A group created on the popular Web site www.thefacebook.com may violate Student Association campaign policy.
More than 2,000 Mississippi State students are members on the Facebook site.
Under legislation passed last semester, a candidate for SA office must wait to publicly declare his or her candidacy until after a meeting in March. Questions about the legality of such groups arose after a group called “TJ Harvey for SA President in ’05” was created on www.thefacebook.com late last semester.
Election commissioner Mary E. Brown said she is still trying to decide whether groups such as “T.J. Harvey for SA President in ’05” violate the policy. The group, which was changed to “Exploratory Committee for T.J. Harvey for SA President in ’05” last week, refers to Harvey, assistant director of the SA’s voter registration committee.
“The Senate penned, this year, a rule that states that you cannot publicly state your candidacy until after the candidates’ meeting,” SA president Adam Telle said.
The rule prohibits prospective candidates from announcing their candidacies at meetings or via flyers, posters or Web sites, Telle said. “This means that you can’t go to a meeting and say ‘Hey, I’m running.'”
But prospective candidates may tell their friends. “Anything within a private circle is fine,” Telle said.
The SA Constitution defines campaigning as “any act by a candidate or his/her representative(s) which is intended to present that person as a candidate to the general public.”
Harvey said he is not familiar with all of the stipulations involved in the new policy, but that Brown OK-ed the facebook group.
” I have talked to the elections commissioner, Mary Brown, and she didn’t seem to have a problem with Thefacebook since facebook isn’t my Web site and the thing posted about me was done by my friends,” he said.
SA members disagree about how the rule applies to friends of prospective candidates who campaign for the candidate on their own.
Telle said campaigning by friends of prospective candidates falls under the rule. “Anybody who’s in support of the candidate and the candidate knows about it is considered an extension of the candidate,” he said.
SA senator Lindsey Tew, who proposed the legislation, said she hopes the limit on campaigning will encourage candidates to focus on school and other responsibilities for most of the year.
“All the people who are running for office have leadership positions already,” she said. Tew said she hopes candidates will focus on their current positions rather than seeing them as stepping stones.
Telle believes the rule is important because it prevents students from becoming annoyed at constant campaigning. “Last year many candidates started publicly announcing their candidacy in October or November,” Telle said.
Student Association elections will be held March 29. Candidates will have about one month to campaign.
To run for office, students must fill out a form of intent, then attend a candidates’ meeting to learn about rules, guidelines and expenditures, Telle said.