Citing “excessive and aggressive campaigning,” the offices of Alumni Relations and Student Life have voided all Homecoming Court nominations made before Wednesday and extended the deadline until Friday.
In an email Wednesday, the alumni office urged students not to campaign or block vote, two things commonly practiced by social clubs.
Samantha Adkins, senior alumni relations officer, said the insistent campaigning during the first part of the week was difficult to miss. Although social club pledge were the most obvious campaigners, she said, non-club members campaigned excessively as well.
“It was getting just a little out of hand,” Adkins said. It has happened on many levels over the past 15-20 years, but for some reason it just became more visible this year.”
Excessive campaigning may include but is not limited to making Facebook groups, passing out fliers, block voting, voting more than once or collecting student’s banner numbers to place nominations. The last item is subject to penalties laid out in the Student Guide.
GATA president Morgan Myer, senior psychology major from Richardson, said her club did only what has been done in years passed and had pledges change their profile pictures on Facebook.
“We’re really having to go through our handbook and make sure everything is OK because now [Student Life] is cracking down,” Myer said. “Instead of going by what people did years before, we now have to go through all that fine print.”
After deciding to discard the nominations, Student Life is following up with individuals and organizations who violated the nomination process, said Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson.
“I feel very comfortable in how we’re addressing it as an office, and I feel that those we are talking to are being extremely responsive in understanding the importance of making sure there is complete integrity in such a process,” said Thompson, vice president and dean of student life.
He would not name the individuals and clubs being contacted.
“We’ve approached those that we feel were inappropriate in this manner, and they’re responding in the way that we would hope they respond.”
Thompson said he is most concerned about the possibility that students shared their banner number.
“The potential identity theft side of that is that, unfortunately, bad things happen when somebody else has your information,” he said. “That’s something, as a staff, we’re talking about. How do we get our hands around perhaps what might be a broader campus-wide student issue. We will certainly address that.”
Adkins said the aggressive campaigning is not unfair, but unbecoming of Christians.
“Homecoming nominees should be somebody that the student body sees as a person who represents ACU well – that they stand up for what we believe in,” she said. “I think with aggressive nomination, it just looks like it’s all about the crown, and that’s not how it should be.”
Since the new nomination process has been enacted, Myer said she hopes to see a broader range of people selected.
“I’m hoping that people can nominate people from all different groups instead of just the largest groups on campus getting the people out there just because they have the most numbers,” Myer said. “I hope other students will get the chance to get on Court that maybe wouldn’t have with the old process.”
To cast your nomination, visit acu.edu/queen by 5 p.m. today. The Court will be announced in Chapel next Friday.