Just hours before the campaign period began last night, the Election Advisory Committee decided it will not penalize any of the three Student Assembly presidential candidates for allegedly violating election policy guidelines.
Candidates Brandon del Pozo '96, Phil Ferrera '96 and Jim Rich '96 each had complaints filed against them for early campaigning.
Director of Student Activities Tim Moore, the chair of the EAC, wrote in a public statement that the committee determined del Pozo, Ferrera and Rich may have broken the rules, but will not take action against any of them because the rules are too vague.
"Intentionally or unintentionally, the election guidelines may have been violated," Moore said. "The difficulty we are discussing is that it's difficult to distinguish when" organizing ends and active campaigning begins.
He said the EAC, a group of students and administrators that oversees Assembly elections, is responsible for providing a fair election that conveys candidates' messages to the students so they can make informed decisions. "If the EAC felt something was jeopardizing that, they would have taken action," he added.
Instead of punishing the candidates, Moore said the EAC will work on clarifying current election guidelines, hopefully by the end of April.
Moore said he met with the EAC yesterday at noon to resolve the issues surrounding this year's election before campaigning was scheduled to begin.
Election procedures state, "Campaigning shall be defined but not limited to ... seeking an endorsement from a student or group of students; and similar activities ... Students can organize their campaigns in advance, but actual campaigning may begin no earlier than seven days prior to the election date."
Friday Moore received a complaint alleging that del Pozo and Rich violated election guidelines by speaking before the Conservative Union At Dartmouth and seeking the group's endorsement at the end of Winter term.And Bill Bleier '98 last Thursday lodged a complaint against Ferrera for allegedly seeking endorsements from two sorority presidents last term.
In interviews with The Dartmouth, all three candidates denied campaigning early. Candidates could not legally begin their campaigns until midnight last night.
Two years ago, presidential candidate Nicole Artzer '94 and Stewart Shirasu '94 were sanctioned by the EAC for campaigning early.
Artzer and Shirasu met with the executive committee of the Coed Fraternity Sorority Council, the governing body of the College's Greek houses, to seek an endorsement.
Moore said that their violations were much more clear examples of active campaigning than this year's candidates' alleged activities.
Moore said the EAC updated the election guidelines two years ago to make the rules more clear. "It's clear we need to revise some more," he said.
