Voting opens for the Hopkins Student Government Association (SGA) upperclassman board positions today. With increasing numbers of students participating in SGA elections, the SGA has worked in conjunction with the Committee on Student Elections (CSE) to ensure a fair election season.
During the SGA meeting last Monday, Apr. 23, the SGA passed a bill amending the SGA Bylaws. This amendment provides greater transparency and accountability about the proper conduct of the members of the SGA during SGA elections.
The amendment stipulates acceptable behavior for SGA members during SGA elections and discusses proper campaigning procedures. Its measures seek to prevent SGA members from abusing their knowledge of the internal workings of SGA and campaigning procedures to create an unfair advantage. If a member of SGA violates the rules set forth in this amendment, he or she will be held accountable for his or her actions and face impeachment proceedings.
Ardi Mendoza, the President of the SGA Executive Branch, said that the amendment was created in order to hold the entire SGA to a higher standard.
“As the student government, we understand what the rules are, we know what is proper campaigning and what is improper campaigning, and we should be held to a higher standard, so it should be clear to the student government that if people participate in a campaign and break rules, there should be consequences for it
especially through the student government,” Mendoza said.
In addition, the amendment was developed to protect members of the SGA from making campaign infringements during SGA elections. While SGA members are encouraged to participate in elections, if they choose to campaign, they are required to campaign fairly.
“If you feel it’s something you’re not sure is right or wrong, you should probably not do it, and this ensures that there’s no trouble for any future members of the student government, who might be campaigning and are not sure where they fall on that line,” Mendoza said.
While the CSE’s constitution monitors candidate behavior in SGA elections, the new amendment only pertains to members of the SGA. The SGA passed the amendment before the elections for upperclassmen board positions this Thursday to ensure a clean election.
“We want to encourage people to be enthusiastic about elections and really to endorse whoever they want to, but, at the same time, to do it in a very positive manner, in a way that still abides by all the rules,” Mendoza said.
The amendment and its emphasis on an increased amount of transparency during elections were well-received by members of the SGA.
“I think this amendment will lead to cleaner and fairer SGA elections, and will give candidates greater security and autonomy over their campaign,” Wyatt Larkin, the Vice President of the SGA Executive Branch, wrote to The News-Letter in an email.
Throughout the past few weeks, the CSE has also worked with the SGA and Robert Turning, the Director of Student Life, to prepare for the upperclassmen board elections. Last week, the CSE held mandatory information sessions for all candidates.
Michael Wu, the Head of the CSE, said the CSE has increased awareness of the upcoming elections and will be sending school-wide emails that encourage the student body to vote.
“It really only does take, at most, three minutes. Treat is as a study break. We know people go onto memes websites. Why not spend a few of those minutes to get your voice heard?” Wu wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
In addition, the CSE works to ensure that all campaigning is done fairly.
“We actively look for violations ourselves, in addition to carefully considering all complaints filed/reported very seriously,” Wu wrote. “Also, we check candidates’ petitions to ensure people got their signatures honestly and the process was done the right way.”
Wu continued on to discuss the competitive nature of the upcoming elections. While the elections for the Class of 2013 and the Class of 2014 do not have as many participants, the Class of 2015 election has 14 students competing for six spots. Wu has not seen such an active election since the Class of 2013 senatorial election in 2010 when 13 students fought for six spots.
“I am very excited to see how this one turns out,” Wu wrote. “We all love to see competitive elections and hope that the best candidates win.”
While several newcomers are running in the Class of 2015 elections, Joshua Goodstein, the current Class of 2015 President, is stepping down.
“I have not dismissed the idea of SGA in the future, but I will pursue other interests in the fall,” Goodstein wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “I will always be committed to the goals and virtues set forth by SGA. I will also be available as a leader, teammate and colleague to my classmates and the Hopkins community.”
