As many people have already seen, SGA elections have taken over Facebook and Twitter. What many people are asking, however, is why candidates are allowed to use these outlets this year, when they weren’t allowed to previously.

The Elections Committee decided to bring social media back because of the way it has changed and evolved in mainstream news, according to Kanetra Washington, chair of the committee.

The candidates are also allowed to use YouTube and Facebook videos, or have Media Network interview them and run the interview on A&T closed circuit TV channel 30, but they cannot use both. Many candidates felt this was unfair, since they were being offered the opportunity to gain free publicity, they could not understand why they weren’t allowed to additionally make their own videos and post them.

Many people have laptops with built in web cameras, or have small flip video cameras, that would allow them to produce videos for little to no cost at all. Per the rules and regulations of elections, all forms of campaigning must have a monetary value, and for any type of videos, the elections committee felt documentation of worth was necessary.

“What the elections committee decided to do was to offer all candidates the option to use media network, or get their own videos done and document them at fair market value, but not both,” Morgan said.

“The decision was made based on treating the videos as a gift,” Elections Committee Adviser Denise Iverson-Payne said. “They see it as the JOMC department providing the candidates with a gift through access to the professional recording equipment and free publicity. Because this is a university election, and JOMC is a part of the university, the committee sees it as a gift from the university to gain more advertisement for the elections.”

What Media Network will likely offer will be a set amount of time for each candidate to answer a few questions from them, and then have those responses played back on channel 30. If a candidate wants to do their own videos, they can utilize it however they would like, following elections regulations.

“They need to get a fair market value from two different places, and it doesn’t have to be an expensive videographer, and compare the two prices,” Lee Morgan said. “They will then average the prices.”

Washington said that the decision was determined based on the fact that the times Media Network had available did not accommodate everyone.

“If I can go to Media Network from 5pm to 7 pm to do a panel discussion with them, and then turn around and do my own video that’s double publicity,” Washington said. “Some students may not be able to make the times they have, and I don’t want to encourage anybody to miss work or class to do an interview with Media Network. It’s not fair to those individuals that may have class and work at those times to not be recorded, so it was one or the other.”

The impact of this decision will be visible in the elections next Wednesday. 

• Dexter R. Mullins