Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Tom Stafford made a concession last night concerning the ability of part-time students to vote and participate in Student Government elections.

Although in earlier memorandums, Stafford made it clear that part-time students would not be allowed to vote or run in the upcoming student elections, a new memo he delivered last night to Student Government leaders rescinded his position.

Part-time students will be allowed to vote, he said, but not to run.

“In this election, all part-time students will be eligible to vote,” Stafford wrote in the memo. “My decision on the other issues remains unchanged, and therefore part-time students will not be allowed to run for elected positions.”

Part-time students account for about 25 percent of the eligible voting pool — 7,182 students, according to University Planning and Analysis.

But despite Stafford’s change of heart, Student Government leaders aren’t budging.

“I appreciate Stafford taking a stance for part-time students by allowing them to vote in the upcoming election,” Elections Commission Chair Kevin Hassell said. “However, I think part-time students should be able to run as well.”

Although Hassell is content with Stafford’s recent effort to work with students, he stated “part-time students will still be on the ballot.”

“We have both made our positions very clear,” he said.

In reference to Stafford’s decision to nullify elections if part-time students are on the ballot, Hassell stated that if it happens, “it will put Student Government in limbo.”

He also made it clear that the most recent memo “is a big step in the right direction.”

“I salute [Stafford] — he is finally starting to get respect back by working with students now to help make this a smooth process,” Hassell said.

Student Senate President Forrest Hinton said he was glad to see Stafford has “conceded and recognized that all students deserve the right to vote.” He also pointed to the fact that the recent memo only covers “one out of three” issues that he believes should be amended.

“It is good that Stafford was willing to reconsider his original decision, but he still has some reconsidering to do,” Hinton said.

In addition to allowing students to both vote and run in this election, Hinton said another problem lies in Stafford’s opposition to the upcoming constitutional referendum, which if approved by the student body, will allow part-time students to vote and run beyond the lines of interpretation in future elections.

“Part-time students deserve to run for office,” he said. “Students should also be able to vote for their own constitution.”

He also reemphasized the Election commission’ stance.

“They have spoken loud and clear — part-time students will vote and run in the elections, and students will also vote on the proposed referendum.”

In regards to the referendum, Hinton stated that it is necessary to “clear up the language and make it explicitly clear.”

The time frame of Stafford’s recent suggestions was also a concern for the Student Senate president.

“One of my main critiques is if Stafford had concerns about elections, he should have brought them up in the fall,” he said.

Student Body President Whil Piavis stated that the concession in the new memo parallels his view of the situation.

“This is wonderfully dandy,” he said. “My personal opinion is that part-time students should be allowed to vote — just not run.”

He said he has surveyed about 250 students on campus and “only maybe five of the 250 students thought part-time students should be allowed to run.”

Piavis said he did not hold the Elections Commission’s decision to leave part-time students on the ballot in high regard.

“It is pretty stupid and absolutely pointless — they are just wasting time,” he said.

He also noted that the Student Senate’s current attitude is along the lines of “the administration can’t do anything to us — nobody can stop us.”

“Instead of working with the administration, the Elections Commission and Student Senate are being as defiant as possible — it is really getting old,” Piavis said. “This makes the student government look pointless and really, really bad.”

“They are going to find out real quick there are some unwritten powers that the administration has,” he added.

According to Hinton, the Student Government currently intends to ignore any nullification attempts.

“Students at the liaison meeting with the chancellor made it clear that nullification was not an option,” he said. “It is important to note that the University administration on other campuses allow their Student Government to be completely autonomous. This year, some of the members of the administration have tried to pretend their job title is student body president.”

In reaction to the Elections Commission’s decision to leave part-time students’ names on the ballot, Stafford was straight to the point.

“If there are any part-time students on the ballot, the election will be declared invalid,” he said.

Stafford also stated that everything that has been taking place “is not a power issue,” and all of his actions are along the lines of the student body constitution.

Hinton said he thinks that in the event of a nullification of the elections, Stafford and the administration will have an “enforcement problem.”

“Before [Stafford] made the argument that he was being noble and enforcing the student body constitution, but now he is saying he wants to enforce part of his interpretation,” Hinton said. “This shows his philosophical argument is flawed.”

Piavis offered his insight as to what the optimum solution is for the current fiasco.

“The Election Committee should remove part-time students from the ballot and resolve this problem next year,” he said.