Facebook Flyers attack USAC slates

While candidates and their supporters blanketed campus Monday in preparation for the undergraduate student government elections, handing out treats, fliers and platform information to students passing by, another very different campaign had already begun on Facebook.

Since Sunday, there have been a series of Facebook Flyers attacking slates for their platforms and past behavior on council ““ but much of the information is either misleading or inaccurate, and since all the negative Flyers are posted anonymously, there is no way for them to be regulated.

“It’s very disappointing. … All those Flyers are lies,” said Undergraduate Students Association Council President Marwa Kaisey, referring to the Flyers criticizing both the slates.

The difference between these Flyers and the animosity that has been present in past USAC elections is that these are posted anonymously.

“Previous campaigns have not been entirely positive, but the negativity was very much in the form of word-of-mouth on Bruin Walk or submissions to the Daily Bruin,” Kaisey said.

These Flyers have been more explicitly negative and false than negative information disseminated in previous campaigns, and Kaisey said she believes forums such as Facebook allow students to make these kinds of statements.

“I don’t think people would be out on Bruin Walk saying these things because they are false,” Kaisey said. “Facebook allows you to … publish these false facts and no one can say anything or ask you to defend your arguments with facts because they don’t know who you are.”

Kaisey also said she believes people post these Flyers because they cannot find enough positive statements to make about the candidate they support, so they criticise the opponent instead. Since the information is posted anonymously, there is no way for the Elections Board to monitor potential campaign violations, said Sandybeth Carillo, the Elections Board chairwoman and a former Daily Bruin reporter.

“We can’t sanction because they are anonymous. That is a limit on our ability,” she said.

Though the Flyers all attack slates, campaign managers from both Bruins United and Students First! said they do not know who posted the Flyers.

“We did not put up any anti-Students First! ads,” Joline Price, USAC general representative and the campaign manager for Bruins United, said. “We haven’t run a single negative ad, and we don’t plan on it.”

Tina Park, the USAC external vice president and Students First! campaign manager, also disavowed any involvement of the slate with the negative ads.

“We haven’t done any Facebook Flyers and don’t plan to. We prefer face-to-face contact, and that’s what will get people to vote for us,” she said.

On Facebook, anyone with an account can buy a Flyer and can choose to post it anonymously.

“There’s no way to prove anything,” Price said.

Kaisey said she is particularly concerned about the negative ads because she believes they will deter students from voting because they contribute to the perception that USAC is unproductive and gets bogged down in politics.

“When all you are doing is posting negative campaign Flyers on Facebook, it turns the average student off from voting altogether,” she said.

Kaisey also said she has contacted Facebook because, in addition to being inaccurate, the Flyers violate copyright laws because they use the logo created by Bruins United.

With reports from Anthony Pesce, Bruin senior staff.