In a bittersweet victory for Dave Knapp and Stephanie Gent, a deal struck Wednesday night allowed the executive candidates and the 45-member Results Coalition to participate in the Undergraduate Student Government elections with the stipulation that the executive candidates can no longer campaign for themselves.

The deal came after a mediated discussion between the candidates, the Election Governance Board and the USG Judicial Panel, which initially disqualified the entire Results Coalition Tuesday night during a rehearing of the facts of the case.

“Making sure our senatorial slate was able to run has been our priority all along,” Knapp said. “I’m glad we could reach a resolution to actually achieve this goal.”

The entire Results Coalition was initially disqualified last week after the USGJP found the team in violation of EGB bylaws pertaining to campaign spending. The controversy focused on T-shirts bearing the names of both the executive and senatorial candidates on the slate. Following an appeal, the issue was sent back to the USGJP for a procedural error relating to the due process rights of the senatorial candidates who were disqualified.

In the rehearing Tuesday night, a grammatical error in the EGB bylaws was pointed out that drastically changed the context of the rules. In the section pertaining to campaign spending, the original amendment approved by the USG Senate last year referred to a “campaign expenditure,” while the current bylaws found on the USG Web site refer to “campaign expenditures” when dealing with the amount executive candidates could spend on items with their names on them. The wording was important because the Results Coalition spent more than the $2,000 allowed on such items when all receipts were combined, but no single purchase went above the amount.

The USGJP ruled that no total expenditures could exceed $2,000 worth of items with the executive candidate’s names on them, therefore finding the candidates in violation of the bylaw. Because a slate is considered one entity under EGB bylaws, both the executive candidates and the 45 senate candidates were disqualified from the election.

According to the stipulations outlined during Wednesday night’s negotiations, the Knapp-Gent team must turn in 294 unused T-shirts in order to alleviate the advantage of having more than the allotted amount of items with the executive member’s names on them. In addition, Knapp and Gent cannot campaign for themselves or the Results Coalition and the slate in turn cannot campaign for the executive team. According to the stipulations, Knapp and Gent must make a “good faith effort” to remove all posted materials pertaining to their campaign and the Results Coalition is barred from referencing either of the executive Web sites. No member of the Knapp-Gent campaign or the Results Coalition may wear the campaign T-shirt until after voting has ended Friday night. If the candidates fail to meet any of these expectations, the disqualification ruled by USGJP will be rendered in effect and the executive candidates as well as the senatorial candidates on the Results Coalition will be removed from the elections.

“The real tragedy is if people took the time to vote for a candidate who had to be removed,” said Eric Little, chief justice of the USGJP, in an interview prior to the negotiations. “That would be worse than removing as many candidates as we have here.”

Little said it was a tragedy to be forced to disqualify the entire Results Coalition team based on the strict guidelines outlined by the EGB bylaws. “It’s not a perfect document, it never will be,” Little said. “I expect significant changes as soon as the election is carried out.”

Nick Benson said he was excited about the ability of the senatorial candidates to continue campaigning in the election and said the resolution was justified.

“We’re disappointed that Dave and Steph will not be able to campaign,” Benson said. “However, I think everyone recognizes that this is a fair way to resolve this issue so that they’re able to remain on the ballot but still face the consequences.”

Despite the inability to campaign, both Knapp and Gent said they feel their issues were presented clearly throughout the election and students will be well informed about their platform when they go to vote.

“I think we’ve already resonated with the undergraduates and I’m pretty confident that those who have opened up to our ideals will continue to do so regardless of whether or not we have the capability to wear orange T-shirts,” Gent said.

“We’ll either lose honorably or win humbly,” Knapp said.

The USG elections began today and will run until 11:59 p.m. Friday.