Postponement of SMUSA Election

Dear Students of Saint Mary’s University,

My name is Alwyn Gomez and I am currently the Chair of the SMUSA Board of Directors. I am writing this letter, on behalf of the board, in order to both explain and apologize for the events that have occurred over the last week with regards to the SMUSA elections. I am sure that by now you have heard that the elections have been delayed for one week and campaigning is set to start on the 8th of February with voting taking place on the 17th and 18th of February.

I would first like to explain the events that have lead up to this decision and the logic behind the postponement of the elections. At the start of the last week in January the SMUSA Board of Directors along with the rest of the students on campuses became aware of the group “Students First” when the bios of the candidates were made public. The group “Students First” consisted of one presidential candidate and four Board candidates that were running under a similar slogan and platform. While this may appear to be a benign and not exactly novel idea it struck a chord with many of the other candidates as we as many of the members of the current board. Allow me to explain the three main reasons why it was felt that such a group is not in the spirit of the elections.

The first reason really centers on the purpose of the Board of Directors. One of the board’s major tasks is to insure that the president is being held accountable for their actions. It is a governing body that makes sure that president is acting in the best interests of the students of the University. It is for this reason that it is so important that the board be free from any allegiance to the president. A group like “Students First” which consists of both a presidential candidate and board candidates can hardly be seen as giving the proper distinction between the president and the board.

The second reason also pertains to the purpose of the board. When any organization puts together a board it is done with diversity being the major goal. If that were not the case a single person would suffice. When voting for a board candidate it is this diversity that the student body is selecting for. The voter is trying to ensure that their point of view, which is most likely different than that of other students, will be present at the board table when the board is making decisions of any sort. This becomes difficult for the student body to do when the bulk of the candidates become homogenized under a single group.

The final and most important reason has to do with the candidates that are not part of the group. It is hard enough for all the candidates to campaign with so many other candidates in the running but this task becomes much more difficult when running as a lone candidate against a large group. It gives an unfair advantage to the group as there are simply more of them and every member of the group is essentially campaigning for one another. This is especially troubling when considering that exclusion from the group may have nothing to do with differing points of view, opinions or goals for the organization.

On Friday January 29th the SMUSA Board of Directors held a meeting to examine this issue and to find a solution. The preceding three arguments are what precipitated from that meeting and as a result it was decided that no campaigning as a group would be allowed in this or any election of SMUSA. An extra week was given to the candidates so that they would be able to readjust their campaigns.

I would like to apologies to the general student body. The board has already taken a great deal of criticism for the manner in which this meeting was held. Admittedly it was a rushed process that did not follow the policy that the board has set out for itself and for this we are truly sorry. We do feel however that in breaking our policy we were acting in the best interest of the students of the University. As a board of elected officials sworn to represent the students we felt that it was more important to provide a fair and just election than to adhere to written policy.

I would also like to apologize to all the candidates. It should be realized that the members of “Students First” did not intentionally break any election rules. Prior to this there were no specific rules that dealt with a situation like this one. This is obviously something that was overlooked by the board when the rules for SMUSA elections were created. We are sorry for the trouble that this has undoubtedly caused you but we hope that you see that it is in the best interest of everyone.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I hope that it has provided you with information you need in order to understand why the elections have been postponed. I also hope that I have managed to convey how sorry we are for this inconvenience. Finally I hope that you make the most out of the campaigning period and get to know your candidates so that you can make an educated vote on February 17th and 18th.

Sincerely ,
Alwyn Gomez
Board of Directors Chair