Boston University’s Student Election Commission members said they are completely prepared to have an election for the next Student Government executive board in November.
Tess McNamara, co-chair of the SEC, said members are not yet sure what is going to happen in light of the SG Judicial Committee nullifying the new calendar-year election cycle amendment because the process that passed the new cycle in the spring of 2012 was deemed unconstitutional.
“If there is no election now, there will be no executive board of the Student Government next semester,” McNamara, a School of Education sophomore, said.
According to the Judicial Committee, the cycle was never officially changed because the way the action was proposed was unconstitutional, McNamara said.
Students registered for candidacy on Monday, McNamara and Kerry Ford, co-chairs of SEC, said.
While there were 25 students who showed interest in running for the executive board, only three students actually registered for candidacy.
“It was our job to get people informed,” Ford, an SED sophomore, said. “But we can’t force them to run. You could lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”
A number of people who showed interest in running for the executive board were already involved in SG, so they knew about the controversy surrounding the elections, McNamara said.
“That was likely to make people more tentative [about running for a position],” she said.
Out of the three students who applied for candidacy, one freshman student already withdrew, they said.
“He was tentative about getting involved in the first place, and once he heard about the turmoil, he withdrew,” Ford said.
The election cycle is in the hands of the SG and the administration to structure, she said.
SG Director of Communication Cherice Hunt said the SEC, SG and administrators will be meeting in the near future to discuss the election cycle.
“We are not sure where the SEC stands, but we support them as they step forward in dealing with this election,” Hunt said in an email.
Dexter McCoy, John Battaglino and Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore will meet Thursday morning to decide where to go from here, McNamara said.
“The student body only elected McCoy and his executive board for this one semester — that was the term they signed up for,” she said.
Only half of the current executive board filed to run for a position again, she said.
McNamara and Ford said no matter what the SG and administration decides, SEC is prepared to do its job.
“We are doing our job to the best of our ability, and that’s what we came absolutely prepared to do,” McNamara said. “It’s unfortunate that all this is happening, because the SEC came completely prepared for the election.”
In light of the low number of candidates for election in the spring of 2012, McNamara and Ford said they have been working on publicizing the elections more.
They have moved to more prominent locations around campus, such as BU Central and the George Sherman Union Link, to get as much student involvement and input as possible.
“We are 100 percent ready for an election,” McNamara said.
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