Controversial election held no hearings

Last week the Election Planning Committee (EPC) reviewed all the complaints that were filed in the recent election for student trustee and determined that the results were valid, with James Winters remaining the winner. In the midst of the review process, the EPC determined that there was no need to hold hearings, despite the presence of controversial activities including negative campaign fliers and chalking activities.

In previous elections, hearings have been held to examine complaints surrounding various issues including campaigning within 25 feet of University-owned computers, advertisement violations and slander.

This year, Assistant Dean of Students and EPC advisor Malcolm Smith said that he saw no need for a hearing to be held. "There was little to no evidence outside of circumstantial [evidence]," Smith stated. "It's important for people to know that feelings and speculation aren't necessarily evidence."

Some of the evidence that was submitted included violations of chalking location rules. Under the student election packet guidelines, chalking is not allowed "in areas protected by canopies or other building elements." There are some students that believe that this policy was violated.

Fourth-year student Nirav Sanghani said, "I found chalking supporting [candidate] James Winters underneath the Science and Engineering Labs (SEL), which is a clear violation of the rules."

Sanghani also believed that there were violations of UIC Standards of Conduct, explaining that he found "Chris Olson is a liar" underneath the entrance of University Hall. He explained that this was a violation because it is a message giving false and misleading information about a candidate that was running for student trustee, a University process which is defined in the Student Disciplinary Policy handbook.

There were also numerous complaints due to the presence of the negative campaign fliers from all of the candidates running for trustee. Winters said that he ran into some of the people that were distributing such fliers, adding that he notified EPC advisor Malcolm Smith immediately. Winters was upset that the campaign featured negative ads, expressing that he wished "there was a way for students to go directly to the EPC" to file a complaint about a candidate, if they had a problem with one.

With no clear violation of election policy and no one to prevent such activity from occurring, the students behind the negative campaign fliers are protected from any punishment. This is a contrast from the students that were behind the graphic chalk drawings found around campus, one of which featured a naked woman. Such a drawing is believed, by the Olson campaign, to be a violation of the University's Standards of Conduct, citing that the drawing falls under the Violation of the Rights of Others in that it is form of hazing and harassment, and that it is inappropriate and disruptive behavior.

Olson said that he is concerned that the perpetrators of such negative and unwarranted acts will go unpunished, only further encouraging this type of activity in the future.

Olson said, "I certainly don't have anything against James and I'm not filing [complaints] simply based on the result; it's important to me that people know that. It goes back to why we run for office in the first place, that is, to preserve the integrity, honesty and decency of the process and the institution."