As you well know, the Student Association E-Board elections will be held at the end of the month. I am an active member of the "Progress Party" here on campus and I was nominated and was contemplating a run for vice president, along with Greg Stern who is contemplating heading the ticket as a candidate for SA president.
In order to run for any SA election, students must meet certain academic eligibility requirements. Before students are allowed to take out petitions they are obligated to submit an "Academic Eligibility Form." I submitted my form one month ago along with Greg Stern at the time we took out our petitions. I was only informed at 10:32 a.m. on Tuesday, March 7, that I failed to meet one of the academic eligibility requirements. This notice came exactly 25 hours and 28 minutes prior to the deadline for petition submission. Succinctly put, I was not given adequate notice.
Failure to give adequate notice on behalf of the Student Association administration in conjunction with the office of Student Affairs could have served as a substantial blow to our efforts. Furthermore, many students (including myself) took the time to walk into the SA office to physically request a copy of the "Student Association election" rules only to be given the runaround. If I had been able to walk out of the office with those rules one month ago, I would have been able to shift gears and get involved in some other (non E-Board) capacity. Students who choose to get involved need to be aware that if they choose to run for an SA or any other campus elected office/position, the challenges start well before the election. The challenges begin at the time paperwork is submitted.
My recommendation to those seeking to run for future SA and other elected positions on campus is to try your best to do your own due diligence.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
