FRESHMEN VOTE DOWN CLASS ELECTIONS IN REFERENDUM

By a vote of 432 to 179 the Freshman class yesterday expressed its opposition to holding an election for class officers in a referendum sponsored by the Student Council.

At a special meeting held immediately after the ballots were counted the Council withdrew the election scheduled for today and Thursday by striking out the sections of its by-laws on Freshman Elections.

It voted to "empower the Union Committee, with the advice and consent of the student Council representatives on Freshman affairs and the Secretary of the Union, to appoint members of the class to take charge of the various class activities."

Two-Thirds of Class Vote

The ballots, which had to be signed, read simply "Do you want an election of Class Officers?" and the voting was held in the Union during lunch and supper.

Approximately two-thirds of the class voted in the surprise referendum, which was heralded only by a placard in the Union last night and announcements in this morning's CRIMSON. Twenty ballots were invalidated since they were unsigned.

Question Up Three Years

Last night's action by the Student Council in doing away with the Freshman election and transferring the functions formerly performed by the class officers to the Union Committee is the culmination of three years of agitation, during which period the CRIMSON has favored the abolition of elections.

A petition, signed by about 100 Freshmen, last year caused the Council to appoint a committee to investigate the existing system. The report which this committee made recommended that elections be retained but postponed for a month, from February to March, in order to extend the effectiveness of the Union Committee.

The report said that the investigating committee was "in the somewhat unique position of being in substantial agreement" with both sides, but declared that the "sense of unity" and "training in the democratic process" which it gives swung the balance in favor of the election's retention.

The system of class elections was started in the last century and has gradually been reduced from annual elections for every class.