To: The Student Body of St.

Lawrence University
CC: John OConnor & Joseph Tolliver
November 11, 2015
I have spent the last two weeks campaigning for the position of president of the
Thelomathesian Society. What I have taken away from the process is that Thelmo is a
broken institution in the eyes of the Student Body. As a member of the Senior Executive
Board of Thelmo, I know from experience that we love to tell the Board of Trustees that
student satisfaction is at an all time high. On average, thats true. But when you spend the
amount of time I have with the students of this University over the past several weeks you
come to realize that all is not as great as we may like to report.
I have spent time with the Black Student Union, LGBTQetc., the Green House, the Dub,
and other marginalized groups on this campus. What I have learned is that we, as a student
government are fundamentally broken. If we cant see the issues on this campus, how can we
ever hope to address them? The goal for my campaign was to understand the students at St.
Lawrence. I wanted to understand every student, not just the ones that are just like me. We
are a broken governing body because we have blinded ourselves from the real issues on this
campus, the issues that make or break the St. Lawrence experience for many students. Meal
plans are important, yes; but they are not more important than students of diverse
backgrounds feeling unwelcomed in a space that we like to call a community. Its shameful
that we as a student government have become willfully blind to the issues of this campus that
affect the individual and not the student body as a whole.
Im writing to you because as of November 10th at 11:20pm I am disqualified as a candidate
for the presidency of the Thelomathesian Society because I violated Article XIV. General
Procedures for Elections, Section 5 Voting, Number 4. Subsection C.
Monday morning at 8:04am I woke up and voted on my iPhone. After having completed the
poll I noticed an IT path that was next to the area that showed I had voted. I clicked on that
path and discovered what looked like an area that a student could change their vote,
something I didnt think was possible. While I was scrolling through the page I noticed I
accidently highlighted and deleted a section of the text, the section containing the names of
the candidates for president. Having already voted, I just re-wrote the names and did not
give a thought to the order in which I entered them. At this time I was operating under the
assumption that this was strictly my poll on my personal SLUWire account and that the
order in which I re-wrote the names didnt matter. At no point would I have logically made
the connection that I was editing the entire campus-wide poll. Never would I have thought
that any student would have access to editing privileges of that poll. After discussing this
issue with the SLUWire provider, the company then discovered that there was a glitch that
allowed the first ten voters to edit the poll; they have not yet remedied this glitch. I would

23

Vice President of Senate Affairs, Thelomathesain Society

Romoda Dr. Canton, New York 13617 TEL 315-368-3660 www.stlawu.edu

have never thought that a candidate for one of the positions on the poll would have access to
the editing page of that poll. I know very well the rules of the campaign, as I am the current
keeper of the constitution, through my roll as Vice President of Senate Affairs. I know very
well that names appear in a randomized order and in no way would I try to compromise that
process.
I spoke with Director of Student Activities and Leadership who also discovered the glitch in
Simplicitys system. I then spoke with former-Director of Student Activates and Leadership
and sought out her SLUWire expertise. She said that at no point should a candidate ever
have access to the polling information and that it is clear to her as to why the mistake
happened. I as a candidate would never intentionally do anything to jeopardize the integrity
of the voting process. I had no way of knowing that what I was doing would affect the entire
polling system. I would never intentionally do something so foolish; obviously the
administrator of the poll would see the change. I made a genuine mistake.
Thelmo tries to uphold the best interests of the Student Body; my disqualification is
fundamentally in contradiction to this. This is not a black and white issue, although that was
how the decision to disqualify me was reached; what was best for the students of St.
Lawrence University was not taken into account.
With that being said, I ask that you all express your concern for the integrity of the current
election in the form of letters and emails addressed to John Robert OConnor, Matthew
Bauer the Elections Chair, or Ryan Orvis. Currently there have been over 700 votes cast for
either my opponent or myself. The Thelmo President must have run in an election where
over 682 students have voted in order to be recognized by the Board of Trustees as a
legitimate governing body of the students. The votes cast for me should be nullified as those
students do not support the efforts of my opponent to become Thelmo President. I am
calling for a new election so the students that had cast their vote for me can have the choice
to either vote for my opponent or not vote at all. Im uncomfortable with the election
moving forward as the students have not been accurately represented.
I am proud of the time I have spent serving as the Vice President of Senate Affairs for the
Thelomathesian Society. I hope that in the coming term, Thelmo takes a serious look at how
they can better represent each and every student at St. Lawrence University. We are, after
all, your student government and that was why I was running, for you.
All my best,

Christopher

R. Christopher Di Mezzo
Vice President of Senate Affairs,
The Thelomathesian Society

23

Vice President of Senate Affairs, Thelomathesain Society

Romoda Dr. Canton, New York 13617 TEL 315-368-3660 www.stlawu.edu