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Russell Shepard disqualified from running for SG - 1:34 p.m.

Published: Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Updated: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 14:03

Sophomore Russell Shepard can no longer run for University Court, Student Government Commissioner of Elections Alexis Sarver confirmed Tuesday.

Shepard, a wide receiver on the football team, was on the ticket for the "Geauxing the Distance" campaign, but Sarver said he has been disqualified for failing to attend one of two meetings all University Court candidates must attend.

Candidates for University Court must attend one of those two meetings to still be eligible to run for office. The meetings took place March 9 at 1 p.m. and Monday at noon, and Sarver said Shepard missed both because of class.

Candidates have the option to set up a separate meeting through the SG Commissioner of Elections if they provide an excuse within a valid time frame. Sarver said the deadline to provide an excuse for either meeting was March 9 by 4:30 p.m. but that the deadline was not strictly enforced.

Sarver said the first time she talked to Shepard about the meetings was shortly after Monday's meeting.

Sarver said Shepard would have been informed about the meetings during election filing from Feb. 22-24.

"He had class, but i was not informed in the time that i was supposed to be informed," Sarver said. "Had he told me in due time within the deadline, then i would have possibly set up something for him to have a makeup."

She said she was first informed around 11 a.m. Monday by someone from the Geauxing the Distance ticket that Shepard would not make Monday's meeting.

"He had a class at that time [of the meetings], and he had a pop quiz [March 15]," Sarver said. "Even the week before would have been fine. Five minutes before it is not enough time and it isn't fair to the other candidates."

Sarver said she has already disqualified other candidates running for college councils because they failed to attend mandatory meetings.

"This isn't the only case at all," she said.

 

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Contact The Daily Reveille's sports staff at sports@lsureveille.com

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5 comments

student
Tue Mar 16 2010 23:43
It seems like he didn't really care about SG since he didn't bother to even talk to Alexis about it before hand. He would prob just drop out after elections anyway..though i think it would be cool if he did get in.
Joe
Tue Mar 16 2010 23:07
I have never been a huge fan of SG and agree that it seems to be a bit of a member's only club. However, all candidates, including Russell Shepard, were made aware of the obligations of candidacy. Fulfilling these obligations is his responsibility alone. Would exceptions have been made for other students? Maybe, maybe not. I just can't place the blame on SG for disqualifying Shepard when he was made clear of the requirements.
I would have liked for him to be elected, though. I think it would have been a good thing for the student body to see someone outside of SG circles be elected to office. Perhaps that would have inspired a more diverse set of students seek office.
Anonymous
Tue Mar 16 2010 20:51
Completely lame. I was given a push card by Russell Shepard today, and I thought it would be pretty cool if a football player was able to participate in SG, especially since the same people pretend to do stuff with SG. He seemed to be pretty into it, too.

Feel bad for the Geauxing the Distance campaign for losing a fun candidate that would bring them a lot of good attention, especially since they seem to have some good things in mind and would bring fresh blood to SG.

sgalum
Tue Mar 16 2010 19:49
Speaking as a former officer and member in SG during the 90's, this policy of requiring candidates to attend classes, especially now since more emphasis has been placed on class attendance seems to be more to keep the average student out of SG and keep it exclusive rather than making SG something obtainable by the majority of students who want to make a difference at LSU. The more hurdles you put for candidates to overcome, the more SG becomes an exclusive membership not for the average student. Granted, a single meeting should be easy to attend if you are serious about being a candidate, but LSU should be making SG more student friendly and inclusive rather than on a quest to disqualify candidates at every turn with massive election rules that don't exist in life outside of a University.
student
Tue Mar 16 2010 18:22
I'd bet you anything if he was one of the students heavily involved in SG or part of Student First or Leading the Way campaigns, he'd be excused. Or if, you know, he wasn't a football player and would bring extra attention to the Geauxing the Distance campaign.






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