Student Power in East Lansing

THOUGH youth and students at Michigan State University account for more than half of East Lansing's 47,500 population, they have been without influence--and thus uninterested--in the town's affairs. Until last summer, that is, when the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that college students could register and vote locally. Spearheaded by an organization named VOTER (Various organizations to expand registration), student and adult volunteers set out to recruit 7,500 new voters this fall. Registration tables were set up on campus and free bus service offered from dorm and off-campus student residences to City Hall on special registration nights. The results were impressive. By the end of the drive, student registration had increased from 32% of the city's enrollment to 55%, a net gain of 8,690 voters.

Of the eight candidates for the three open city council berths, only two immediately assessed the new student voter potential and pitched their campaigns accordingly. George Griffiths, 42, a Lansing junior high school teacher and George Colburn, 33, an analyst for the Michigan legislature, appeared frequently on campus and plugged away for "participatory democracy at all levels." They also drew heavily on 300 mostly student volunteers to tout their message. Neither they nor any of the other candidates ran with party affiliation or identification.

No Sure Thing. Mayor Gordon L. Thomas, a ten-year incumbent and a professor of communications at M.S.U., was not quite so astute. Relying on his traditionally heavy support from the off-campus community, Thomas, 56, counted on two or three active volunteers to run his campaign and never appealed to the student vote. Still, the consensus of local political sages was that his election was a sure thing.

They were wrong. Mayor Thomas, who admitted he was shocked by the results, was ousted and finished fourth behind Council Incumbent Wilbur Brookover who, near the end of the campaign, switched signals and began speaking and debating on campus. Both Griffiths and Colburn won handily, in some precincts capturing as much as 75% of the student vote. In one district near the M.S.U. campus, the student vote alone accounted for their 3,000-plus vote margin of victory over Mayor Thomas.

The election of Griffiths and Colburn is, of course, not indicative of any identifiable trend among youthful voters. Neither man may be considered a radical. Says Griffiths: "We are not out to disestablish the establishment." Moreover, both had substantial off-campus support. But for those looking to 1972, the dramatic demonstration of youth power in East Lansing shows that when students choose to throw their weight behind a candidate who also has local strength, they can make the difference.

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