Editor's Note: This unedited statement was made in entirety by Madison Gardner of the Madison Gardner and Antonio Guevara Campaign. This is not an endorsement and does not reflect the views of The Horn.

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Dear Editor,

With all the recent rumors and gossip surrounding the Student Government elections and our team, we wanted to share our true story for everything that is occurring. First and foremost, we would like to address the issue of our team being disqualified. We selected around 40 students representing all communities from across campus to be in a group photo to reflect our mission to bring students together. Three weeks later, one of the students became a candidate for the President of the Student Events Center. She had no intent to run when the photo was taken and we were not even aware that she was going to run until weeks later. We had no contact with her during the campaign and neither of us publicly supported each other in any way outside of her participation in our photo. During the time of the photo, and even after becoming aware of Kelly’s intent to run for SEC President, we never felt that we were in violation of the election code because not only did the Election Supervisory Board approve our media (which included our group picture), but the clause we are being accused of violating is under the student government specific election code which had lead us to believe that this clause only applied to “associating” with student government candidates.

After the disqualification ruling by the ESB, we tried to appeal to the Judicial Court on the grounds that the specific code only applies to Student Government candidates and that our alleged violation did not warrant a disqualification. The four member judicial court voted to not hear our case, and denied us our right to voice our concerns regarding the ESB’s ruling. Given the fact that we were denied our appeal, we chose to meet with the Dean of Students’ representatives who oversee Student Government. After meeting with them, we realized we had very limited options moving forward. We filed one last appeal to the Judicial Court based on procedural errors and we were again denied even being heard.

At this point, we had the options of bowing out of the race or taking our case the legal route in hopes of getting back on the ballot. We are passionate about this university and this really means a lot to us. This was one of the toughest decisions for us since being students here on campus because of the amount of time and energy that we have invested into the university. Over these last three and a half years, our love for this university has grown, and continues to grow because of the lengths we are willing to go to in order to make campus life that much more valuable for everyone.

We understand that many people may criticize our recent actions or question why we are continuing to get back in this race even after being disqualified and we would like everyone to know our true, genuine intentions. We are not suing the university for anything monetary, but rather we filed a temporary restraining order to delay the Presidential and Vice-Presidential election until after our case was heard. We would like a judge to re-consider our case and put our name back on the ballot because we feel that as students, our constitutional rights of freedom of speech and freedom of association are being violated with the current election code. We are seeking this legal action not to harm the university that we both love, but to correct a wrong and to give students their undeniable right to utilize their voice with no constraints.

We hope that everyone can understand our story and know what truly has been happening past the headlines. This decision is not motivated by revenge or any selfish reasons, but rather it stems from our passion, love, and belief in our cause.

Sincerely,
Madison Gardner and Antonio Guevara