By Vinny Porco

Spring semesters at the University of Louisville seem to be marked by the same things. The basketball teams take the baton from football, university presidents disappear into thin air and the Student Government Association holds its big General Election.

This year, on behalf of The Louisville Cardinal editorial board, I invite candidates for SGA’s Top 4 positions to submit op-eds promoting their candidacy. 

Please pay careful attention to the general procedures and guidelines below related to these promotions.

What we want

Let’s keep it simple. Upon the opening of the SGA General Election campaign window on either Jan. 26 or Jan. 27, Top 4 candidates may submit brief self-promotions to the opinion editor of The Louisville Cardinal.

Top 4 candidates include those running for student body president, executive vice president, academic vice president and services vice president. Promotional submissions regarding other races will not be accepted to ensure relevance to the entire student body and to prevent an overwhelming number of submissions.

Submissions must include the candidate’s name, the position that the candidate seeks and a headshot or portrait photo of the candidate. It is also advised that candidates link to any campaign-related social media pages at the end of their submissions.

Beyond that, the candidate may choose to write about themselves, their positions on platform issues, relevant personal qualities for the desired position and relevant campus and community engagements they’ve participated in.

Overall, the subject matter of submissions should meet a general standard of relevance to the SGA General Election.

Candidates may not name or identifiably allude to other candidates in their submissions in accordance with the bylaws of U of L SGA, part of which reads:

“Criticism of platforms and ideas are acceptable, personal attacks are not. Such posts or representations made by a candidate or on their behalf will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action or disqualification.”

Should a candidate want to compare their ideas or platforms to the conflicting ones of others, they should simply explain their rationale with regards to the ideas themselves.

Submissions should not exceed 500 words in length, and should be written, to the best of one’s ability, in accordance with AP Style.

Please send submissions in the body of an email addressed to vdporc01@louisville.edu with any photographs attached to the email as a file. Please ensure that any images submitted are horizontal.

Finally, factual claims should be supported by reliable sources hyperlinked within one’s submission.

Procedure

The Louisville Cardinal is committed to providing an expedient submission process to candidates.

Upon submission, candidates will receive an email of acknowledgment. Submissions will then receive AP style edits from Opinion Editor Vinny Porco and Editor-in-Chief Jai’Michael Anderson.

At that point, promotional submissions that comply with the above guidelines will be published on The Louisville Cardinal website.

Those that do not comply with the above guidelines will be returned to candidates with specific instructions for further revisions.

Coverage of promotional submissions on The Louisville Cardinal’s Instagram account has yet to be determined, but will either extend to all candidates with published submissions or none.

Other kinds of submissions

Others who are not participating in a Top 4 race may still want to express opinions about SGA, the General Election, certain candidates or even general campus issues. There are options for such people.

While The Louisville Cardinal will not accept any outside submissions in which the primary function is to endorse candidates, students may briefly endorse candidates in opinion pieces that primarily concern platform topics or other general campus issues.

Students may do so independently or on behalf of certain Registered Student Organizations with their expressed permission in writing.

Such submissions should follow the guidelines found in an earlier article linked here, and should not directly criticize SGA candidates.

Parting words

Have fun with it! 

While it is true that SGA candidates in a given race are competing against one another, things do not have to be contentious. Be kind! After all, it’s everyone’s first time living. Unless your religious beliefs dictate otherwise.

Any questions may be directed to Opinion Editor Vinny Porco at vdporc01@louisville.edu.

File Graphic / The Louisville Cardinal