The QC, Vol. 90, No. 12 • November 20, 2003

              The   Voice   of   Whittier   College   since   1914
DINOSAURS ARE BACK
Four QC editors go back in time and review the
Natural History Museum • A&E, Page 11
Thursday,    November   2o,   2003
Issue   12   -   Volume   90
CANDIDATES SHOW THEIR FACES
Candidates state their reasons for running in this
week's COR election • News, Page 6
Web.Whit tier.Edo/QC
Questions surround COR run-off election
Brycie Jones
QC News Co-Editor
After junior presidential candidate Robert Ortega submitted his
withdrawal from the 2004 A.S.W.C.
presidential election to the QC, conflicting accounts arose as to why a
run-off election was declared from
members of the Elections Committee.
According to sophomore
I.R.H.A. Representative Amethyst
Polk. "The only thing with the ballots... there were some periods
where votes for one candidate would
come in one chunk right after another. The people seemed to be voting in herds... but that is not unlike
any other election."
Senior Secretary Lindsey Brengle said. "Anything about the ballots. 1 don't know why that is being
said, because 1 know it isn't true.
We had the run-off election because Robert did not have a majority, I can say that with certainty. He
did have more ballots, but he did not
have 50 percent."
Junior Elections Committee
member Terry Lin said that an allegation about interference with ballots and whether Ortega actually
had a majority "is true and isn't
true." While he initially said he
didn't know "if [he] is supposed to
leak any information about that,"
he later said, "[The Elections Committee] did run into constitutional
problems with the new amendment,
and so we were partly justified in
[declaring] the run-off election. I
can't comment on if Robert had
more that 50 percent of votes. I
don't want to get personally in
volved."
When asked if he felt anything
was being covered up by the Elections Committee, Lin said, "I don't
want to comment on that... I mean,
I have my thoughts, but I am a Penn
and don't want to get involved."
Senior A.S.W.C. President Zach
Winters said he had no comment on
allegations regarding interference
with the ballots during the first presidential election. "I can tell you that
this matter has been handled 100
percent accurately according to the
constitution, there were plenty of
people, four people including [Dean
of Students] Tracy [Poon Tambas-
cia] counting the votes."
Brengle, Winters, Lin, senior
I.C.C. Representative Hovig Artin-*
ian, Tambascia, and her husband
Tony Tambascia were present during the tally of the votes according
to Lin. Tambascia and Artinian were
unavailable for comment.
"This whole thing is so ridiculous, people are retarded, I have the
numbers to prove that neither Robert [Ortega] nor [junior presidential
candidate] Jessica [Robledo] had a
majority, they were just very close.
Saying Robert had a majority is
completely incorrect. This is all
bullshit. I am over it and done with
this election business," said Brengle.
Winters said he doesn't "know
why not releasing the actual figures
of the votes was put in the constitution." Brengle said, "Because of the
nature of an election, when you
release numbers and facts, it can get
embarrassing for the people running."
After the initial election last
week between junior candidates
Robledo, Ortega and Sunil Hira,
COR announced that a run-off election was necessary between Robledo and Ortega, despite the fact that
COR announced on Monday, Oct.
27, it had passed an amendment
which would limit run-off elections
to races in which candidates came
within four percent of each other
[see volume 90, issue 9].
According to Winters, "theelec-
tion was close enough that we needed to check on the specifics of the
amendment, to see what needed to
be done. In the process, we discov-
See ELECTION, page 5
Forums held to promote safety and awareness
Campus Safety held a Safety Forum in the Stauffer Main Lounge on
Monday, Nov. 17 at 7:00 p.m. and in
the Wanberg Lounge on Wednesday,
Nov. 19 at 7:00 p.m. in order to make
the students aware of the recent sexual
assaults that have occurred on campus
and to give tips about what they can do
to stay safe.
"Our goal was to get the facts and
to get questions answered since it is a
sensitive issue." said Area Coordinator for Stauffer and Johnson Anne
Ehiiich.Ehiiich, along with Chief Bernard Alex, Assistant Chief John Lewis
and Officer Audrey Martinez of Campus Safety who answered questions
about the recent assaults during the
Safety Forum in Stauffer. During the
talk on Tuesday, Area Coordinator for
Hairis, Turner, Wanberg and Campbell Laura Shrader and Director of
Housing Delaphine Hudson discussed
the topic of safety. "We are trying to
educate more people about safety,"
said Hudson. "It'saneyeopener, that's
the way 1 look at it," when referring to
the recent events.
"There have been three incidents
on campus. The first was a student
who was chased by an individual assumed to have bad intentions, but there
was no contact made," said Alex. The
reported incident occurred on Thursday. Nov. 6. around 10:30 p.m. around
Johnson Hall and the exterior of Plainer Hall.
Tammy Marashlian
QC Assistant News Editor
During the second incident, "a
female was accosted by an individual
with a knife," said Alex. The sexual
battery reportedly occurred on Thurs-
day,Nov.6,at 11:00p.m. attheStauffer
Hall south exterior [See "Woman Assaulted" Volume 90, Issue 11}. 'The
descriptions of the individuals were
similar but had different appearances." continued Alex.
The third incident, reported the
Wednesday afteritoccurred, happened
on Monday, Nov. 10, at 6:30 p.m. in
the second floor women's restroom of
Stauffer Hall. Reportedly, "a visiting
female high school student was accosted in the bathroom, but she was
able to tight him off," said Alex. However, there is still some question about
the actual event.
Since no one was in the restroom
when the incident took place, "all the
people in the lobby were interviewed
and there is somewhat of discrepancies between the stories. But we do
need to be sensitive to not victimize the
victim," said Alex.
The first two incidents have been
reported to the Whittier Police Department and are being "investigated by
Whittier Police Department and Campus Safety," said Alex. According to
the Crime Alert Update distributed in
all of the student mailboxes, there are
three separate suspect descriptions.The
first is a white male ranging in age
from 40-50 years with a height of
5' 1 fwearingawhite sweatshirt, shorts
and glasses with a full gray beard.
The second suspect is a white
maleaged 18 to 25 between 5'10" and
6'0" in height and was wearing a dark
sweatshirt with long pants and a thin
build.
The last suspect is possibly an
Indian male aged 18 to 22 years between 5'9 and 5'10" in height. He is
described as being slim and possibly
weighing 150 to 160 lbs. with dark
skin, wearing a light-colored sweatshirt.
'Two people have been arrested
so far. The first was a former student
and the second was a local who had
been arrested before. They were both
charged with trespassing and have been
asked not to return to the campus," said
Alex. He added, "One did fit the description of the suspect because of his
beard and sweatshirt, but the results
were negative when a picture of him
was presented in a line-up."
In order to make it safer "there are
increased patrols at night. We ran an
undercover detail over the weekend,
but I don't know how effective that
was. We will run that again this weekend," said Alex. "Since all three incidents were in one area, we held a
survey of this [the Staufferand Johnson]
area and we found out that the lighting
can be i mproved. Lighting is the cheapest form of security and it is effective,"
said Alex. He added, "With better
PAUL GALLAHER / QC STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Director of Housing Delaphine Hudson speaks at a safety
forum held in Wanberg Hall on Wednesday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.
lighting, there are better chances of    the current lights. "We have stepped
fighting incidents." Alex also said,
'There are plans toimprovelightingin
the other areas." During the talk on
Tuesday, Hudson said, "We are looking for more lighting. We are looking
at the staircase by Campbell because
there are bushes that could be tended
and more lights could be placed."
On Wednesday, new lights around
the Stauffer, Johnson and Platnerareas
were installed along with the fixing of
up on the lighting project," said Alex.
Lights on other parts of the campus are
being installed as well. "The amount
of amps of each I ight is being increased
by the amphitheatre," said Alex.
During the Safety Forum in
Stauffer, a question was asked about
the safety of the bathrooms at night
since one of the incidents reportedly
See SAFETY, page 7