The Muse, vol. 48, no. 19 (13 March 1998)

              Memorial University of Newfoundland
Volume 48, Number 19
O'Reilly wins presidency by 26 votes
Presidential race still subject to recount, but CRO doesn 't expect any surprises
By SEAN RYAN
and MARK TIPPLE
In one of the narrowest presidential races in recent history,
Tracy O'Reilly defeated Karen
Kielly to become the head of
next year's student council.
When the voting booths
closed, 1,146 votes were cast
for O'Reilly, while Kielly re
ceived a total of 1,120. According to CSU election regulations,
the 26-vote margin is subject to
a presidential recount. If
O'Reilly remains the winner, she
will take over the position on
April 1.
O'Reilly says she is excited
about her victory and credits the
win to hard work and a well run
campaign.
Student chooses
Regents over CSU
Conflict of interest issue revived
By DENISE RIDEOUT	
A student appointed to sit on
Memorial's highest governing
body while also running for an executive position with the CSU pulled
out of the elections amidst questions of conflict of interest and accusations of administration strong-
arming.
Two weeks ago, Lorelei Stanley
was told by the CSU that she had
been chosen as one of two new
student representatives to sit on the
Board of Regents.
But Stanley was also running for
vice-president academic in the ongoing council elections. This raised
questions of conflict of interest
within the board and the administration, and according to her campaign manager, the administration
gave her an ultimatum — if she
didn't withdraw from the council
election, her name would not be
presented to the board for approval.
The Board of Regents is MUN's
highest governing body and handles all budgetary matters and sets
tuition fees. It also makes the final
decision on any hirings or firings.
Lisa Goodyear, Stanley's campaign manager for the elections,
says Stanley was told by the administration that because she filled out
"When I first decided to run,
people kept saying to me 'you're
crazy; you're the underdog;
you're never going to take any
amount of the vote'," she said.
"I said, 'Well, I have a lot of
good ideas and I have experience — a different type of experience than Karen — but I have
experience.' I said to myself,
'Well, either go hard or go
home.'"
O'Reilly says she found it difficult to judge the effectiveness
of her campaign, especially
against a candidate as experienced as Kielly.
"But, I felt the whole time that
I was running it well, and I was
doing my work and I was kind of
like, 'Well, whatever happens,
happens'," she said. "To know
that factually achieved what I
set out to do is just incredible."
Kielly says she is disappointed
in her defeat, but adds she had a
good showing during the election campaign.
"I would have preferred if
more people had gone out to
vote, but I think that's indicative
• Please see "Borden"page 4
nomination papers for a position on
council, she could not serve on the
board.
Stanley chose to keep her seat on
the board, and so withdrew from the
election. But Goodyearsays Stanley
did not think being a vice-president
with the CSU could conflict with
the board position. In fact, she says,
Stanley thought the positions would
be complementary.
"It was upsetting and very difficult. She felt like she had her arm
twisted type of thing," Goodyear
said. "It wasn't an easy decision for
her to make."
Goodyear says Stanley was especially upset about having to withdraw from the elections since her
campaign was underway and she
had already spent $100.
"The students were on her side.
Even the people who were running
against her at the time said 'go for it,
more power to you'... [but] she got
a brick wall from the administration's side."
Stanley did not want to comment
on the matter.
Goodyear says although they will
not admit it, the administration
pressured Stanley to choose between the two positions.
But Wayne Ludlow, dean of
• Please see "Board" page 9
Students enjoy the continued lack of winter. Photo by Aaron
CIBC stops loan
service in branches
By MICHAEL CONNORS
Students and the provincial student aid office were upset last week
when the Canadian Imperial Bank
of Commerce told students they
could no longer receive help with
their loans from branch offices in
St. John's.
The issue arose two weeks ago
when CIBC's district manager for
Newfoundland ordered that students
dropping off loan applications at
branch offices in St. John's be referred to the bank's on-site representative at the provincial student
aid office at Coughlin College.
CIBC currently has one student
loan representative working at
Coughlin College, and student aid
officials say without similar support being offered by branch offices, that arrangement is not acceptable.
"We're not pleased about it at
all," said Hay ward Harris, provincial director of student aid. "Bank-
ingis not a service we're supposed
to provide."
Harris says having a CIBC representative work at the student aid
office was a pilot project to see how
it would work, but only so long as
the bank's branch offices were providing the same service.
• Please see "Personal" page 5
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