A University undergraduate student running for a seat in student government filed a report with the Bias Response Team Tuesday for what she said was a verbal assault based on the ethnicity and nationality of Juliana Guzman, current vice presidential candidate for ASUO Executive, by members of the Todd Mann and Jontae Grace Executive campaign.
Also on Tuesday, another student filed two grievances against the Mann-Grace campaign alleging it broke elections rules by holding an “official campaign kickoff event” and selling T-shirts in the residence halls.
Wannita Nualngam, who is running on the Jared Axelrod-Guzman campaign slate, wrote in her report to the BRT that two members of the Mann-Grace campaign were playing Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” at the Heart of Campus. Nualngam and two supporters of the slate said they witnessed the Mann-Grace supporters yell “Todd and Jontae were born in the USA. Juliana wasn’t.”
“They assumed that since she was Latin(a) she wasn’t an American,” Nualngam wrote, calling it “a racist assumption.”
The BRT is a service for students who experience or witness acts of harassment or intimidation that connects them with resources to address these situations, the BRT Web site states.
Presidential candidate Mann said he was not present when this took place, and that it is unlikely that it happened because the two people who were said to have made the remarks are “extremely liberal people,” are pro-immigration and are active in the College Democrats.
And as for the alleged racism, Mann said, “that’s just a blatant lie and it’s an attempt to hurt our campaign.”
University students Tony Kaminski and Dave Elliott were the two campaign volunteers working for Mann and Grace at the time of the incident.
Elliott called the incident hearsay but said he can’t remember specifics about what was said.
“I know I personally didn’t allude to Jared (or Guzman) being born in the USA,” he said.
Kaminski denied that the incident occurred and said he and Elliott were talking about how President Reagan used the song “Born in the USA,” even though it was about the Vietnam War, as a campaign tool.
“There’s no way that I would have said that,” Kaminski said, “since I don’t know where Juliana was born.”
Nualngam said the statement was untrue and ignorant and that as an immigrant and student of color, she was personally offended by such bigotry.
“It promotes the idea that it is acceptable to make generalizations about an individual’s nationality based on their racial identity,” she wrote.
Nualngam and Mike McGuffey, who is also on the Axelrod-Guzman slate, and campaign volunteer Ryan Spiker all gave analogous statements regarding the incident.
Elections grievances against Mann-Grace ticket
The grievance count in this year’s elections has reached four after an undergraduate filed a complaint Tuesday against the Mann-Grace campaign because of e-mails sent by Mann advertising an “official campaign kickoff event” in a residence hall Sunday afternoon and selling T-shirts in the residence halls.
Ian Tacquard, who filed the grievances, said both actions are violations of ASUO rules.
Student government rules require that candidates hold events in rooms that are accessible to all candidates.
Mann confirmed that the event was held, but said that as far as he knows any campaign or individual can reserve the same room in Carson Hall.
But Tacquard wrote in his grievance that “as no other candidate is able to use Residence Hall common areas for campaigning, this is unfair and unequal access to University resources.”
Tacquard asked that the Mann-Grace ticket be temporarily suspended from campaigning and write a formal letter of apology to the RHA and all current and former presidential and vice presidential candidates.
His other grievance was in regard to the Mann-Grace ticket’s distribution of campaign T-shirts in the residence halls. The sales, which were also advertised via e-mail, either violate election rules because it’s offering a “thing of value” in exchange for election support, or it violates the University policy against sales on University Housing property, he said.
Mann said he was selling the T-shirts for a penny, and therefore not violating elections rules, and he said soliciting isn’t allowed in the residence halls without contracts.
The Elections Board is currently investigating the two grievances. It has three days to make a ruling.
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