Maroon

              THE LOYOLA MAROON November 5,1993* • Loyola University New Orleans, LA 70118* Vol. 72 No. 9 • Loyola cleared in implied libel case By Chris Bonura News Editor Loyola and WWL-TV anchor Bill Elder have been cleared of libel charges, according to a recent Louisiana Supreme Court decision. Loyola was sued because they owned WWL-TV at the time the plaintiffs alleged Elder libeled them. The decision, which the court handed down on Oct. 18 in Sassone v. Elder, states that Elder did not defame the plaintiffs, Martha Sassone and Joseph Montgomery. Sassone and Montgomery claimed that WWL reporter and anchor Elder had implied that they were involved in unethical practices surrounding their legal representation of Marie Giordano Welcome to die Hotel Mew—Gerene Keesler, counseling graduate, and Joey Auzenne, music sophomore, work the desk at Blever Hall. /Photo by John C. Vandover Plaintiffs file an appeal Although the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Loyola's favor, the university is not off the hook yet. On Monday, John Rawls, the plaintiffs' attorney, filed an application to the state Supreme Court to retry the case. "[The Supreme Courts'] facile and less than forthright handling of the facts shows this Court bending over so far backwards that it threatens to land on its posterity," Rawls stated in his application for rehearing. University Attorney Thomas Rayer doesn't think that Rawls has presented strong enough evidenceevidence to persuade the court to rehear the case. "He (Rawls) doesn't really raise anything new that the court would look at and say 'Oops, we made a mistake. We better rehear this case,'" Rayer said. Rawls disagrees with the court's setting of an easier standard for summary judgment to prevent the "chilling effect" of media self-censorship. He claims that on average there are only about five cases every three months. Rawls argues that giving the press a different standard ignores everyone's right to equal protection and access to the courts. Boissiere running on experience By Gtrifw Smith Contributing writer Mildred Boissiere fondly remembers the day her son's high school principal pulled her aside and whispered to her, "Lambert is going to be a leader one day." Since then, she said that she has lived to see her son's ambitions grow to exceed her expectations. Mayoral candidate Lambert Boissiere Jr. never talked about politics when he was younger, his mother said. So, when he ran for a committee leadership position while working with the Urban League, she explained that she was surprised. From that point on, he has had an THE mayors RACE This article is the fourth in a series of profiles running every other week on a different candidate in the New Orleans mayoral race. interest in politics. Bossiere, a 50-year-old Democrat who has been endorsed by current Mayor Sidney Barthelemy, said he believes that he has a better chance to win the election because he is running on experience. He said that his business capabilities, combined with his 13 years of legislative experience on the New Orleans City Council, make him the most qualified candidate. Lambert Boissiere Board to review SGA fall elections Students say SGA violated election code By Kate Lorenz Staff writer the Election Board has "the authority to conduct and regulate all SGA elections."'To the best of my knowledge, last fall there really wasn't an Election Board for the freshman and transfer election," former chief of staff Cindy Huber, communications senior, told the SGA Congress. "Anyone who was on congress last year because of the transfer election, then from what some people on congress are saying, then they were invalid last year and any vote they made lastyear really shouldn'tcount,"Huber added. Members ofSGA counted the ballots three times and the newly appointed Election Board will count them once more. Schwarz said that she does not think there is a need for a new election, but will concur with the Election Board if it thinks there is a need for one. A resolution was brought up that would allow for congress to decide if there should be a new election. Congress debated what to do about the issue. Some members wanted to decide on having a new election and others wanted to send the election to the Court of Review. "This is not congress' authority to act anything like this," Schwarz said. "Anything like this should have gone directly to the Court of Review." The SGA Election Code states that "in the event an election is contested ... the Court of Review shall take charge The Student Government Association Election Board will meet to discuss complaints regarding the recent election of freshman and transfer representatives. Two complaints were filed within 48 hours of the election. Natalie Broussard, political science freshman, and Lisa Bunch, psychology/pre-med freshman, filed the complaints after the two ran in the election and were defeated. According to Broussard, the election was not run according to the election code because there was no Election Board to handle the publicity or to oversee the voting. The election code states that the Election Board has the following resposibilities:•"The Election Board shall publicize the elections." • "The Election Board shall be responsible for the approval, printing, tabulation and storage of ballots" •"The Election board shall subpoena candidates for questions and decide penalties for violations." •"Election Board members shall be 'on call' for a certain time slot while the polls are open. Members may make unannounced check ups on polls as well as be able to be reached if a problem should occur." SGA President Erika Schwarz, first-year law student, said that the election publicity was limited due to funding. Broussard also said the election was fraudulent because one of the candidates who won slipped flyers under the doors of the residence hall rooms. The election code does not, however, explicitly allow or prohibit this act. According to Schwarz, if it was brought to the attention of the SGA during the election, it would be a minor violation which would result in a "fine, or removal of all campaign materials with the permission to replace them after 24 hours." Schwarz said that the Election Board usually does not meet for complaints such as the ones given by Broussard. She added that she did not know that not having an Election Board was a concern until three days before lastTuesday'smeeiing, when the issue was raised. The SGA Constitution states that See SGA, pg. 3 See Libel, pg. 3 See Boissiere pg. 3 T NSIDF *■ THIS WEEK CULTURE SHOCK Foreign students discuss differences in American lifestyles and attitudes. Pg. 4 WOLFPACK WINS The Rugby and Women's Soccer Teams both captured their second victories over the weekend. Pg .5 COLLEGE STUDENTS ON TELEVISION How "real" is {heßeal World? Do Beverly Hills 90210 and Saved By the Bell accurately portray college life? Pg. 9