Disqualifications and Other Penalties

1. General
   1. No candidate, slate, or sponsor may be subjected to a hearing twice for violation stemming from the same act.

   2. No information gathered in the course of a formal investigation shall be made public knowledge by members of the Commission, the Hearings Officer, or any individual whose assistance is requested in the course of the hearing process.

   3. The term ``grounds for disqualification'' shall mean that the Commission, Hearings Officer, or Hearings Committee may use the act or acts so specified as reasons for disqualification, but they shall have the discretion to decide whether to initiate or continue disqualification proceedings. Specification of an act as grounds for disqualification does not mean that disqualification is automatic, even if a candidate, slate, or sponsor is found to have committed such an act, nor shall any elections officer be required to recommend disqualification in such a case.

2. Formal Investigation
   1. Any member of the Association, including election officers, may bring to the attention of the Hearings Officer a violation of the Code or of a ruling of the Commission by a candidate, slate, or sponsor.

   2. The Hearings Officer shall then gather evidence concerning the possible violation. All members of the Association shall avail themselves to the Hearings Officer for any reasonable request for information.

   3. The Hearings Officer shall then determine if the evidence is sufficient to merit consideration by the Hearings Committee. If it is, then the Hearings Officer shall initiate a formal investigation and notify the Hearings Committee of this action.

3. Hearings
   1. The Hearings Officer shall make all reasonable attempts to notify the appropriate candidate, slate, or sponsor of the initiation of a formal investigation within twenty-four hours.

   2. The Chair of the Hearings Committee may convene the Hearings Committee at any time forty-eight hours after the initiation of a formal investigation (or earlier if either the Hearings Officer wishes to recommend the abandonment of the investigation, or the party being investigated so requests).

   3. At the hearing the appropriate candidate, slate, or sponsor may be in attendance. Otherwise all hearings shall be closed to the public, but an accurate transcript of all transactions shall be kept by a secretary appointed for this purpose by the Hearings Committee.

   4. At the hearing, the Hearings Officer shall present whatever evidence concerning the charge he/she has been able to gather to the Hearings Committee.

   5. At the hearing, the candidate, slate, or sponsor charged may present whatever evidence desired to the Hearings Committee. All members of the Association shall avail themselves to this candidate, slate, or sponsor for any reasonable request for information.

   6. Members of the Hearings Committee shall have the right to request any and all information they deem appropriate, including additional testimony, and all parties shall receive such information and have the right to challenge it.

   7. The burden of proof shall be borne by the Hearings Officer.

   8. Until a recommendation of disqualification is made by the Hearings Committee, the party being investigated shall enjoy all other judicial rights granted in the Constitution unless otherwise provided for in these By-Laws.

4. Recommendation of Penalties
   1. The Hearings Committee shall conduct at least one hearing, and as many additional hearings concerning a formal investigation as it deems desirable. At any time during this process the Hearings Committee may meet in closed session, at which only the three members of the Hearings Committee and the Hearings Officer shall be present. During these closed meetings, and only at these times, the Hearings Committee may terminate a formal investigation with the finding that either a violation of the Code meriting disqualification or other penalty has occurred or has not occurred, or probably has occurred but cannot be punished for lack of evidence. The standard of evidence used shall be that of the preponderance of evidence.

   2. If such a violation has occurred, then the Hearings Committee may recommend the disqualification of or imposition of other penalty against the candidate, slate, Special Fee request, General Fee issue, or ballot measure in question. Other penalties which may be recommended shall include reprimand, censure, fines of twenty-five or fifty dollars, suspension from office for one of more quarters, and displacement by a specified number of places in the ranking of Senators. Suspension and displacement may be imposed only against candidates for Senate and the Student Conduct Legislative Council.

   3. The candidate, slate, or sponsor under formal investigation shall be notified of all such recommendations within twenty-four hours.

5. Approval of Penalties
   1. A candidate, slate, Special Fee request, General Fee issue, or ballot measure shall be considered disqualified upon the ruling of disqualification by the Hearings Committee. A candidate, slate, sponsor, or student organization shall be considered reprimanded, censured, or fined (fines are to be deducted from any special fees or funds received through ASSU funding boards, or ASSU salaries, or any other financial resources determined applicable), and a candidate shall be considered suspended or displaced, upon the ruling of the Hearings Committee. Such rulings may not be rescinded, except by a two-thirds vote of the Senate prior to certification of the election. Rulings regarding disqualification or other penalties shall only originate in the Hearings Committee.

   2. The Senate may question any party or the members of the Hearings Committee, but shall consider the factual findings to be valid except in extraordinary circumstances.

   3. The transcripts of all hearings which were held pertaining to the recommended disqualifications or other penalties shall be made available to the Senate. The Senate may also require that additional transcripts be made available to its members.

   4. The Senate may refer to the appropriate University officer for possible University disciplinary action any candidate, slate, or sponsor found guilty of campaign violations.

   5. The Senate may impose any additional sanctions that it may deem reasonable against a student organization whose associated sponsor was found guilty of campaign violations.

   6. Any candidate, slate, sponsor, or student organization fined for campaign violations must submit a bond of the amount of the fine, to be deposited with the Students' Organization Fund, within seven days of the issuing of the fine by the Senate. Failure to do so may be grounds for additional action by the Hearings Committee and Senate.