NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) -- Yale University, where presidential hopefuls have been groomed for generations, held an election for student body president Tuesday in which all five candidates were cited for campaign violations.
The candidates were punished for breaking regulations that limit how and when they campaign. One improperly sent a mass e-mail to 600 students. Another put up a Web site too early. Others violated advertising rules.
Yale, which has had an alumnus in every presidential or vice-presidential race since 1972, counts President Bush, his father and President Clinton among its alumni.
"We had to stop some things that were getting out of hand," said student Marissa Brittenham, who leads the school's election committee, which voted Monday night to punish the candidates by barring them from doing such things as sending campaign e-mails or distributing fliers.
Experts say such infractions are becoming more common nationwide.
"I'm not aware of instances of malfeasance, where people deliberately cheated," said Pat J. Bosco, founder of the Center for Leadership Development, a Kansas State University group that advises student governments nationwide. "But we're getting more of that gray area, people trying to push the envelope."
At Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, student leaders threw out election results in 2004 after finding evidence that a candidate sent misleading e-mails. The University of Texas at El Paso invalidated its 2002 election because officials found evidence that someone used student identification numbers to cast votes for others.
At Yale, the stakes are high. Being president of the Yale College Council looks good on a student's resume. At many other universities, student presidents help control budgets worth millions of dollars.
Yale has restricted campaigning to two days. Students cannot hang more than 300 letter-size posters. Spending is capped at $60. Banners are prohibited.
Candidate Larry Wise was cited because his supporters taped campaign fliers to their doors. That turned the fliers into posters, and put Wise over the spending limit for posters.
Wells O'Byrne had his campaign's e-mail privileges revoked for sending materials to a mass e-mail list. Campaign rules limit e-mails to "personal acquaintances."
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