Honor Council candidate disqualified for campaigning

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by Chris McKenzie

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Brown College freshman Jeff Gavornik was disqualified from the Honor Council sophomore representative race after he sent a campaign message to every freshman at Rice via e-mail.

Gavornik sent the message out last Friday. He used a list of freshman e-mail addresses he compiled from the Newcomer's Guide .

The message invited students to view a photo of Gavornik, which was attached in a separate file. Gavornik did not show up for the Thresher election photographs session and said he was the only candidate in the race who did not have a photograph next to his blurb.

A student forwarded the message to Student Association Parliamentarian Scott Ruthfield, who brought it to the attention of Laura Moodey, SA secretary and chair of the Elections Committee. After discussing it with Ruthfield, Moodey made the decision Sunday night to disqualify Gavornik.

Ruthfield called Gavornik the next morning and informed him of the disqualification. Ruthfield said that Gavornik understood and accepted the decision.

Signs were placed at each polling place to inform voters that Gavornik was no longer running. Voters were asked not to vote for him, though his name still appeared on the ballots. According to Moodey and Ruthfield, Gavornik's e-mail message was a violation of the Honor Council By-Laws, not the SA Election Code.

Section VI, Part 1 of the Honor Council By-Laws restricts campaigning by those who run for Honor Council positions to four avenues: a campaign statement in the Thresher , a KTRU program open to all candidates, a statement at the SA Election Rally and verbal discussions with other students.

Carolyn Gill, chair of the Honor Council, said that the restrictions were most likely put in place "to set [the council] apart as a different kind of organization and refrain from certain kinds of campaigning."

The restrictions on campaigning in the SA Election Code do not prohibit Gavornik's action. In fact, according to Ruthfield, if a candidate for the SA Senate sent out campaign e-mail en masse , it would be completely legal. Gavornik's e-mail message was only prohibited by the Honor Council's additional restrictions.

Gavornik said that he was both "disappointed" and "surprised" by his disqualification but admits that in retrospect, it was fair.

Gavornik said that he had read both the SA Constitution and the Honor Council Constitution before declaring his candidacy, but that he had not read the Honor Council By-Laws. He said that he was not aware that they contained additional restrictions on campaigning.

Two of Gavornik's former opponents in the Tuesday election, Sid Richardson College freshman Erin McCauley and Will Rice College freshman Dennis Geels, both agreed that the disqualification was justified. Geels felt that Gavornik hurt his campaign with his message, rather than helping it.

"It is an invasion of privacy to send a message like that to every freshman," Geels said.

McCauley agreed, saying that "people were really put off by the message."

This item appeared in the News section of the March 1, 1996 issue.

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