Storm Pushes Back Council Elections

Along with the downed trees and powerlines, Gloria claimed an unexpected victim yesterday afternoon--the Undergraduate Council's normally sacrosanct election schedule.

Both the filing deadline for candidates and the election have been moved ahead a week because Gloria threw election organizers off schedule, council officers said yesterday.

The nomination deadline will be October 3 and elections will be held on the 9th, 10th, and 11th because the hurricane prevented the council from arranging publicity for the elections, said Undergraduate Chairman Brian R. Melendez '86.

The elections were originally set for next week. Yesterday's change in the nomination deadline was the second this week. The original deadline was last Thursday but council officials had pushed it ahead until Monday in some districts due to a small turnout of candidates.

There are 17 districts, one for each of the houses and four for the freshman dorms.

While 175 students threw their hats into the race last year, only 112 have signed up for this year's contest, making for the smallest turnout in council history.

Boost Numbers

Council Vice Chairman Elizabeth M. Touhey '86, who is charged with conducting the election, said she hopes the new nomination deadline will encourage more students to seek office.

Candidates who filed under the council's original September 26 deadline called the extension a good move and attributed the unusually small number of candidates to poor publicity of the first nomination deadline.

Both Melendez and Touhey have criticized Harvard Student Agencies (HSA), which the council had contracted to publicize the first deadline, for what they called a shabby postering job.

HSA Distribution Manager Stanley 1. Rosenzweig '87 has called the charges of the council members groundless, saying that last week's rain may have cut short the life of the council's posters.

Some candidates said they were not pleased with the pushed-back deadline. "People who were not interested [in the council] but want something on their resumes will run and the people who really wanted to do it will be pushed out" of the council, said Arthur Goldman '86, a Quincy House candidate.

Melendez said the council's move would draw some "resume seekers," but said it would also attract committed candidates.

A number of council members said the student government's delayed start-up would keep it from acting quickly enough on student concerns.

But others disagreed. "There is no important policy issue that the council is in a hurry to organize for," said Melendez