Pg. 2 Self Nomination Form Table of Contents Pg. 3-5 Student Elections Guidelines Pg. 6 Regarding Pre-Candidates Meeting Campaigning (EMAIL FORM) Pg. 7 Academic Division Information Preface: This packet is intended to ease the election process for potential candidates. There is new information in here that is very important to this year s election. It is imperative that you read the Student Elections Guidelines as there are new additions important to your campaign. Please read about the new academic divisions to see which one applies to you. Also please read the page regarding pre-candidates meeting campaigning. If you have any questions please contact the Elections Commission at uastudentelections@gmail.com. Thank you, The Elections Commission 1
Name: Local Address: Permanent Address: Telephone Number: Email address: SELF NOMINATION FORM Student Association Fall 2012 Elections (Please Print Clearly) ** MANDATORY CANDIDATES MEETING ** September 7 th at 5pm! RIGHT OUTSIDE THE S.A. OFFICE (Campus Center 116) If you are unable to attend you must contact the commission before this time. ***DO NOT START CAMPAIGNING TILL 12AM AFTER THE CANDIDATES MEETING*** THIS FORM IS TO BE RETURNED TO THE SA OFFICE BY 9/5/12 at 5PM Student ID Number: Class Year Major ** You can only run for one seat ** Living area Senator (Please indicate your living area) -Dutch, Colonial, Indian, Empire, Freedom, Alumni, State, Off-campus, Liberty Terrace Senator At Large Academic Division Senator (Please Indicate your Division) (Division Instructions/Definitions on Separate part of nomination packet) - Applied & Natural Science, Business & Management, Social Science, Humanities, Law & Government I understand that the Student Association reserves the right to publish any of the above information about me on the ballot except for the Student ID number. I understand that I must be a student activity-paying student at the University during my term of office and failure to remain a student activity-paying student shall be considered a neglect of duties. If I cease to be a student during my term of office, I shall resign my position. Failure to resign shall also be considered a neglect of my duties and shall be grounds for my removal from office. I give permission to the Student Association to verify that I am a student during my term of office. If it is determined that I am not a student, this information will be forwarded to the Student Association President, Vice President, Student Association Senate Chair, and Chief Justice to the Supreme Court. I understand that my Student ID number will be released to the Student Association Director of Operations, Student Involvement and Leadership, and/or the Student Association legal services attorney for verification that I am not on academic probation/judicial probation at this University. I understand that I will NOT be eligible for candidacy if my GPA is below the requirements as set forth in the 600.0 policy. I understand that I will be responsible for attending the mandatory candidates meeting. I understand that if I do not meet these requirements, I will not be placed on the ballot. By signing this form I acknowledge & agree to adhere to the 600.0 policy as well as the policies set forth in the Student Elections Guidelines. The aforementioned is true to the best of my knowledge. Signature Date This form must be completed and turned in to the STUDENT ASSOCIATION OFFICE BY September 5 th at 5PM! Any questions can be answered by contacting the SA Elections Commission at uastudentelections@gmail.com 2
Student Elections Guidelines Please be advised that these rules are subject to change at any time. The commission will notify all candidates of these changes as they occur. Commission The commission will oversee the election process as well as address and resolve disputes and other issues that arise. Any commission member is allowed to investigate an infraction. All concerns, complaints, or questions about the election process can be directed to uastudentelections@gmail.com. Mandatory Meetings All candidates must attend one mandatory meeting. If a candidate is unable to attend one of those meetings, they must supply a valid excuse. Any nominee who is not in attendance at this meeting without a valid excuse deemed by the elections commission will not be considered for candidacy. A valid excuse will only be accepted only if received within 24 hours of the last candidates meeting A valid excuse can include, but is not limited to a class scheduling conflict, a work conflict evidenced by a boss s name and phone number for an on/off campus job, or a valid medical or family emergency. The excuse will be validated by a member of the Elections Commission. This candidate must then set aside a time in which to meet with one or more members of the elections commission. You must first meet with a member of the commission before campaigning. The Campaign Campaigning may not begin until 12am after the final candidates meeting. Campaigning will be defined as, but not limited to, actively seeking the vote of the student body via campaign speeches, poster posting, flyering, social media campaigns, website campaigns, dorm storming, meeting with student groups or statements of the candidate s platform. Character attacks are not allowed. Character attacks are defined as any form of defamation of character or disparagement. Policy disagreements ARE ALLOWED. Example: I believe your goal is unattainable because of a lack of funds Posters Posters must be approved by Student Involvement as per their posting rule, but ALL colors will be approved. You will be allowed to post one poster per pillar and observe the general rules of posting (no posting over someone else s poster). The posting rule will be regulated by the Office of Student Involvement. All complaints shall be referred to the Office of Student involvement. Posters hung on any of the Quads or Apartment areas will need to be stamped/approved by Student Involvement. Please follow the rules for EACH area (which may be different for each one). Banners 3
Banners must be approved through Student Involvement and will be approved on a first come/first serve basis. Banners may be posted in any approved areas in Campus Center as per Student Involvement policy. Dorm Storming The hours for dorm storming have been set for weeknights from 6pm - 10pm and weekends from 1pm - 6pm. All candidates must check in at the appropriate quad office and show their student IDs. Only approved IDs are allowed to dorm storm. Up to 4 additional people may also be approved by Residential Life to dorm storm on the candidate s behalf. These 4 people must be submitted by the following dates: Fall and Midterm Elections: Nomination form due Spring/General Elections: 5 Business Days after the candidates meeting The candidate may also have up to 3 people accompany them when dorm storming, but these additional people may not dorm storm on their own. Endorsements An endorsement is defined as a statement of support of a candidate. Seeking an endorsement is defined as contacting a student group to make an appointment for after the candidates meeting. You may not campaign to a student group as defined in the campaign guidelines. UAlbany Faculty endorsements will not be allowed. Candidates are allowed to receive endorsements from student groups. These endorsements cannot be communicated using any SA funded equipment. Student groups may use their listservs to endorse candidates. These emails however must follow the Student Code of Conduct and section 610 ethics policy. These emails cannot contain any defamation of character or malicious statements. These endorsements may be included on posters and communicated through social media sites. They also may have the candidate s flyers with them while tabling. Candidates are allowed to receive endorsements from Student Association E-Board Members. The endorser cannot use Student Association equipment, actively endorse the candidate during Student Association office hours, or actively endorse the candidate in the Student Association office. Student groups may not put endorsed candidates on their posters and flyers, candidates may only put endorsements on their own posters and flyers. Ethics All candidates are expected to conduct themselves and their campaigns in an ethical and appropriate manner. Violations of ethical behavior will be investigated and put under review by the commission. Nicknames Candidates will be allowed to use nicknames on the ballot, but need to be appropriate to their given/formal name. (i.e. Bill for William, etc.) Nicknames must be submitted on the nomination form to provide for adequate time for approval. SA Funds and Equipment No SA funds or equipment can be used for campaign purposes (photocopying fliers, making phone calls, emails (including listservs, computers, etc.) and no campaigning while at work at the SA office. 4
Polling Site The location of the polling place will be each student s MyUAlbany account. It is an infraction to bring a laptop or mobile device to someone for them to vote on and counts as bringing the polling place to someone. Voters must log-on unassisted by a candidate in order to vote. Other Guidelines Candidates are also expected to adhere to any and all University at Albany (Res Life, etc.) and SA policies while campaigning as well as the Communities Rights and Responsibilities. Policy Infractions Process 1. Elections commission shall meet with a candidate and issue them a warning and discuss the nature of their infraction. 2. The Elections Commission shall rule upon the severity of the infraction, should the severity be ruled limited, the candidate shall be released with a warning. 3. Should an infraction be deemed to have a heightened level of severity and/or the candidate in question has violated the same policy two or more times or has violated multiple policies, then the Elections Commission has the power to remove privileges of the candidate equal to their infraction (ex. failure to comply with positing policies may result in the suspension of campaign posting). 4. If a candidate fails to comply with a ruling of the Elections Commission, is found to be in violation of more University/Student Association policies, and/or the violation in question is of the utmost severity, then the Elections Commission has the power to take greater action. For multiple and/or severe policy infractions, the Elections Commission shall be empower to, but not limited to do the following: 1. Complete suspension of all forms of campaigning 2. Disqualification of candidacy and removal from the ballot Disqualification may only be done as a last resort and in the most dire of circumstances. Should a candidate dispute a ruling of the Elections Commission or believe themselves to have been treated unfairly, they shall have 48 hours from the time of the Elections Commission s ruling to appeal to the Supreme Court of the Student Association. 5
Regarding pre-candidates meeting campaigning. As set forth in the Student Elections Guidelines, you are not allowed to begin campaigning until 12am after the candidates meeting. HOWEVER you are allowed to email a student group to set an appointment to meet with a student group after the candidates meeting. This is to allow for the expedited organization of campaigns, but again you can only email for an appointment for after the candidates meeting. This email request cannot contain any form of campaigning as defined in the Student Election Guidelines (See the guidelines for specific rules. The guidelines are in the elections packet, and posted online on the SA website.) In order to better serve the students and ensure that no rules will be violated, the elections commission has created a template email that candidates can use that will ensure that no violation/infraction is taking place. This will be true only if the candidate includes exactly what is written in the email form, any added information other than the language on the form may create a violation/infraction. You may only change the sections that are underlined unless otherwise approved by the elections commission. Below is the form: Dear Insert Student Group Name/Eboard Member here, My name is insert your name here and I am running for insert position here in the Student Association Election! I am trying to gather support and endorsements for my campaign for insert position here. I would like to meet with your student group on any date or time after September 8 12:00AM. I am not allowed to meet with your group or campaign for your endorsement prior to this date. Please let me now if you would be interested in meeting with me prior to the start of the elections that begin on September 11 th at 12:00AM. Your sign off message here (sincerely, yours truly, from, with love, ect), Your Name here 6
Academic Division Information Academic divisions were created in an effort to further involve the specific academic needs and concerns of students in the decision making process of the UAlbany Student Association. Each academic division Senator must have a major declared within the division he or she was elected to as his or her primary major for the duration of his or her term. No Student who is undeclared is eligible to run for any academic division seat. The Constitutional Section Creating academic Divisions: The voting members of the Student Association Senate representing academic divisions will be distributed at the rate of 2 representatives for each academic division. These divisions will be the Applied and Natural Science Division, the Business and Management Division, the Humanities Division, the Law and Government Division, and the Social Science Division. Each academic division Senator must have a major declared within the division he or she was elected to as his or her primary major for the duration of his or her term. No Student who is undeclared is eligible to run for any academic division seat. The divisions are broken down as follows: Applied & Natural Science Division - Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences - Biology - Chemistry - Computer Science - Information Science - Mathematics - Physics - Public Health Business & Management Division - Accounting - Business Administration - Economics Humanities Division - Art - English - Geography & Planning - Music - Religious Studies - Theatre Law & Government Division - Criminal Justice - History - Philosophy - Political Science - Public Policy & Management Social Science - Anthropology - Communication - Psychology - Social Welfare - Sociology - Languages, Literatures & Cultures o Africana Studies o East Asian Studies o Latin American, Caribbean & US Latino Studies o Womens Studies 7