Chief Ballot Controversy

Some students upset words were added to Chief proposal

By Julie Wurth
Thursday February 28, 2008
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/print/2008/02/28/resolution_raises_new_ruckus
 

URBANA – A year after his demise, Chief Illiniwek is stirring controversy – this time in a University of Illinois student election.

Some UI students cried foul this week over last-minute changes in the wording of a ballot question asking if voters want the Chief reinstated as the UI symbol.

The measure is nonbinding, and administrators added language to that effect, much to the consternation of its author and some student election commissioners.

"It's telling students, 'You might as well not vote on this,'" said UI law student Dan Bolin, a member of the Student Election Commission.

The resolution's author, UI junior Paul Schmitt, president of Students for Chief Illiniwek and a candidate for student trustee, said the initial language proposed by administrators was worse.

His original question asked, "Do you support the reinstatement of Chief Illiniwek as the symbol of the University of Illinois?"

On Monday – hours before online voting started at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday – Renee Romano, vice chancellor for student affairs, worked with the chairman of the Student Election Commission to add the following language: "The result of this referenda question is not binding on the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, the University of Illinois Administration, or any other body associated with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This referenda question is an opinion poll, and the results of this question will in no way cause the University of Illinois to reinstate Chief Illiniwek as the symbol of the University of Illinois."

That essentially said "this is meaningless, why even bother?" said UI junior Frank Calabrese, a student senator.

After he and Schmitt objected, the wording was changed to this: "The result of this referendum question is not binding on the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, the body legislatively charged with oversight of the symbol."

"It's 100 percent better," Calabrese said, conceding that voters do need to know the question is nonbinding.

"People who vote for this should understand that even if it passes, the Chief won't be dancing at the next basketball game," he said.

Romano said that was her sole intent, not to derail the resolution or influence voting.

All three ballot questions this year – the other two involved fees supporting cultural houses and study-abroad programs – had information added to explain what they mean, she said.

"My feeling was that the voting students need to be fully informed about what they were voting on," she said. "It wasn't my intention to change the meaning of the referendum."

The problem, Calabrese said, is that she added language to the Chief resolution without consulting the author, and "she changed the whole integrity of the question."

The same "not binding" provision could apply to any student ballot question, Bolin added, because trustees ultimately have final approval over all of them.

Romano said she talked to students who didn't understand that the Chief resolution would be advisory. Some even thought the administration had put the question on the ballot.

"It was not my intention to change the vote. I really did feel that around this particular issue it was important for the students to know what the referendum means," she said. "I didn't realize it was going to cause this much concern."

Schmitt and the others noted the county clerk didn't try to add wording to a resolution opposing U.S. military action in Iraq saying it would not be binding on the U.S. military.

"When Jesse White certifies a question as secretary of state, he doesn't add an amendment saying, 'By the way, Rod Blagojevich doesn't care what you think anyway,'" added state Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet. "To me the whole thing seems silly."

Bolin was incensed because he didn't learn of the change until Monday evening. The full commission eventually approved it that night, "probably because it was too late to do anything" else, he said.

Bolin, who was active in student government and pro-Chief groups as an undergraduate but not in law school, said he is just "trying to be fair. I would have the same position on this if it was attached to the cultural fee."

Student voting ended at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. The results were to be announced today.

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