What the Voters Wanted

Among the new faces in Concord, when the New Hampshire General Court began a new session the first of this month was Michael Cornelius '75, a member of the Oneida tribe, one of four Democrats who now represent the Hanover-Etna area.

While election of Cornelius won't have a drastic effect on the combined age of the New Hampshire legislature - one of the most elderly as well as reputedly the second largest elected law-making body in the world - he credits his youth more than the national Democratic sweep or Hanover's small student vote for his victory at the November polls.

"With an average age of 63 in the state legislature, younger faces with newer ideas were needed, and that's what the voters wanted," he contends.

Cornelius ran primarily on issues relevant to youth: the need for reform of juvenile laws and the state's financial priorities, which he claims puts it first in the nation on per-capita aid to highways and fiftieth in aid to education.

His greatest problem as a candidate, he says, was combatting the notion that all Dartmouth students are transients. Cornelius, who came to Dartmouth in 1971, coincident with the start of the Native American Program, plans to make Hanover his home after he graduates.