UA candidates still hushed by gag rule

For students running in Monday's Undergraduate Assembly elections, mum's still the word. The Nominations and Elections Committee, which said it would review the so-called "gag rule" of the Fair Practices Code in December, said it will keep the policy in place for the UA contest. But some UA candidates said yesterday that the rule -- which prohibits them from having their names printed in The Daily Pennsylvanian on election issues -- puts the voters at a disadvantage. One incumbent who is seeking re-election said the rule helps to make the campaign a matter of "style over substance" because students can not be informed of candidates' stances. "No one knows about issues because the main source of campus news can't report it," he said. He added that he favors a revision of the gag rule. "My gut feeling is that the gag rule had to be modified in some way -- as long as we keep it fair and get more substance [ from the modification]," he said. Another incumbent said the policy discriminates against students who make consistent contributions to the University. "People who are constantly working on projects can't demonstrate that they are doing things during the [election] week," he said. "I think that we should certainly re-enter the dialogue about how we are going to allow people to be in the newspaper," he added. But NEC Elections Chairperson Michael Monson said the publicity regulations keep the election on a "level playing field." He added that the NEC decided to keep the rule after a review because "not everyone has an equal opportunity to get in the paper." College junior Monson said he wishes the policy was different, adding that he would "seriously consider [ranging] the rule" if the University were a "free market." But the University is not a "free market" Monson said, because there is only one major source of news on campus. "There is only one major form of news -- that's the DP -- without any kind of competition there's no free market of ideas," he said. "And without a free market there's no free speech." Monson said UA candidates have not expressed concerns to him about the rule. "They weren't too upset," he said. "There were no real gripes."

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