Students voted to throw out A.S. regulations governing Student-Run Television last week, heralding a victory for free-speech advocates in their fight to reactivate the station.
Part of the special election team posts up the results of last week’s student vote.
Approximately 16 percent of the student body participated in the vote, barely making the 15 percent minimum necessary to validate the special election.
In the first vote on the ballot, students overturned an A.S. Council amendment to the SRTV charter that banned “graphical depictions of sexual activity involving nudity.” The amendment was first approved in a council vote on Oct. 26 in response to earlier station airings of pornographic material by John Muir College alumnus Steve York.
The council later voted unanimously to bar York from the station. That decision was also overturned by the special election.
“I think it’s funny that students have overturned a council decision that was unanimous,” York said. “They ignored their constituents and now the mandate has come down from the students.”
Sixth College Senior Senator Matt Corrales, who penned the ballot argument to uphold the ban on nudity and York, did not respond to requests for comment.
Each of the provisions on the ballot was approved by a slim margin, with 52 percent of students voting to strike the nudity ban out of the station’s charter. Fifty percent of the voters approved to annul the sanction of York and “Koala TV.” The divided vote’s immediate impact on the A.S. Council and student body is minimal, according to Station co-Manager Andrew Tess.
“There may have been a split, but it was a split of 15 percent of the student body,” he said. “I kind of view it as the majority of people just really don’t care. But I doubt it has had any drastic effect on the council’s ability to represent the students. It won’t hurt them on the majority of issues that they bring to students.”
However, the special election will leave a definitive mark on this year’s general election, where councilmembers wishing to win would be smart to take results into consideration, Tess said.
“This could make or break a campaign depending on how you approached this special election,” he said. “It’ll be interesting to see what the dynamics and politics are [for] candidates for the next A.S. Council.”
The special election may have no bearing for administrators, who are keeping the station off the air until another charter is drafted. While student opinion is considered, allowing pornography on the university-owned Triton Cable network, which broadcasts SRTV, is not a viable option, according to acting Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Life Gary R. Ratcliff.
However, with the A.S. Council’s bans now a thing of the past, Tess said he hopes the unity of councilmembers and SRTV will be enough to persuade Ratcliff to renege on his position, which he has held since the announcement of the special election.
“The ‘graphic’ depiction clause is off the table from the A.S. perspective, because students have told them so,” Tess said. “If administrators really want to tell the council and students that they don’t trust them anymore, there are parties who are ready to go to court at this point. We’ll see how [Ratcliff’s] song and dance changes because of this election.”
