Page Two

SCARLET AND BLACK

, February '6. 1957

 

Board Abolishes Jag custom- Convention Prediction Admits Possibl

Eliminates Pasi' s Zany Antics

By Arlene Cleveland

tThis year’s Election Boald luling that all nominations
fol Student Council plesident had to be by petition and none
could come flom the floor, bleaks tlle Glinnell tradition of
“jag” candidates enteling into an election at the last min~

ute,

Ever since conventions came into being, these so-called

til-ﬁgs"
parliamentary procedures and
to add humor and color to our
‘politlcal campaigns ,

1943 found “Bink” Barnes,
entering into the race as a ser—
ious candidate but on the main-
ing of the election it was dlSA
covered by the registrars office
that he lacked one hour of
credit to be on the eligibility
list. This was probably the
original “jag" candidate in that
no,doubt “Bink” and his bude
dies just kept laughing all
through the election.

The war years found Ger»
man bands, circus bands,
twenty-foot portraits of candi-
dates, campaign slogans such
as “Blossom Out with Betty
Budd," and lots of women all
over campus.-

A luscious Southern belle
dubbed “Scarlett O‘Toole," ese
corted by the Younker men in
the gray Civil War uniforms,
gave the dripping with honey
and magnolias nominating

speech for the most illustrious
nominee of 1952 Jefferson
Davis.

One of the best “lags" was
Ed “Whizzer” Weitz, the 1953
candidate from_Cowles. “Whip
zer” had a terrific campaign in
that every day of the week had
a special publicity stunt One
day there was a piper cub
which dropped “Whizzer foi-
Prexy" pamphlets from here to
Gilman. Another day there was
an honest to goodness band wa-
gun (a hay—rack complete with
band) that ran during class,
playing especially loud music
in front of all classroom ibuild-
ings.

/ There were three andidates
that year (1953): ltoger Perry,
serious, Toni nailsback, ser—
ious and jag, and our boy
“Whizzer”. The phenomenal
feat here is that “Whiner”.
starting as a “jag", actually
came out of the convention as
a true candidate, something
which a “jag” had never done
before. He had a platform of
weed dorms, no weekeday
classes, and to burn the Union.
Hc lost to Roger Perry.

Perhaps \the most famous
“jag" of all times occured in

would enter into the picture to disrupt the serious

1954 in the form of Dick “Tie
ger" Hansen. His platform con»
sisted of no administration, no
rules, and allenight openeopen
houses, Carried onto the con-
vention floor on the shoulders
of his admirers (incidentally,
this was the first time a can»
didate had ever appeared at a
convention), “Tiger.” using the
alias of “Colonel Zinnzinndorf,”
and dressed as General MacAr-
thur, said a few words to the
crowd, namely — “I think 1
shall return."

Afterwards, he was escorted
out to the tune of “Old Soldiers
Never Die." Last year, Eli whit-
ney revised the South Younkel-
“Tiger" tradition and was simi-
larly carried in, similarily Mac-
Arthur dressed, and similarly
thought that he might return.

Last year’s “jag" campaign
found John “Jersey" Williams
running on a platform to abol-
ish campus olfices and a pol-
icy of co.ed bedchecks. His
slogan—“With men who know
tobacco best, it‘s women two to
one."

Steve “Melli” Micheledes, 21n-
other “jag" of last year, desired
to have an administration that
would enforce the rules, not

just make them and then let ,

“we, the student body, do all the
dirty work.”

of course; there are the
usual standbys who get nomin»
ated every yeareBetty ‘lthe Bare
maid" Gallagher; Ernie, the cams
pus dog; Joe Buffoon, owner of
the White Spot; and Pershing
Gooselaw whose platform is, as
always ”Starvation, Indigestion,
and Constipation"

Just for the record. a
strange thing occurred in 1942:
on the morning of the conven-
tion, six of the ten candidates
expressed a desire not to
run.

It was in the late 1940's and
the Early 1950's that a conven-
tion custom called the Three
Elms tradition supposedly end-
ed. The Three Elms is a Sixth
avenue establishment that serves
Various foods and drinksV with
no drink containing more than
3.2% alcohol by weight. For
Years, the candidates for Stus

“Eleventh Hour" Result Saturday Nigh

By Bob Barr
Witll the convention still sixty-two hours away, a
this writing. and with the delegates not yet elected, it is
hold to folm an exact pictuie of the outcome Neveltheless,
it looks like Skornia and Mchmsey. .
Bailing the last minute appealance of a new serious
candidate, such as happened last yeai when Art Giana en-

tered in the eleventh hour, the

Bob MeJimsey and Tom Skore
nia. The introduction of over
twcnty petitions for other jun—
iors should serve only to pro—
long and liven up the conven»
tion.

As of now, Skornia's the man
to beat. The fact that he was in
Washington last semester and
consequently virtually unknown
by the freshmen was expected
to hinder his campaign. it has
not done so. His whirlwind ap-
pearances on south campus and
his ability to talk well have def—
initely overcome his early han-
dicap. Most observers are sur-
prised to see Skornia do as well
as he has. He seems to have
captured a majority of the del-
egates on both sides of the
campus.

Bob Mchmsey will probably
be the other convention win-
neri Many are surprised that
Bob has not done better than
he has. His expected large sup—
port from the freshmen was
men's halls has not material-
ized. The reason seems to be
his relatively poor personal
appearances there. His strange
hold is Younker Hall — both
North and South He should be
the second man
Sue heine is in serious trouble.

dent Council president would
traditionally absent themselves
from the conventions and take
up temporary residence at the
Three Elms where. as the cus-
tom goes, they drink be .

Typical reactions to this tra—
dition were in 1953 by Tom
Rallsback, a loser, “Although 1
lost the convention 1 proved to
my opponents that I had a lar-
ger liquid capacity than they
did," and the classic comment by
"Wl-lizzer” Weitz “A sober time
was had by all."

However, the true beauty of
the Three Elms tradition is
concerned with lsetty Budd, a
female candidate during war
time it seems as if Betty.
along with the male student
Council president candidates,
put in the expected appearance
at the Three Elms.

The League Board “caught”
Betty, and itis not known
whether or not she was actually

choice is l

ted to Sue Berne,

As the only candidate with an
real student government exper
ienee, I am surprised at her lac s
of strength at present. Her onl
i-eal support seems to be i
Haines and Rawson and eve
here it is not unanimous Never
thelcss, her stock is detinitel
rising. Don‘t count her out yet

Despite Art Travers’ frantic
attempts to stop all "jagglng"
this year (Art’s mad because
some of his supporters “jag
get!" when they should have
been voting for him last year,
he feels), the campus wits
have outfoxed him.
Numerous petitions have bee
filed and an attempt is bein-
made to nominate every qua
fied junior in the school. Al»
though this is being done solely
to prolong and liven up the
convention, it is always possible
that some popular dark horse
could spring from this group
and upset one of the “Big
Three."

Ther§ is one thing that ob»
servers should watch for, if
one candidate has many more
votes than he needs (and this
verv definitely could happen
t year) he would be in an
excellent position to virtually
pick his partner. In this case
he would attempt to get his
supporters to vote for the
weakest of his opponents. This
is the one thing which the
Melimsey forces must guard
against
It should be a good convene
lion, After all the fun, “jaggmg,”
ors‘tory and maneuvering, I look
for Skornia and Mchmsey to be
the victors.

indulging in iniquity by drinking
beer but she was fined $20 for
what ever it was they “caught"
her doing. This move did not go
over with north campus at all.
As a result, the majority of men,
en masse. and each carrying an
empty beer can with a dime in
it. walked from north campus,
single file, straight up to
Haines second (where Betty live
ed) and deposited their gifts for
the cause in front of her door.

Another good convention cus-
tom went down the drain 1 . .

 

