Evidence has surfaced that suggests Student Council presidential candidate Ed Hallen expressed concern to the Council Executive Board over the Coalition and First Year Council's presidential endorsements, in a possible attempt to undermine support for opponent Daisy Lundy.
The Coalition consists of the Black Student Alliance, the Asian Student Union, the Latino Student Union, the Queer Student Union and the National Organization for Women.
"Ed expressed concern after the issue was investigated," said Council Chief of Staff Sarah Jobe. "But the instigation for the recommendation [that non-Contracted Independent Organizations be prohibited from holding endorsements] came from members of the executive board."
According to presidential candidate Brad Harrison, however, he, Hallen and former presidential candidate Mark Straub have maintained contact throughout the campaign.
In a call made in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Hallen enthusiastically told Harrison that the FYC may not be able to legally endorse Lundy, according to Harrison.
He said Hallen told him he wanted his help to file a formal complaint with the executive committee in order to possibly revoke the endorsements. Without a formal complaint, the executive committee can not intervene in the endorsement process.
Harrison said he did not realize Lundy potentially was being set up.
Later in the night, Harrison mentioned that he ran into Hallen, Jobe and Kelly Polk, Council vice president for organizations, writing campaign slogans for Hallen on Grounds with chalk.
"I thought the situation was just a little weird," Harrison said. "I know they were backing him all the way, so I was caught off guard."
Hallen, however, denied that he had any intent of invalidating Lundy's endorsements.
"Any concern was directed at the rules in general," Hallen said.
When he spoke to Harrison about the possible elections violation, Hallen said he had not yet decided if he intended to follow through with a formal complaint.
"Whether I expressed concern to a friend off-hand -- that's a far cry from expressing concern to the elections committee," he said, adding that he did not discuss the matter until the board made its decision.
At the elections debate last night, Straub unexpectedly announced he was dropping out of the race and declared his endorsement for Hallen.
Straub maintained that his motives were unrelated to the non-CIO controversy.
"I made this decision because I wanted to be sure that next year's Student Council would have experienced leadership and a foundation of good ideas," Straub said. He added, "Certainly it's difficult to run a race without a base of endorsements."
Hallen said he had no prior knowledge of Straub's plans to withdraw from the race last night.
The allegations surrounding Hallen's motives for concern come less than 48 hours after Julie Teater, Council elections committee chair, clarified the recently implemented elections laws to allow non-CIOs the privilege of endorsing candidates.
According to the Spring 2003 election regulations, "Approved CIOs at the University can hold endorsements for candidate positions."
Teater said she based her decision on the absence of a direct referral to non-CIOs in the clause.
"Just because CIOs can endorse, does not preclude non-CIOs from endorsing," Teater said. "The point of that clause was to make the endorsements fair and open to all candidates, and it was."
The decision rejected a recommendation contained in an e-mail sent by Council President Micah Schwartz, expressing the executive board's opinion that non-CIOs be prohibited from holding endorsements.
In the e-mail, Schwartz advised Teater to "silence" the non-CIOs that endorsed Lundy, warning that, "Daisy will claim that this is Council's attempt to ensure that she will not win."
Lundy was the only candidate mentioned in the email, prompting her and others to accuse the executive committee of bias.
"It's obvious that I was the only person involved in the discussion," Lundy said. "The events that took place illustrate that, if you're not a member of the club, there will be a significant amount of resistance."
Lundy voluntarily dropped her non-CIO endorsements after Ryan McCarthy, Coalition president and a member of the executive committee, forwarded her a copy of the internal recommendation.
"The e-mail was largely about her, so she had the right to know," McCarthy said. "It was directly going to affect her campaign."
In reaction to the decision to share information with Lundy, Schwartz visited McCarthy's room early Wednesday morning.
"I went in there in a hot temper and said that I did not appreciate individuals who I know and have worked with calling my character into question," Schwartz said. "I went to go tell him that sharing that e-mail with people outside the executive board was inappropriate and demonstrated a major conflict of interest."
Because Lundy and students representing the Coalition also were present in McCarthy's room at the time of the confrontation, Schwartz said he and McCarthy unable to speak directly.
"If the election is to be run fairly, the executive offices should not be taking sides," McCarthy said. "This should have been immediately deferred to Julie."
Despite Teater's reversal of the executive board's recommendation, Lundy said she has no plans to re-establish her endorsements from the Coalition and the FYC.
"I'm extremely grateful for the support of the Coalition and the FYC," she said. "I think the situation is very disappointing for the student body."
Council Executive Committee members defended their decision-making processes, denying charges of any bias against Lundy.
"I don't think she is being singled out," board member Ronnie Mayhew said. "I don't feel like the Student Council has done anything to jeopardize her candidacy."
Schwartz rejected any criticism that he had not followed procedure.
"The accusations being made was that I had subverted the system in order to ensure that Daisy would not win," he said. "The impact here is the story in The Cavalier Daily, not the board's recommendation."
Black Student Alliance President Tyler Scriven, Lundy's campaign assistant , said he does not believe the decision was impartial to all candidates.
"We definitely feel as if some bias came into play," Scriven said. "We are not willing to say what that bias was."
Scriven said the controversy cost Lundy valuable campaign time.
"This all boils down to a matter of integrity and I just have to remain above all of this," Lundy said. "Unfortunately, the situation has opened my eyes to a larger problem that I didn't even know existed."
Harrison also criticized the decisions.
"This was not what campaign should be," Harrison said. "It shouldn't be about who is or isn't telling the truth, it should be about issues and qualifications."
Schwartz said he hopes the controversy will not undermine the purpose of the elections.
"I feel bad that these events have transpired and I hope that they will not affect how students vote on election day," Schwartz said.
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