Instead of following Price's instructions, the Weld residents decided to register since Price had seemed receptive to their requests. They purchased an e-mail address from an Internet service provider, "mailexcite.com," to use for the group.

When he received their registration, Hulse decided to deny the students a slot on the ballot.

"I did not believe they were serious about running for the U.C.," Hulse said. "I knew it was a joke so I decided to treat it with a sense of humor," Hulse added.

"Y'all are freshmen. You have no rights individually, not to mention collectively," Hulse wrote them in an e-mail message.

The Weld residents had already begun to poster and to advertise their candidacy.

They again attempted to register, and were again refused a position on the ballot. After this attempt, the Weld students decided not to run for the council at all.

"We just decided that if this was the way the U.C. operated, we didn't want to be a part of it," Fleming said.

It was an egregious misuse of power on the part of [Hulse]," Farber said. "We figured everyone was going to be professional about it."

Price said that the Weld men went about their candidacy in the wrong way.

"I told them what process to take and they obviously didn't take that process," Price said.

Hulse said that the Weld collective candidacy represented a lack of commitment to the U.C.

"There was boundless evidence that they were maliciously trying to waste our time," Hulse said