The candidates — political science senior Joi Sullivan, agricultural business junior Jake Rogers, civil engineering junior Connor Paquin and computer engineering junior Will Blumhardt — still cannot produce written advertisements or create social media pages before April 13, when “active campaigning” begins 10 days prior to the election.
Benjy Egel
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The Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) Recruitment and Development Committee unanimously voted Friday to let presidential candidates be quoted in print media, but the change might not have come without national media attention focusing on the issue, ASI Recruitment and Development Chair Cale Reid said.
“I don’t know if this discussion would have been had without the national media attention,” Reid said. “This policy’s been around for 10 years … But I think this shows that there’s always room for improvements in these types of documents.”
The committee previously fined two candidates, civil engineering junior Connor Paquin and political science senior Joi Sullivan, for having statements printed in a Mustang News article.
Under the previous rules, candidates for ASI president and Board of Directors could not have their names connected to the election in any “non-verbal” way. Problems came when various media outlets, including Mustang News, ran articles with the candidates’ names, placing them in violation of the policy.
Reid said attracting the attention of national news outlets such as Fox News and Romenesko spurred the need to make policy changes.
The policy changes came a day after ASI’s off-campus legal counsel advised the Recruitment and Development Committee to reevaluate the election code, which said nothing about candidates’ interactions with media.
Counsel also recommended the committee waive the original $100 fines on Paquin and Sullivan Thursday, a proposition which was unanimously approved.
The committee deliberated for an hour Friday, discussing options such as designated media days, when candidates would be given a short window of time to answer questions.
The problem with media days, Sullivan said, is candidates can verbally campaign to anyone they please under the election code at any time — not just on a media day. She said she could have been quoted, for example, for speaking at the Recruitment and Development Committee meeting Friday, or any other open meeting.
“The logic doesn’t follow that I can literally be speaking in a meeting and (reporters) can be present, which is happening right now, and (they) can print this, and I’m the one that suffers the violation,” Sullivan said.
Though Recruitment and Development Committee member Jake Odello originally supported the media days, he eventually proposed candidates be free to talk with reporters at any time.
To keep a limit on early campaigning, the committee agreed that candidates and their teams cannot perpetuate media products about the election, including commenting or sharing on social media and distributing hard copies of news articles.
Violation of the new policy would result in a verbal warning for the first offense, a $100 fine for the second, a $200 fine for the third and a $300 fine for the fourth, at which time the Recruitment and Development Committee would meet to discuss recommending the candidate’s dismissal to the Board of Directors.
Reid was adamant about finding a solution Friday so the candidates could move forward with their campaigns and focus on academics going into finals week.
“I do think it’s important that at the end of this meeting we come to some kind of solution for the candidates’ sake. Because right now, they’re walking on eggshells,” Reid said during the meeting.
The candidates — Paquin, Sullivan, computer engineering junior Will Blumhardt and agricultural business junior Jake Rogers — still cannot produce written advertisements or create social media pages before April 13, when “active campaigning” begins 10 days prior to the election.
The candidates delivered a joint statement on March 7 asking ASI to change the Election Code to allow them to speak to media. But Sullivan and her competitors were in favor of keeping the 10-day active campaigning restriction on written ads, she said.
“The 10-day window for printed material makes perfect sense. And all four candidates agree on that,” Sullivan said. “It’d be great to have it be longer and get your name out more, but at the same time, we are here for educational purposes and it gets obnoxious after 10 days.”