Thomas penalized, 2 other candidates cleared
The Student Government election season’s first allegations of violations were filed Friday, arguing that three candidates improperly used USC logos.
In all, four allegations were submitted — two against Student Body Vice President Chase Mizzell (a candidate for student body president), one against Courtland Thomas (vice president) and one against Ashley Farr (business school senator) — but after three-and-a-half hours of deliberations Friday night, the Elections Commission only gave penalties for one, against Thomas.
Thomas was penalized half a point because his music video — a reimagination of 2 Chainz’s “Birthday Song” — shows USC’s crest at multiple points. Candidates can receive up to five points before they are disqualified.
The original allegation cited five instances that the university’s crest or Block C logo appears in the video, mostly in the student senate chambers.
Thomas wasn’t required to take the video down, but he was required to cover the logo with YouTube annotations, an idea Thomas said came from Theresa Sexton, USC’s coordinator for SG, who was consulted over the phone.
“Theresa Sexton saved my behind,” Thomas said.
The use of USC symbols in campaign videos was also an issue in both allegations against Mizzell.
The first noted that logos appear on shirts worn by USC men’s soccer players in a video featuring the team; the other found five university symbols in Mizzell’s campaign trailer, including a lapel pin he’s wearing and the Maxcy Monument.
Mizzell received no penalties, and he and his staff argued the logos were unintentional.
“We decided that for the case that points were awarded, the logo was a focal point, whereas in the case where we decided it wasn’t a violation, it wasn’t a focal point of the shot,” said Meghan Aubry, the elections commissioner, who added that their appearance didn’t affect the videos’ messages.
The commission also decided not to award penalties against Farr, who is wearing a Block C face tattoo in her campaign Facebook profile picture. Farr said she received approval for the photo before posting it.
While the hearings didn’t result in significant penalties overall, Thomas said he was worried half a point could make a difference in a potentially contentious campaign. In all, four candidates are running for vice president.
But he was relieved, he said, that the video was allowed to stay online and that the penalties weren’t more severe.
“Jesus prevails. Let me rephrase that,” Thomas said, pausing after he remembered visiting USC’s Secular Student Alliance chapter earlier in the week. “Right prevails.”