TO THE EDITOR:
Even a cursory glance at the Student Code reveals that Student Congress is not full of professional policymakers, much less future U.S. Supreme Court justices.
I was nevertheless dumbfounded by Ian Lee’s remarks in yesterday’s paper (“Election rules may be altered”) suggesting that he remains unclear as to whether he was allowed to run for student body president while serving as secretary.
The election laws could not have been clearer: “The following Student Government officers shall not participate in a campaign for any elected position: … Student Body Secretary.” It follows that he was not eligible to run for SBP while serving as secretary.
The Board of Elections, in a move that defied logic, erroneously allowed Lee to run. It ruled that the above law barred student government officers from working on the campaigns of others. As long as the secretary does not speak on behalf of student government, however, he may campaign for himself. I, for one, fail to grasp how the officer can divorce himself from his bully pulpit in his own campaign and not those of others.
It’s too bad that a fine candidate with a superb platform made such poor political decisions in his campaign to become SBP. Lee should stop blaming Congress for his defeat and take a hard look at his regrettable strategic missteps.
Erik Davies
Junior
Economics and Asian Studies
