The campaigning season for president and vice president of the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) during the 2013-14 academic year will begin today. Three teams are competing: Tim Koch, A&S ’14, and Chris Truglio, CSOM ’14; Molly McCarthy and Ricky Knapp, both A&S ’14; and Matt Nacier and Matt Alonsozana, both A&S ’14. The team of Nick Barrett, CSOM ’14, and Tim Strakosch, A&S ’14, removed themselves from the running last week.
Although campaigning does not officially start until tonight, each of the teams have found ways to get their name out ahead of time. Last week, Koch and Truglio created a Twitter account and a Facebook page, and several members of their staff changed their Facebook profile pictures to a campaign photo.
“We did receive a complaint that multiple of Tim and Chris’ campaign staffers had changed their profile pictures to their team logo,” said Carter Bielen, co-chair of the UGBC Elections Committee and A&S ’13, in an email. “In keeping with the new elections code, we informed Tim and Chris that their team was required to stop immediately, which at this point they have. We do not anticipate any additional sanctions at this time.”
The other two teams have also created Facebook pages for their campaign, and the Koch-Truglio and Nacier-Alonsozana teams have begun Twitter accounts as well. There have been no sanctions as a result of this social media activity, however.
“As of now, there have been no official sanctions,” Bielen said. “Candidates are allowed to create groups/events and invite people, but are not allowed to put forth any platform information. [Koch and Truglio] have been instructed to delete one Facebook post, but will incur no sanctions because of it at this point. All candidates have been told to refrain from posting on Facebook and Twitter until the start of campaigning.” He noted that all teams have been cooperative about not posting and have been quick to take down any unacceptable content at the Elections Committee’s request.
The UGBC elections kickoff, at which the three teams will be introducing their platforms, will be hosted by the Elections Committee tonight at 7 p.m. in Merkert 127. The first UGBC presidential and vice presidential debate, also hosted by the Elections Committee, will be Wednesday at 9 p.m. in Hillside Cafe, and a second, town hall-style debate, hosted by the Bellarmine Law Society and dealing primarily with RSOs, will be Thursday at 7 p.m. in the third floor Voute lounge.
