Bruins United candidates will not be able to campaign for the
majority of the day today, the last day of the Undergraduate
Students Association Council’s runoff election, because of
sanctions from the Elections Board.
The sanctions are the result of candidate endorsements for
runoff election that were sent by the On Campus Housing Council via
e-mail to students on the Hill, an act that violated the elections
code.
The e-mail, sent on Tuesday, discussed the importance of USAC,
reminded students to vote, and included OCHC’s presidential
endorsement for Bruins United candidates Alex Gruenberg and Jesse
Melgares for president and external vice president, respectively,
in the runoff elections.
Gruenberg said the sanctions will be detrimental to the campaign
and called them unfair and inconsistent with how the Elections
Board has been operating in the past two weeks of elections.
“The sanctions are not only excessive, but absolutely
ludicrous,” he said.
The Elections Code allows for candidates or groups to
electronically advertise their endorsements and candidacy through
group listserves that students have voluntarily joined. According
to the Elections Code, OCHC would have been able to send the e-mail
only to its organization’s members or people it personally
knew.
But the e-mail was sent to all students living on the Hill, and
questions have been raised as to the privacy of some students who
are concerned their e-mail address was used without their
permission.
OCHC e-mailed a statement to Hill residents apologizing for the
misunderstanding and the Elections Code transgression.
The allegations of hacking were proved untrue in a meeting
between involved parties, as OCHC had gone through its usual
channels of sending Hill-wide e-mails and no member had access to
the closed list.
Those present at the meeting included OCHC members, Director of
Office of Residential Life Suzanne Seplow, advisor to OCHC Cheryl
Sims, Dean of Students Robert Naples and USAC President Allende
Palma/Saracho, who had brought the infringement to the attention of
the administrators.
Brad Stauber, OCHC chairman, stressed that OCHC did not have
access to any student e-mail addresses and that the e-mail was
submitted to OCHC adviser Cheryl Sims, who works with a
representative from the Office of Residential Life and Student
Technology Center.
Sims did not return phone calls for comment.
OCHC had used e-mail in the past in order to make its
endorsements public. Stauber said the switch to e-mail was made
after there were problems with the former way OCHC advertised
endorsements by putting fliers up on doors of residents on the
Hill. Putting up fliers was in violation of the Elections Code, as
the residence halls are not considered public spaces.
“We want to emphasize that we do and will continue to work
for the best interest of students,” Stauber said, adding that
the serious allegations made against his council outraged him.
After complaints surfaced, Nathan Lam, the Elections Board
Chairman, immediately took action against OCHC and sanctioned its
involvement in the endorsement process for the remainder of the
election period.
In an attempt to compensate for the original e-mail, OCHC sent
out another e-mail including the entire list of group endorsements
for all four runoff candidates, which include Student Power!
presidential candidate Jenny Wood and Jeannie Biniek, candidate for
external vice president.
“(The Elections Board) came down heavy because this was
something that could easily sway the election results,” Lam
said.
As a part of the Elections Board sanctions, both Bruin United
candidates will have to miss out on eight hours of campaign time
and will not be allowed to campaign in public areas on the Hill
until 7 p.m. tonight ““ the end of the campaign period for all
candidates.
Gruenberg said the process is being politicized and said he had
“never seen this kind of unfair response.”
Gruenberg added that members of his slate have had discussions
with Lam, and said he is under the impression that the Elections
Board does not have an interest in readdressing the issue to
alleviate the sanctions in place.
Gruenberg and Melgares will still be allowed to campaign as a
part of the Bruins United slate, as the Elections Code does not
recognize slates.
“It’s disingenuous to just campaign as a
slate,” Gruenberg said.
The Election Board also sanctioned Wood and Biniek, whose
campaign fliers were found on the doors of the De Neve Plaza
residence halls ““ a private area. Both will consequently have
to miss out on three hours and 15 minutes of campaigning time by
the end of the voting period.