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AT WW ' By MARK WESSEL In a referendum at the University of Waterloo, students have voted overwhelmingly in favour of maintaining their student union's membership in the Ontario Federation of Students (OPS): The flnal count after polls closed last night, shows students voted 1,” to 659 in favour of staying in the OPS. an umbrella group for stu- dent unions across the province. - UW Federation of Students vice-president Bob Elliott, who head- ed up the pro-OPS campaign, said in an Interview the outcome of the referendum shows "widespread support for the OPS" although less than 12 percent of the 15,000 member student body voted. Based on polls taken before the referendum, Elliot said results showed the pro-OPS side would win by a narrow margin "and we're on a bit of a high to win by a much larger margin." Elliot said the two main selling points used by his side throughout the three week campaign were that "the OFS is valu- able to the student, and also, that there is a need for changes in the OFS to give the stu- dents a stronger say in what goes on." As the only member of the 15-man Federa- tion of Student execu- tive who supported. the OPS, Elliot said he'll "try to mend things back together now that the issue has been de- cided. "The first thing I want to do is improve communications within the Federation of Stu- dents as well as be- tween different groups," said Elliott, naming the Federation of Students, the OFS, and university campus groups in particular. Elliot's main Mttto- nent during the refer. endum. Federation of Students president Wim Simonis, said in separate interview that he remains convinced the ors is more of a detriment than a help to University of Water- loo students. Vote retains status quo The referendum re- sult means students at Waterloo “will be wasting another 340,000 next year," said sr monls, reierrlnécto the three dollars e h stu- dent contributes to the ors to remain a mem- ber. Simonis has main- tained from the start of the referendum cam- paign that the ors acts more like a corporation than a voice for univer. sity students, and Tuesday night he said "it’s unlikely things will change. if arty- thin. the ors will "Most of the students who . campaign! for oteii less to our con- the OFS "have never I'm afraid they're worked" with that going to be disappoint- group, Simonls said. ed." "They never really un- derstood the issues." The referendum was called by the Federa- He said a number of than of Student execu- the students voting in tive in mid-October, favour of the OFS after it votedin favour “probably thought of going to the student their tuition fees won't body for a mandate on go up heir year if they whether to remain a continue to belong... member of the OPS. He said a number of the students voting in favour of the OFS “probably thought their tuition fees won't go up mifyeur it they continue to belong... Personal conflict marked campaign Yesterday's referen- dum at the University of Waterloo marked the end of a three-week campaign described by many as a "mud-sling- ing" contest. On several occa- sions, Federation of Students president Wim Simonis, in favour of withdrawing from the Ontario Federation of Students (OFS). and his opponent, federa- tion vice-president Bob Elliot, exchanged criti- cisms and leaked out damaging information about the other side. Watching from, the sidelines. student newspaper editor Peter Saracino says the ref- erendum broke down into " battle of per- sonalities between Si- monis and Elliot. "During meetings the two would bring out ugly facts about-one another," said Sara- cino. As an example, he said Elliot reminded everyone, including those who didn't know, that Simonis vied un- successfully for a spot on the OPS executive last spring. “Eliott made it seem like Si- monis was Just trying to get back at the OFS for not getting the ex- ecutive spot," said Saracino. Simonls tried to dis- credit Elliot by cir- culating one of Eliiot's reports to the Federa- tion of Students {tom n summer OPS meeting. "The report was abysmal... it was full of spelling errors and poor grammar," said Saraclno. In an interview last Friday, Simonis said that regardless of the referendum outcome, "it'll be impossible to work with (Elliot) for the remainder of the year." He charged Er. liot has insulted him and staff members of the Federation of Stu- dents during the refer- endum campaign by suggesting the student union isn't doing its job. . "The most positive thing that has hap- pened since 1EBiot's election) last April is he hasn't been around to do much work," said Simonis. Both Simonis and Saracino have been told by Elliot he plans to run for the pre- sidency of the Federa- tion of Students next year. "If Elliot keeps this promise, Simonls says he’ll oppose Elliot‘s candidacy either him- self or by backing an- other opponent. "With Elliot as president this union would go ten steps back right away," said Simonis. Elliot admitted in a separate interview he probably started the mud-slinging by men- tioning Simonis' failure to get into the OFS. . Summing up the campaign as a conflict between "two separate camps," Elliot said "there are certain things the two sides avoid talking about." He said Simonis and the Federation of Stu- dents "try to Ignore the fact that I lot of stu- dents don't even know why the referendum is being held." This shows the student union isn't doing its job to keep students in firmed he said, and ion for staying In the Beechwood mall back to original concept Zehrs Markets .As decided to keep changes in its mall planned for Erb St. and Hallman Rd. to a min- imum. After drawing the fire of some aldermen last week when Zehrs spokesman Bill Cuff announced planned changes in the outer appearance of the mail, Cuff told council Monday the mall will remain the same after, all, except for a reduc- tion in the floor space of the Zehrs store by 1,400 square feet. Shortly after the an- nouncement. Zehrs president Cart Zinkan said outside council chambers his company decided to stick with the mall’s original fa. cade. consisting of a wood and plaster exte- rior, instead of using a cheaper aluminum sid- ing to keep council members happy. "If that's what they.want, we might as well up - them," said Zin- kan. . Zehrs considered switching to a metal exterior to save Ibout $30,000, Zlnkan said. "But $30,000 Isn't real- ly that much when you consider the entire mall will cost about $2.8 million." _ During council, Al- derman Muy Jane MeWhinney said she was pleased with Zehrs After 18 months " the helm of the Chronicle, editor Phil Jal- sevnc is hanging his “so" on this edition and will begin work Mon- day as general reporter with the Kitchener-Waterloo Record. "t've Immensely enjoyed my association. mu. the Chronicle andtheWateHooeommunity “so uniquely serves." Jaluvac said earlier this, week. "But I'm loom! fem“ ttt the Wm?!" Jalsevac leaves for Record job newspaper tteid%td am partici- larly glad I can do that while remaining a resident of this city ”1:an canomcu. new ,7 r, woven-n u, not - no: a had some of us -scired for a while." Last week MeWhin- ney and other alder- men expressed that the mall would 'Hook cheap" after Cuff said Zehrs planned changes to cut project costs. As third owners of the project. Cuff said Zehrs wanted to make dglly Jlbevac, M, came to Waterloo region ht an to serve briefly as news editor of the now-defunct Newsdny and, before joining the Chronicle. worked as city hall reporter with the Cambridge Times. which has become home to me and my wife, Moiya. I‘ll still be Manger Bill [urges In: an pointed Karla Wheeler to serve as Interim editor of the Chronlcle until a permanent replncement is named. sure the mall would be built. Original owner Major Holdings sold the mall to Albert Kenner, who received council approval of the mall plans before sell- Ing to Zehrs. Once completed, the 80,000 square-foot mall will be rented to re- tailers catering to fam- ily shopping needs.