Yesterday, the Elections Planning and Advisory Committee sanctioned vice-presidential candidate Ruslan Tovbulatov '09, and presidential candidate Eddie Duszlak '07 announced that he would drop out of the race, citing time management and social pressures.
"I underestimated the time it would take to run and to be president," he said. "I'm already sort of acclimating back to my role on campus. Being a [member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity] is not a part-time commitment. It's an honor to be a Theta Delt and I don't want to compromise our 'sweet guy' image by being the Student Assembly President."
While the race for president has remained relatively quiet thus far, the race for vice president has become increasingly competitive.
EPAC informed Tovbulatov yesterday that he received a tier-one sanction for early campaigning after one of his opponents and an unnamed witness claimed that he posted fliers before 12:01 a.m. on Saturday morning, when candidates were officially allowed to begin their campaigns.
EPAC defines a tier-one offense as "a violation that may have been inadvertent or can be easily remedied," and, as the lowest possible sanction, it does not suspend a candidate's campaign in any way.
"We will discuss the sanction at 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, when we will weigh all the statements from different people we've gotten, and we'll decide if the appeal is warranted," said EPAC chair Paul Heintz '06, who is also a member of The Dartmouth staff. "Generally a tier-one offense does not result in a hearing because it is minor, and it does not come with any sort of penalty. It's not a big deal."
Tovbulatov said that he plans to appeal the sanction, however.
"I'm going to fight this," he said. "It's unbelievable that a dubious claim from an opponent can shake my credibility. It's not true."
Tovbulatov said he hopes people focus on the real issue of his campaign, improving student connections with alumni and the faculty.
Many of the vice presidential candidates' campaign platforms consist of agendas that the Assembly has tried and failed to achieve in the past, such as incorporating HBO into the campus' cable television channel selection and enabling DASH payments at vending machines.
Vice presidential candidate Jacqueline Loeb '08 said that she has not released a campaign platform because she is tired of the empty promises prevalent during campaign seasons of the past.
"I, like the rest of the student body, was fed up with people giving all these pie-crust promises," she said, "and I didn't want to do the same."
