In Bergman, it was sort a badge of honor (thumbs up) to say you had voted for Smith

By Merlin Pfannkuch

 Never divulged tidbit about Don Smith’s election in 1967 Message Body: I think this is an interesting tidbit to Don Smith being elected GSB president in 1967 — and one that I’ve never seen anything written about. I was a freshman living in Bergman House in Knapp Hall, the second and new Tower. Storms had opened the year before. As I remember it (and memories are fading), the two Towers asked GSB to rent two busses winter quarter to ferry us cold souls back and forth to campus. For some reason, the estimated cost of $30,000 sticks in me little brain. Anyway, GSB turned us down. Many of us were irate . . . since that made us feel even more distant from the rest of ISU. I think this is the only major request the Towers made of GSB that year. So when Smith/LIfka announced, many of us pounced at the opportunity to stick our thumb in GSB’s eye. In Bergman, it was sort a badge of honor (thumbs up) to say you had voted for Smith. I doubt if the votes from Towers affected the outcome, but it surely gave Smith a bigger victory than he would have had otherwise.