The Student Government Association (SGA) passed a resolution at its Jan. 30 meeting that redefined what can be used as campaign materials in the spring SGA election.
Campaign materials, according to the resolution passed by SGA, are strong components to campaigns and the continuation of democracy in student government.
Prior to this resolution, senators were only allowed to campaign by word of mouth, social media and posters approved by Student Leadership Involvement. Previously, election bylaws prohibited candidates from distributing campaign materials like small slips of paper.
“There was a total ban on giving anyone anything and restricting campaigning to online posts, word of mouth, and posters,” said Lukas Phipps, Commuter Student Senator at-Large. “Now it can be business cards and items that aren’t edible, with no monetary value to the holder.”
According to the resolution, campaign materials now include “posters, business cards, rack cards, handbills, or flyers, which hold no monetary value to the holder.”
“The amendment itself is meant to reduce the strictness of [the previous] rule to even the playing field for non-incumbents without going into the [previous] issue at-hand which had to do with voter pressure,” said Phipps.
At the meeting, Phipps, a co-author of the resolution, said campaign materials must be less than $35, and anything over $10 must be approved by SGA Vice President Oba Oseghali prior to it being distributed.
Phipps said the new rule will make it easier for SGA candidates to campaign if they don’t have a large social media following.
Class of 2021 Senators Kostas Loukos and Valentino Kaja, also co-authored the resolution.
In other news, SGA Treasurer George Yeghyayan reported that there is $20,000 left for club initiative requests this semester. More money is expected to go back into that budget as a result of ticket sales from certain club events this semester.
