Students broke into a frenzy at 4 p.m. Friday, nearly trampling each other as they rushed the stairs of the Marvin Center to hang up candidate posters.
About 100 Student Association and Marvin Center Governing Board candidates and their campaign teams attacked the concrete walls with masking tape and a multitude of colored flyers to begin postering. Sweaty, screaming students ran around, throwing themselves against the walls to reserve space.
“I feel like I’m going to get trampled,” said John Plack, chair of the Joint Election Committee, which is in charge of election proceedings.
Candidates had teams hanging posters at the Marvin Center, the Hall of Government, the Academic Center and Funger Hall. The event lasted for about an hour, and staffers lined up near the buildings about a half an hour before the 4 p.m. start time.
“There is an exceptional amount of candidates and a limited space; this is borderline hazardous,” presidential candidate Lee Roupas said.
Candidates, who spent from $70 to $250 on their posters, said the “prime space” at the Marvin Center was the wall right above the stairs leading into J Street.
“The strategy is to get very visible posters, but they don’t have to go everywhere, just key spots,” presidential candidate Omar Woodard said.
Last year, candidates were given an hour-long loitering period to hold the wall space, Plack said. This year it was a free-for-all.
“This is a very nice affair we have going on here,” said Shanti Cole, a University Police officer.
Several teams had a strategy, including color scheme and garb, to promote candidates. Executive vice presidential candidate Anyah Dembling’s team wore hot pink shirts with her logo to complement her pink posters.
“We’re going with the pink to highlight the female aspect,” Dembling said. She is the only female seeking an executive position in a pool of 12 males.
Roupas’ team wore fire hats, since Roupas’ motto is to “F.I.R.E. up GW.”
The posters ranged from the traditional “name, head shot and position” flyers to more creative ones trying to garner students’ attention.
Some candidates said postering is part of the process but that they are not relying on it to fuel their campaign.
“The main course of advertisement for this campaign has been word of mouth,” said Asher Corson, executive vice presidential candidate. “The fact of the matter is that kids are really tired of the (SA) and how it is right now. So when we have a group of kids telling them we want to change it, they really respond well.”
Tony Spiliotopoulos, running for an Elliott School of International Affairs Undergraduate Senate seat, opted for shock value, with “SEX” printed in oversized bold letters above his advertisements. A competitor for the same seat, Ron Kilpatrick, represented his campaign with a large, colorful image of the earth.
“I’m just glad to see everyone so excited about something on campus,” said presidential candidate Joe Venti.
Presidential candidate Ruarri J. Miller, who campaigned outside Funger Hall, said he hopes students read his campaign proposals on his posters but said he realized they probably would not.
Some students said that while candidates take the postering event seriously, they think it is irrelevant.
“If people don’t have a friend to vote for, they won’t vote,” sophomore Alec Bassos said.
But many students said they are looking forward to learning more about the candidates.
“I think posters are very important because they allow people to know who is running so they can find out more about the candidate. However I try to choose the right candidate, not the person with the best campaign slogan or poster,” sophomore Eric Schmelzer said.
Posters must adhere to rules specified by the JEC. Plack said the rules are specific and can be hard to follow, as they enumerate specific places and number of posters that can be hung.
-David Ceasar and Josh Meredith contributed to this report.
