On Monday, the Judicial Council required Brian Moscona and Keri Oxley, candidates for student body president and vice president, to apologize to their opponents following "a minor infraction," according to John McCarthy, Judicial Council vice president in charge of elections.

The infraction involved a statement in an internal e-mail to Moscona and Oxley's campaign staff. In the e-mail, Moscona and Oxley encouraged their staff to discuss with them any questions that might arise about the feasibility of other candidates' platforms.

A staff member from another ticket's campaign found out about the statement, and brought it to McCarthy's attention. After investigating the matter, McCarthy and Judicial Council president, Tim Jarotkiewicz, decided that a sanction was necessary. According to this decision, Moscona and Oxley retracted the statement "to clear up that they weren't attacking their [opponents'] feasibility," according to McCarthy.

Under the bylaws governing the student body election, candidates are prohibited from "insulting or defaming" other candidates, said Jarotkiewicz.

"It was minor," McCarthy said. "It doesn't have to be blown out of proportion."

Despite the message that they sent in their e-mail, Moscona and Oxley had previously encouraged their staff to avoid discussing other candidates in a negative way, according to campaign manager Tai Romero.

Also under election bylaws, the decision to sanction candidates should be made by a six-member executive committee of the Judicial Council's election committee, according to Jarotkiewicz. However, that committee, which the Student Senate approved Wednesday night, had not yet formed when Moscona and Oxley committed the violation. Therefore, McCarthy and Jarotkiewicz had to investigate the issue and decide on sanctions.

Although the Judicial Council waited until after election campaign began to form the executive committee, the council was following the timeline established last year, according to McCarthy. The fact that he and Jarotkiewicz made the decision in no way affected the severity of the sanction, according to McCarthy.

• ND holds `Monologues' auditions
  
• `Tamer' Keenan Revue opens today
  
• ND gears up for Career fair
  
• OUTreachND, progressive alliance address student senate
  
• Trustees to meet to discuss tuition increase
  
• Grad students work on job search
  
• Groups discuss service options
  
• Moscona ticket sanctioned
  
• Power outage stops Observer presses