to court
documents.
Further, the Board claims there was
no proof that living in university hous
ing would keep him from practicing
or adhering to his own beliefs, the court
documents said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge David
Piester, who is hearing the case, is ex
pected to issue a quick verdict in the
case because the school year ends May
3, Wiltse said.
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