After several student candidates were disqualified last fall for breaking campaign rules, a student government organization is changing the rules.
Candidates for student-government positions will no longer be held responsible for all aspects of their campaign, the Nominations and Elections Committee now holds.
The NEC -- which runs student elections and nominates representatives for various University committees -- put out its candidate information packet for spring elections Monday. The packet tells potential candidates how to go about running for the Undergraduate Assembly or a class board.
Candidates must submit paperwork by March 15. Elections will run from March 21 until March 26.
The body made some changes to the packet this year as a result of disqualifications during last fall's freshman class board elections, in which five candidates were removed from the race for campaigning on Facebook.com earlier than permitted.
To help avoid any election confusion this semester, the NEC has modified the definition of a surrogate, someone who campaigns on behalf of a candidate with that candidate's knowledge.
According to the revised packet, if a surrogate violates campaign rules, the candidate won't necessarily be held responsible.
If a surrogate's actions break the NEC's Fair Practices Code, which outlines campaign rules, without the candidate's knowledge and the candidate does everything possible to prevent it, that person will no be considered a surrogate.
"The NEC has tried to respond to the problems we faced in the last elections, and we hope this one will run more smoothly," College senior and NEC Chairman David Diesenhouse said.
Another change will require that the NEC tally votes even for disqualified candidates in elections in which voters can select only one candidate.
If disqualified candidates win a large enough percentage of votes to render another candidate's win "illegitimate" and "biased," the NEC will reconsider the election, Diesenhouse said.
"We want to make sure as many people's votes are counted as possible," he added.
Intramural Sports
The UA unanimously passed an intramural sports plan of action at the body's meeting Sunday night.
The goal of the plan is to increase student interest in intramural sports and improve the quality of facilities.
Specifically, UA members want to work toward getting turf on Bower Field, which is used by various intramural sports teams.
Penn Video Network
At the same meeting, the UA unanimously passed a plan calling for the improvement of the Penn Video Network, the University's cable television and special video events channel.
UA members are planning a survey to determine channel usage, research better locations for equipment and investigate an outside cable vendor and newer technology.
