The Elections Planning Advisory Committee issued a tier-one warning to Student Body presidential candidate Eric Tanner '11 on Thursday evening after determining that his campaign violated EPAC's rules prohibiting recipient-suppressed e-mails concerning the election. The e-mail that caused the sanction was sent on Wednesday by The Dunyun, an anonymous blog that features satirical news articles about Dartmouth life. In an interview with The Dartmouth, Tanner said his campaign is not affiliated with The Dunyun.
Tanner's campaign will not face any enhanced restrictions because the sanction is only a warning, EPAC chair David Imamura '10 said.
The Dunyun, which e-mails its list of readers daily, included a line in Monday's message that was considered an endorsement.
"While technically barred from endorsing any candidate for SA President, The Dunyun would like to take this opportunity to strongly encourage you to vote for any candidates whose names rhyme with Shmanner. We don't know what it is about that name, but it just gets us every time," the e-mail read.
EPAC considered this an endorsement of Tanner's candidacy, Imamura said.
"It's fairly clear to the leadership of The Dunyun and anyone getting the e-mails that this was an endorsement," he said.
By endorsing Tanner, The Dunyun became "an official surrogate of his campaign" and had not at that point violated EPAC rules, Imamura said.
EPAC regulations do allow organizations to send out a single recipient-suppressed e-mail to their membership list to announce their endorsement of a candidate, Imamura said. The Dunyun violated EPAC rules, however, when it sent out a second e-mail to its membership list on Tuesday, again referencing the elections in an article on a fictional Assembly presidential candidate, Imamura said.
Although the second e-mail was not sent to a suppressed list, EPAC determined that it qualified as a violation.
The Dunyun maintains its mailing list through a Google Group, which is a service that allows users to maintain large mailing lists. Sending out mass e-mails through a Google Group is considered equivalent to using as a recipient-suppressed list because the list members are anonymous and not necessarily known to the sender, according to Imamura.
Sending campaign e-mails to "@mac" lists, however, is currently permitted under EPAC regulations because the list members belong to an identifiable group on campus.
"The goal here is to protect campus from getting too many unsolicited e-mails about Student Assembly elections," he said.
Tanner said that although he knows the editors of The Dunyun, who wished to remain anonymous, the blog is not affiliated with his campaign.
"Obviously I love having any and all support for my campaign, but I want to win the presidency in a fair way," Tanner said. "If EPAC thinks that my campaign violated any rules, we are prepared to accept that."
Tanner said he e-mailed the blog editors to let them know about the sanction and also told members of his campaign team to avoid writing articles about the election if they choose to write for The Dunyun.
The Dunyun editors were "relatively unclear about the endorsement rules" and apologized to Tanner for the violation, he said.
The Dunyun sent a response to the sanction addressed to Imamura on Thursday.
"On Monday, as you noted, we endorsed any and all candidates whose names rhyme with "'Shmanner,'" The Dunyun wrote in the e-mail. "It is simply not Eric Tanner's fault that his name happens to rhyme with this."
The Dunyun also said that the Tuesday article was neither referencing nor endorsing any actual candidates.
"I appreciate The Dunyun's e-mail," Imamura said in response. "I'm an avid reader and fan, but unfortunately they violated EPAC regulations and EPAC stands by its decision."
Imamura emphasized that overall campaigning has been cleaner than in previous years.
"I think that so far, the candidates' campaigning has been exemplary," he said. "This is really to make sure that the candidates are aware of and adhere to the rules in the final stretch of the campaign."
This is the first year that student organizations have been allowed to officially endorse candidates.
On Thursday, the Student Athlete Advisory Committee offically endorsed Tanner's candidacy.
In a statement to The Dartmouth, Tanner said he was "humbled" by the endorsement, citing that the SAAC represents all varsity athletes, or "around 20 percent of the student body."
The endorsement "shows that people from all over campus are interested in seeing Student Assembly move in a new direction," Tanner added.
Voting for the election will occur online on April 19.
Tanner is a staff photographer for The Dartmouth.
