Residence Hall Association (RHA) Volunteer Chair and College junior Kadean Maddix became the third candidate elected to the position of RHA president in the last two weeks following a series of appeals, disqualifications, general elections and run-offs.
RHA Publicity Chair and College sophomore Akshay Goswami and RHA Vice President of Programming and College sophomore Jessica Simon were both disqualified due to violations of cheating during the second general election.
Following the announcement of Simon’s victory in the second general election – Simon garnered 403 votes, Goswami earned 323 votes and Maddix collected 218 votes – Goswami informed the Appeals Committee that he would be presenting evidence that Simon had cheated during the RHA presidential election. In response, Simon decided to present new evidence against Goswami.
Both presented multiple pieces of evidence including sending out mass emails in which their platforms were provided.
The two met with the Appeals Committee, and it was determined that another hearing would be held Monday night. During the hearing, it was found that the emails that both Goswami and Simon sent out violated the RHA elections code.
The RHA elections code states that it is against the rules to provide your platform via electronic mail to individuals with whom you are not acquainted, according to College sophomore and RHA Elections Chair Katherine Joseph.
Goswami said he challenged Simon following the second election because he believed she violated some of the campaign policies in the RHA election code. Simon said that even though she had won the second election, she challenged Goswami back because he challenged her.
Maddix, the third place candidate, did not make or receive any allegations during both the first and second general elections and was ultimately awarded the position of RHA president.
Following last week’s run-off election, Goswami was initially disqualified after a victory in the race because he was found guilty of two violations of cheating.
However, Goswami filed an appeal, and the Election Council determined that Goswami did not commit one of his two violations. The Election Committee then decided to reverse Goswami’s disqualification and instead cite him with five community service hours.
Through all the controversy, Maddix expressed that he is glad the election is over, and he can focus on serving the students.
“It was a mixture of joy and relief that the process is finally over, and we can finally move forward as an organization,” Maddix said. “This process has been difficult. It was my third time running for the position, and it just feels good to finally be done.”
Maddix said that although he knows he may not have earned the most votes, he believes truth is a vital aspect of any leadership position.
“My campaign has always been about trying to do good for the community and trying to do good for the residence halls,” Maddix said. “Part of that is being truthful and honest and playing by the rules. I think that is the most important thing to be a leader, we need to acknowledge our mistakes and my campaign strived to be honest.”
Following the election, Goswami expressed that he believes RHA made the right decision.
“I’m very happy with the way RHA responded – annoying or not annoying you have to understand that if you break the rules, it should be met with strong action,” Goswami said. “SGA should have done the same with [SGA President and College junior] Raj Patel. Other organizations should take RHA’s example and move forward. I am responsible for what I did, and I am happy [Maddix] won.”
Maddix said that though the election was difficult, he believes his honesty kept his campaign alive.
“In the end, the better heads prevailed,” Maddix said.
Simon declined to comment.
– By Dustin Slade
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