Runoff over before it started, Wilkins claims

Five votes. That was all that separated Robbie Wilkins, BK '03, and Libby Smiley, JE '02, in the Yale College Council (YCC) presidential race on Fri., Apr. 17. But in a runoff election earlier this week, Smiley won the YCC presidency by a landslide of 251 votes. Her overwhelming victory was a shock to the Yale community. The margin in the runoff election was surprisingly greater than that in the general election, in which Smiley eked out a victory by 0.2 percent, falling far short of the five percent needed for victory to be declared.

ANDREW HEID/YH Libby Smiley, JE '02, defeated Robbie Wilkins, BK '03, in a runoff for YCC president.

Only 1,219 students voted in the runoff, down from the 2,719 that voted in the general election. But Abu Demissie, DC '01, YCC Vice President and Election Committee chair, said the drop could be logically explained. He cited possible reasons including the number of candidates in the general election and the general election's inclusion of a referendum concerning Yale's involvement in the anti-sweatshop labor movement.

Wilkins' relatively lopsided defeat in the runoff elections, however, is less easily explained. One cause may have been the fallout from a derogatory e-mail sent by Nacole Palmer, SM '00, on Mon., Apr. 17, targeting Wilkins. Palmer sent an e-mail to members of the a cappella group RedHot & Blue. She accused Wilkins of making sexist statements about Smiley, and urged Red- Hot & Blue members to spread the information to as many students as possible. Palmer defended her actions and stood by the part of her e-mail relating to Wilkins' character. However, she said she later sent an email to the same recipients rescinding her attack on Wilkins' experience.

In response to student complaints about such e-mails, the Election Committee introduced a ban on all campaign-related e-mails on Mon., Apr. 17. Wilkins was quoted in the Tues., Apr. 18 issue of the Yale Daily News (YDN) as saying, "Now, I can't send out e-mails to clear things up...And, my friends can't send out stuff about me [or to] slander her."

Wilkins, however, told the Herald that the second part of his quote misrepresented what he said. Wilkins asserted, "It would be a lie if I or anyone said this wasn't `theoretically' true, but the fact of the matter is that I would never send a derogatory e-mail about someone else." Smiley said that neither she, nor anyone she knew, was responsible for a derogatory e-mail regarding any candidate, and Wilkins confirmed this, stating that both candidates ran fair races. As for the e-mail ban, Smiley told the Herald, "It did force me to change campaign strategies, but as I've said before, I supported the decision because the last thing that I would want to do would be to bother someone."

In addition to the e-mails, Wilkins was upset about the publicity received when the Election Committee reprimanded him for not removing certain campaign signs after the general election. He said that complaints were brought up against Smiley as well, but that only his violation became a front-page headline in the YDN. According to Wilkins, these factors conspired to doom his chances in the run-off. "I had a pretty good shot going in...but when my name appeared in the headline and damaging rumors started to fly, the election was pretty much over for me," he said. Demissie agrees that rules must be clearer in future elections. "As e-mail becomes an even more important form of communication on campus, abuses of it become more and more prevalent. The `unsolicited e-mail' rule needs to be made stricter and more clear."

Wilkins seems to be putting his frustration behind him. He said he felt the election was fair, blaming unfortunate circumstances instead. "I know the Election Committee did everything in their power to keep this election fair and, in fact, it was a fair election," she said. "My violations just happened to fall during a time when tension among the candidates and the Election Committee was high." In addition, he said that Smiley will do an excellent job as president, that he is excited to work for her, and that he thinks the YCC will accomplish a lot next year. Both he and the YCC have already started to refocus on larger issues.

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