The special campuswide election, which will determine the future of Student-Run Television regulations passed by the A.S. Council this fall, has been scheduled for Jan. 23 until Jan. 27 — outside of the 15-day deadline mandated in the A.S. Constitution.
On Nov. 9, members of SRTV and the banned program “Koala TV” presented the council with a petition demanding that a special election be called to evaluate legislation passed by the council, including a ban on pornography and “Koala TV” from the station. A petition requires signatures from at least 10 percent of the undergraduate student body to force a special election, a threshold that was met with more than 2,600 signatures collected by petitioners.
According to the council’s governing documents, special elections must be held within 15 business days of the date of the petition’s presentation. The failure to meet the constitutional deadline has prompted criticism from the petitioners.
“There is a set policy to be followed in everything the A.S. does,” SRTV co-Manager Andrew Tess said. “These have not been followed to the letter, and it consistently runs them into trouble.”
The delayed election is simply due to the massive task of assembling a special election, according to Revelle College Senior Senator Rachel Corell.
“We all recognize that we can’t just throw together an election in 15 days,” A.S. President Christopher Sweeten said at the council meeting on Nov. 30. “[The petitioners] agreed to it as long as it lasted over five days [instead of] the two originally planned.”
Some petitioners agreed with Sweeten’s decision.
“I very much approve of Chris Sweeten’s decision to extend the election over five days,” said Earl Warren College senior Daniel Watts, a vocal member of the petitioning students. “It was the right move.”
Although she said she is aware that a month and a half of break could dull the issue in the minds of student voters, Corell believes that the media attention given to the controversy will provide the necessary boost to give the election a fair turnout.
“It’s still a big topic of debate, and I think it will still be in January, especially if SRTV is still shut down by that point,” she said.
Although Tess is unsure of the ramifications of the break between the petition and the election, he also said that politically active students on campus will make an effort to get their messages across.
The validity of the petition itself was called into question earlier this month, when an unspecified number of students alleged that they were “intimidated” by “Koala TV” members into signing the petition.
However, no grievance was ever officially filed.
Along with the special election, an SRTV task force has been established to rewrite the station’s charter, which has provided fuel for many council discussions. Currently, no clearly defined role exists for the SRTV manager in monitoring the station’s content.
The task force includes Thurgood Marshall College Council Chair Denis Shmidt, A.S. Vice President of Academic Affairs Harry Khanna, John Muir College Junior Senator Adam Grant and Corell.
The task force has yet to meet to revise the charter, but have plans to do so on Dec. 3.
