May 3, 2012
A recent amendment passed by the SGA details clearer rules governing the conduct by members of the SGA during elections. Prior to this amendment, SGA members were only advised to maintain appropriate behavior during elections. Unlike candidates vying for a position on SGA, current members did not have concrete guidelines under the Committee on Student Elections (CSE).
This page agrees that increased clarity and transparency is needed in the rules governing the behavior of current SGA members in order to maintain the integrity of the elections each year. The amendment states that, "members of the SGA should be held to a higher standard pursuant to the office they were elected to." The background of an SGA member merits increased standards during elections.
We believe that the amendment should go further, addressing concrete points to level the playing field. The SGA should work to decrease negative campaigning and stop excessive campaigning activities once the voting period begins; however, these election rules need to be clarified.
While valid intents might underly the rules governing the conduct of candidates as spelled out by the CSE, many rules have failed to keep up with changes in social media. This puts candidates at risk of unintentionally violating the election rules.
If advances can be made in establishing specific guidelines for current SGA members, similar progress must be made on rules for candidates as well.
