DSG Election Endorsement Policy

The Chronicle will be running endorsement letters for the 2014 Duke Student Government elections. From February 26 to March 3 we will publish endorsement letters for the positions of president, executive vice president and Student Organization Funding Committee chair and stances on the proposed 40 Percent Plan. No endorsements will be published Tuesday, March 4, the day of the election. The final deadline for endorsements will be 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 2.

We will accept letters from any and all student organizations, so long as the groups adhere to the guidelines below. We will not accept personal endorsements from individuals.

1. Organizations must meet with all candidates in the office(s) for which they choose to make endorsements. If organizations choose to publish a stance on the 40 Percent Plan, they must meet with Stefani Jones and Daniel Strunk or a representative acting on their behalf. Organizations may not endorse without meeting with the candidates and 40 Percent Plan representatives or if they only meet with some of the candidates running in a given race.

2. In the endorsement process, organizations must give equal speaking and questioning time to each candidate. No candidate may receive more time than another.

3. Members of organizations who decide they want to participate in endorsements must remain in the room for every candidate or representative’s appearance. Members may not leave and return, or arrive late. Members may not participate in endorsement voting for an office if they did not hear any candidate(s) for that office speak, or for the 40 Percent Plan if they did not hear either representative speak.

4. The Chronicle trusts that members of organizations with significant personal or professional attachments or associations with candidates or 40 Percent Plan representatives will remove themselves from the endorsement process.

5. If an organization then wishes to endorse candidates or propose a stance on the 40 Percent Plan in a Chronicle letter, the president of the organization must email Editorial Page Editor Scott Briggs (sab59@duke.edu). The email must include an attached endorsement letter and the following statement: “I, the president of [organization name], certify that all required endorsement guidelines were followed in the formulation of this letter. I understand that failure to adhere to the guidelines undermines the election process, as well as the integrity of my organization and The Chronicle.”

6. Endorsement letters must be signed by the leader of the student organization and include his or her full name, school and graduation year.