Student Government’s executive race has started to pick up speed with the launch of election campaigns last week. But in their scramble to get to the top, SG candidates are tripping over the feet of their own system.
Like most races, SG has its own set of rules and regulations, and the first of candidate violations were filed Friday. According to the rules of SG, violations adding up to five points can disqualify a candidate from the campaign process. Three candidates were reported because USC-related logos appeared in their campaign materials. And after a three-and-a-half hour panel deliberation Friday night, one candidate was penalized half a point.
What’s bewildering isn’t that campaign regulations exist, although the fact that someone running to be a student representative of USC can’t use a university logo is pretty bizarre. We understand the necessity of guidelines.
What is absurd, however, is the stringency of the rule system and how severely such petty infringements are being enforced by SG. In attempts to take themselves seriously, they end up creating massive inefficiencies within their own organization, effectively blocking themselves with their own red tape.
Rather than wasting so much time and effort nitpicking at campaign videos, SG officers should consider using that energy to focus more on other things that would promote candidates and causes to the university instead. If they did, perhaps they could achieve their goal of making their institution known and better respected, rather than delegitimizing it even further.