To the Editor:
I enjoyed reading yesterday's article on the pre-election hustle among contenders for the Student Assembly presidency and vice presidency ("Election guidelines," Feb. 22). There's no better indicator of the coming of spring - aside from that putrid smell emanating from the Green- than the similar odor that always arises in student politics at Dartmouth.
One item in the article caught my attention. It seems that the Reform SA! cabal is trying to decide who can and cannot vote in the coming elections by denying the vote to seniors. Aside from the fact that we, as seniors, have been around the longest (and can remember who the scoundrels are!) and presumably know the most about Dartmouth, such a move seems blatantly beyond the power of the Assembly. Can Congress decide who votes for it? Could the Assembly, for example, decide that only redheaded, former Assembly Vice-Presidents currently seeking jobs in New York can vote in the coming elections? Could they limit the vote to nerdy conservatives who thrive on coup attempts and Dining Services boycotts? The answer is clearly no. The Assembly has no right to determine who can vote for it. That is the responsibility of the Election Advisory Committee.
If the EAC wants to avoid a debacle like last year's election, the committee ought to inform the Assembly of its error in judgment before it is too late.
ANDREW G. SMITH '94
