This time last year, residence halls were quiet, removed from the petitioning campaign staffs of candidates for student government positions.
That will not be the case this year.
Beginning Tuesday night, a flurry of campaign workers descended on residence halls, knocking on doors in an effort to collect signatures to get their names on the Feb. 9 elections ballot.
Throughout the election, candidates and their campaign workers will be allowed to canvass residence halls between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, a process commonly called “dormstorming.”
The new policy marks a departure from last year’s Board of Elections rules, which prohibited candidates’ campaigns from dormstorming during the first week of campaigning.
The change made it harder for potential candidates to gather signatures, since they had to find alternative ways of reaching students.
Student body president and Carolina Athletic Association president candidates must gather 1,000 signatures to get their names on the ballot. Potential candidates for other offices must gather a smaller number.
But Larry Hicks, the director of the Department of Housing and Residential Education, said this change does not reflect a change in the department’s policy on solicitation in residence halls.
He said the same policy has been in place since he came to UNC in 1985, which states that any sort of solicitation in residence halls is prohibited in order to protect students’ privacy.
He said campaigns for student body president and Residence Hall Association president are the only exceptions — although the Board of Elections rules allow candidates for any office except senior class officers to dormstorm.
The Board of Elections also released a non-solicitation notice that students can post on their doors, notifying campaigns that they do not wish to be solicited.
Peter Gillooly, chairman of the Board of Elections, said the housing department was primarily responsible for the decision.
“I thought it was more appropriate for them to decide what worked best,” Gillooly said.
But last year’s board came to a different conclusion.
Ryan Morgan, last year’s chairman of the Board of Elections, said Wednesday that his ruling was in line with the housing policy.
Junior Hogan Medlin, a candidate for student body president, said he valued dormstorming as a means of campaigning.
“It’s a great tool for us to get out and see different students,” Medlin said.
Junior Joe Levin-Manning, another candidate for student body president, said dormstorming can be perceived as annoying but ultimately helps.
“It helps us get our visibility out there, and helps give a face to the name,” Levin-Manning said.
Monique Hardin, Nash Keune, Shruti Shah and Gregory Strompolos are also running.
Dormstorming rules
Access to the residence halls for the purpose of door-to-door canvassing and campaigning in the common lobby area happens from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday over a four-week span starting with the release of petition forms to students declaring their intent to run for SBP.
The Board of Elections has designed a“Non-Solicitation Notice” that it will distribute to students via its Web site, studentorgs.unc.edu/boe, that students who live in campus housing will be allowed to print and stick to their doors. Violators of this posting should be reported to the Board of Elections.
Only 10 people from the same campaign shall be permitted to have access to a campus housing community at one time. However, there shall be no restriction on how many campaigns can have access to a campus housing community at one time.
Candidates or staff are not allowed to slide items under doors or post anywhere other than designated spaces.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
