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E-board slates face SUEC sanctions

The Student Union Election Commission placed sanctions on the New Blood and Real slates late last night in reaction to violations of the Commission’s e-mail policy.

The two slates will not be permitted to campaign for the remainder of the election, which ends today at 3 p.m. This campaigning includes, but is not limited to, “posting fliers and soliciting votes,” according to a statement issued by SUEC chairman John Macom.

Macom said the decisions were made after reviewing false e-mail endorsements sent by New Blood and Real to members of the School of Management Undergraduate Student Government and the InterFraternity/Sorority Council mass mailing lists, respectively.

Macom said the decision was based on the precedent set by the Naked slate, which he said was sanctioned for “the same” violation in the 1999 Student Union election. Naked was guilty of sending a voice-mail endorsement to about 3,200 students, though SUEC policy was unclear on the issue at the time.

According to SUEC by-laws, “Direct e-mail via automated mailing list or similar system is against Boston University Information Technology’s standards for ethical computing and will not be tolerated.”

“It’s pretty frustrating for me,” said Real presidential candidate Mike Moffo. “Come tomorrow, if we’re not allowed to campaign, we’re going to be in a different situation.”

New Blood was not available for comment after the sanction was levied.

On late Wednesday night, 152 accounts included on the School of Management Undergraduate Student Government mailing list received an e-mail falsely claiming the New Blood slate had the SMG governing body’s endorsement.

The letter’s subject reads, “Support BU and VOTE NEW BLOOD endorsed by the SMG government.”

The e-mail, sent from the computer and America Online e-mail address of New Blood’s executive vice-presidential candidate Keshav Lall, asked recipients to “Take two minutes to vote online right here for New Blood,” providing a link to the election website.

According to Lall, a male friend in the School of Management sent the e-mail from his account while Lall was in the bathroom.

The friend, he said, is on the SMG Student Government’s mailing list. Lall himself is not a member of the list.

“I assume he cut-and-pasted it,” Lall said when asked how the friend accessed the list from Lall’s computer. “I’m not aware of how he did it.”

Lall said he left for the bathroom without shutting off his computer while his friend remained in the room. When he returned, his friend told him he had sent a promotional e-mail for New Blood.

Asked for his reaction to his friend’s initiative, Lall said he “didn’t have any questions at that moment.”

The letter was not originally sent to the members of the list, but was forwarded from a previous message sent by New Blood Vice President of Student Affairs candidate Brian Neaman. That letter was sent to each of the seven New Blood slate members under the subject heading, “JASON’S LETTER SUCKED< HERE IS A BETTER ONE.” Less than an hour-and-a-half after the e-mail was sent, SMG Undergraduate Student Government President Hetal Patel e-mailed all members of the list denying the organization’s endorsement of New Blood. “I don’t know how this e-mail from New Blood was sent out,” Patel wrote, “but I wanted to make it clear that SMG Student Government does not support any slate running for the Student Union. We encourage everyone to vote, but we are not backing any slate more than another.” Patel’s e-mail was sent out with the original’s subject line, causing Patel to send another e-mail less than five minutes later apologizing for the error. The second e-mail reiterated, “SMG government does not endorse New Blood for Union slate.” Asked why one might use the organization’s mailing list for campaigning purposes, Patel said, “We have a big population. SMG has a lot of friends, and [the sender of such a letter would] hit every class.” Patel then called Macom to inform him of the incident. At about 3 a.m. Thursday morning, Lall sent a letter under the subject, “Apology for past e-mail,” to all members of the mailing list, after, he said, he received an e-mail from a concerned student. “I’d like to apologize for the e-mail that was sent out from this address earlier this evening,” Lall’s letter stated. “New Blood is NOT endorsed by the current SMG government. Any confusion that was associated with this was purely accidental.” The letter did not feature the sender’s name, only Lall’s AOL screen name. Macom said he received a phone call Wednesday night from the alleged sender of the e-mail taking blame for the original letter. He refused to reveal the caller’s identity. The sanction imposed on Real are for a similar offense, according to Macom. University Professors Program sophomore Jonathan Feit, InterFraternity/Sorority Council scholarship chair, sent the letter to 39 members of the IFSC at about 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning. “I know exactly who I sent the e-mail to, and I sent them personally. I did not use a mass-mailing program; in fact, I cannot. I found out the last time that I attempted to e-mail all fraternities via a mass list that only certain e-mails can be a source of mass e-mail data, and mine is not one of them. Therefore, my action was not a violation of SUEC bylaws because there was no manner of mass e-mail campaigning; and even if my letter is considered a mass e-mail, it was done completely on my own and without the knowledge, request or consent of any REAL slate member,” Feit said in a plea last night to Macom. Feit’s original e-mail read, “I just wanted to send out a short notice in support of Mike Moffo, Caroline Preis and Gregory Chisholm,” and cited the three’s participation in Greek life. Moffo is Real’s presidential candidate, while Preis is the slate’s vice president of financial affairs hopeful. Chisholm is running to become the vice president of student affairs. According to Moffo, Feit sent the e-mail on his own because “it was his personal belief that we were the best slate for the E-board.” “I believe now, as I did when I voted [yesterday] afternoon, and as I did when I sent out my letter on Tuesday, that the REAL slate is the best qualified for the job of leading our Student Union,” Feit wrote to Macom last night. “With that sentiment, I wrote my letter COMPLETELY of my own volition and without any manner of encouragement to that end by any member of the REAL slate.” “At no time did anyone on the slate ask him to do this,” Moffo said. Moffo, who said he has a working relationship with Feit as secretary of the InterFraternity Council, said he received Feit’s e-mail later that morning and forwarded it to other members of his slate.

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