At the final words of the third and last Student Assembly presidential debate, the campaign for Assembly president came to an official close last night, concluding that this year's race would avoid much of the controversy that characterized last year's campaign season.
At this time a year ago, the Assembly presidential campaigns of Paul Heintz '06 and Brian Martin '06 were thwarted by serious Elections Planning and Advisory Committee sanctions stemming from negative campaigning conducted via BlitzMail.
This year's race, however, has remained relatively quiet, though not entirely without incident. Many juniors were surprised when former 2007 Class Council President Edward Duszlak suddenly withdrew from the race, citing time constraints as a reason for leaving.
This year EPAC doled out several tier-one sanctions, or cases in which there was a "violation that may have been inadvertent or can be easily remedied." However, most of the situations involved misunderstandings and none were serious offenses -- four of the incidents resulted from a failure to submit campaign receipts in a timely fashion, and the fifth was repealed upon further investigation.
The entry of Tim Andreadis '07 who campaigned as a write-in candidate brought a wider range of issues, such as sexual assault, into discussion and marked the first time in recent memory in which write-in candidates have significantly affected the debate.
The first debate was held on April 18 during which candidates discussed the relevance of student government experience at Dartmouth, the importance of college traditions and student body perception of the Assembly. The second debate was hosted by Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and addressed issues relating to the Greek system. The final debate occurred last night at the Rockefeller Center.
While the Assembly presidential candidates Chrissie Chick '07, Adam Patinkin '07 and Dave Zubricki '07 have tried to establish unique positions throughout the campaign season, the candidates have faced significant difficulty in differentiating themselves. All three candidates have differing amounts of experience in Assembly, and all three are affiliated with a Greek organization.
Zubricki is sometimes referred to as an "establishment candidate" because he has served on the Assembly since freshman year; however, he promotes his past experience and record of service as a benefit that will help in maintaining and reinforcing the Assembly as a valid organization.
Chick has served as Chair of the Communications Committee and believes that her Assembly involvement familiarized her with the system without giving her an establishment perspective.
Patinkin posits that his relative lack of familiarity with the Assembly will contribute to his ability to change the status quo and develop an environment in which leaders can be effective and held accountable for their words and actions.
Voting will start this morning at 9 a.m. and will conclude Wednesday at 5 p.m.
