My name is Abe Leite. You may remember me from my complaint about Inspire’s unsolicited emails.
I like Inspire’s candidates. I have the good fortune of knowing 2020 Inspire candidate and current student body president Rachel Aranyi through the IU Journal of Undergraduate Research. Rachel has been a great president during a difficult year, and from what I have heard about Dorynn Mentor, I know she would be, too.
As a former student leader, I know how important it is that everyone has an equal chance to make their case in elections, whether there are 50 voters or 50,000. In IUJUR’s election last year, Rachel made an impassioned case to serve as our humanities board chair. She earned that position, and she’s done an amazing job in the role.
Inspire didn’t earn the votes they got through mass messaging, last year or this year.
Last year, I received an unsolicited email from Inspire asking me to sign their petition. I unsubscribed and reported it to the University Information Policy Office as a possible policy violation.
Others reported that Inspire may have had high school seniors on their mailing list.
Inspire’s victory last year was tainted by their mass unsolicited emails that inappropriately co-opted the popular movement to refund tuition or fees because of COVID-19. I was surprised that Rachel had allowed her campaign to resort to such measures.
This year, even though I had previously unsubscribed from their emails, I received additional communications from Inspire pushing me to vote for them to “save” our fall and spring breaks — the breaks were restored without Inspire’s help.
Because I already requested to be unsubscribed, I reported them to the Election Commission. To avoid this in the future, I would strongly encourage explicitly prohibiting all unsolicited mass communications in the election bylaws.
I am not biased against Inspire. I am biased toward fair elections.
The Election Commission’s ruling tells future campaigns that students’ rights must be respected, and that IU Student Government can’t be bought by the ticket with the largest mailing lists. The IUSG Supreme Court must uphold Inspire’s disqualification because the bylaws require it, and it is what the student body deserves.
Abe Leite, IU Bloomington
