Recall The Executive Committee of the UD Student Government for Voter Suppression

Recall The Executive Committee of the UD Student Government for Voter Suppression

During the election for student representatives for the Fall 2021 semester at the University of Dallas, the executive body of the Student Government altered, with neither notice nor justification, the positions for which the student body could vote. In all elections prior to the Fall of 2021, students were able to vote for both their class senators as well as senators representing the interests of commuters, athletes, and international students. In this way, students living off campus, participating in sports, and those who have traveled from abroad to join us, were able to elect representatives for both their particular group as well as their larger academic class. In a radical and unconstitutional break from tradition, the executive body has seen fit to limit these most vulnerable groups to the selection of but one senator. In so doing, the executive body has reduced the representative power of these groups to but one-fifth of those who live on campus as there are 5 senators for every class, but only one senator for either the commuter or international student communities. There exists no bylaw in the Student Government constitution which stipulates that a commuter must choose between identifying as their class or announcing their commuter status only to lose additional representation. Nor has such an interpretation of the Student Government constitution ever been invoked. Nor was notice of this new interpretation given prior to the commencement of polling. Nor was such a breach in protocol forced upon seminarians who elect their own representative in addition to a class representative. It should be the concern of all that an institution such as our beloved University of Dallas, so honored for its preservation of liberal, democratic ideals, has allowed its future leaders to engage in brazen and callous voter suppression. It is for these reasons that the student body of the University of Dallas and its alumni call upon President Johnathan J. Sanford to audit the election results of this semester’s election and recall the offending party of the Executive Body of the Student Government.