The ASSU election season has just begun, and already potential candidates have been reminded to ‘keep it clean’ by current ASSU President Michael Cruz.
“This is for everyone who is here, and for everyone who is running,” Cruz said at an elections information session Wednesday evening. “I want a good campaign, which [Elections Commissioner Adam Adler ‘12] will ensure, but I also want a clean campaign, which can only be ensured by the candidates … I don’t want anybody saying anything about anybody … [or] crying or cursing anyone else at the end of this.”
Cruz’s remarks came a day after ASSU Senator Dan DeLong ‘13 sent an email to the ASSU Undergraduate Senate email list advertising the information session by way of criticizing ASSU Vice President Stewart Macgregor-Dennis ‘13.
The email, which was forwarded widely across campus, encouraged students to run for office if they “believe the Stanford community deserves better.”
“Otherwise, we are left with a Vice President who pays himself a $10,000 annual salary and spends his time writing a 40-page life plan,” DeLong wrote, referring to Macgregor-Dennis’ oft-mocked proclivity for introspection.
Within two hours, DeLong sent out an apology for his email to the Undergraduate Senate list.
“I did not intend for the message to be malevolent,” DeLong wrote. He said that he intended to point out “existing flaws in our student government.”
“There is much room for improvement. We must have the best students running for positions in the ASSU,” DeLong wrote.
“I definitely could have been more tactful,” DeLong told The Daily about the email, though he maintained that it pointed “to underlying issues” regarding ASSU salaries and an inability to attract high-quality candidates.
“I got an overwhelmingly positive response from students outside of the ASSU government,” DeLong said. “I did receive criticism from individuals inside the ASSU,” he added, noting his surprise at the overwhelmingly positive response from students.
Macgregor-Dennis said he is “strongly considering” a run for ASSU president and is searching for a candidate who will offer both “compatibility and ability.” He declined to comment on DeLong’s email.
Election season officially began for the Stanford Alumni Association Class Presidencies and the ASSU Undergraduate Senate, Executive and Graduate Student Council on Monday, Feb. 6, when online declaration of intent and petitioning went live. No letters of intent, except for a joke letter by Cruz, have been submitted for ASSU Executive.
At Wednesday’s info session, Adler reminded students about a new public financing program, which will grant candidates who request funding up to $100 in reimbursements for campaigning.
Students who stayed for information about the ASSU Executive election included: ASSU Vice President Stewart McGregor-Dennis ‘13; William Wagstaff, Jr. ‘12, co-president of the African-American Fraternal & Sororal Association; Robbie Zimbroff ‘12, a member of the Residential and Co-Curricular Learning Subcommittee of the Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford (SUES) Committee; ASSU Senator and Appropriations Chair Brianna Pang ‘13 and DeLong.
DeLong is expected to partner with Pang as a slate for ASSU Executive.
Letters of intent for all positions are due on March 9.