ASSU Elections Commissioner sues senator-elect in “probably landmark case”

The ASSU Constitutional Council voted unanimously to listen to Elections Commissioner v. Chen in a gathering on Tuesday evening. The listening to of the go well with towards the just lately elected ASSU senator shall be held on Could 1 at 5 p.m.

Ivy Chen ’26 was one in all fifteen college students elected to the twenty fifth Undergraduate Senate (UGS). She obtained the very best variety of votes of all candidates with a complete of 1096, 326 greater than the next candidate.

On April 18, ASSU Election Commissioner Whit Froehlich J.D. ’24 submitted a petitioner’s criticism towards Chen to the Chair of the Constitutional Council of the ASSU. The criticism listed two violations of The Joint Bylaws of the ASSU, which had been final up to date in 2014.

The primary violation associated to Chen’s late submission of her marketing campaign expenditures. All candidates had been required to file their receipts documenting marketing campaign expenditures by 11:59 p.m. on April 16 by means of a Google Kind despatched by Froehlich. Chen submitted her receipts at 12:25 a.m. on April 17, 26 minutes after the deadline.

Chen mentioned that she had no malicious intent or motivation behind submitting late. “I had all my receipts and all the knowledge loaded onto the Google Kind however then the WiFi didn’t work on my pc. It was all out of my management,” Chen mentioned.

Chen mentioned that she moved from her dorm, Florence Moore Corridor, to Previous Union to connect with higher WiFi. She mentioned she was capable of finding a secure community connection at The Axe & Palm the place she submitted the Google Kind late.

The second criticism alleged Chen’s violation of the $100 spending restrict on marketing campaign expenditures — Chen documented spending $122.75 on supplies similar to flyers and tape.

Chen mentioned that the $100 restrict was solely talked about in an optionally available candidate orientation held on March 25 and was not communicated in any of Froehlich’s emails to the candidates. “All he mentioned was there was a $100 marketing campaign restrict… the way in which I interpreted it was that I might spend as much as $100 and get reimbursed $100. Anything past that I assumed I might cowl with my very own cash.”

Froelich wrote in his criticism that the timeline for submission and marketing campaign expenditure limits “had been communicated to candidates on the ASSU web site in addition to on the Candidate Orientation held on March twenty fifth, 2023, and made obtainable as a recording for later viewing.”

Based on Froelich’s criticism, the function of the Elections Commissioner entails duties similar to conducting the elections, sustaining the elections schedule, speaking with candidates and the scholar physique, working elections infrastructure, and tabulating outcomes. The criticism continues that Froelich “is implicitly tasked with detecting violation of marketing campaign guidelines.”

Froehlich’s petitioner’s criticism features a screenshot of Chen’s responses to the marketing campaign expenditures type. (Screenshot: MARK ALLEN CU/STANFORD DAILY)

Performing Govt Director of the Stanford Constitutional Legislation Middle Rebecca Talbott ’02 instructed The Each day that she hopes the dispute over Chen’s “minor” violations shall be resolved in “a extra understanding and fewer intimidating method.”

Based on Talbott, the scenario is “overwhelming, unfair and breathtakingly disproportionate” as she mentioned she believes Chen, a university frosh with no authorized coaching, is being compelled to “weigh in on extremely legalistic questions that she would don’t know how to answer.”

“My fear is that this expertise will show scary, intimidating, alienating, and spirit-crushing to her, and threat without end dampening the constructive, school-spirited, and public-focused power that prompted her to be a candidate for pupil senate within the first place,” Tablott mentioned.

On April 3, Chen despatched her unique proposed funds of $640 to Froehlich. Based on screenshots included in her response to the criticism, Froehlich didn’t right or touch upon her funds. “I shouldn’t be held to a rule by somebody who, when given the precise alternative to right my misunderstanding, mentioned nothing,” Chen wrote in her response.

In Froehlich’s criticism to the Constitutional Council, he wrote that Chen agreed to abide by the ASSU Structure, Affiliation By-Legal guidelines, and Election Code when she initiated her petition for candidacy. The marketing campaign expenditure due date and $100 restrict are included inside these insurance policies that Chen agreed to.

Chen despatched her unique proposed funds, which was $540 over the restrict, on April 3. Whit didn’t touch upon her funds earlier than submitting his petitioner’s criticism. (Screenshot: MARK ALLEN CU/STANFORD DAILY)

Previous to the listening to, ASSU Govt Vice-President Bikal Sharma ’24 wrote an amicus curiae temporary in assist of Chen, saying that the Constitutional Council ought to refuse to listen to the case Elections Commissioner v. Chen on the grounds of Froehlich’s lack of standing, or an incapability to point out how the respondent injured or harmed the petitioner.

In his temporary, Sharma wrote that he was “compelled” to specific his opinion on the case as a result of he mentioned he believes its consequence will have an effect on future ASSU elections. “What ought to have been an enforcement matter for the election fee changed into a probably landmark case about elementary powers of the Constitutional Council and pupil free speech,” Sharma wrote, referring as to if or not marketing campaign expenditures constituted freedom of expression.

Lodewijk Gelauff, a Ph.D. candidate in Administration Science and Engineering and former member of the Constitutional Council, wrote in his amicus curiae temporary that marketing campaign expenditure restrictions implement the “instructional functions of the College.” He argues that these limits be certain that all candidates have an equal alternative “with out sacrificing their instructional profession or exhaust their technique of survival.”

Chen shall be represented by Eli Tannenwald J.D. ’25 and Froehlich shall be representing himself as Election Commissioner. The 2 events shall be offered earlier than the ASSU Constitutional Council, a physique of 5 undergraduate college students led by Council Chair Sherwin Lai ‘24.

On Tuesday, the Council met to determine whether or not or to not settle for the case. The council unanimously voted to listen to the case and scheduled the listening to on Monday over Zoom.

Based on Article V Part 4.B of the Joint Bylaws, if the court docket finds {that a} candidate is in violation of marketing campaign laws, they are going to be disqualified.

“I really feel like [Stanford] needs to be extra energetic and captivated with having pupil voices in our administration. That is why I’m taking my marketing campaign and this complete scenario very critically… I’m not dropping out of the race,” Chen mentioned.