Many campaign signs endorsing Cody Westphal, a candidate for student body president, went missing between Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.
Westphal said he saw two people lingering around a few of his signs when he was walking back to Tom Brown Pete Wright around midnight Thursday. Jonathan Davis, his campaign manager, also saw some people around his signs.
Austin Marple, a John V. Roach Honors College representative and friend of Westphal, said the only campaign signs left were outside Colby Hall and Foster Hall.
A TCU 360 reporter walked around campus and saw one Westphal sign near Colby Hall and one near Foster. None of the other candidate's signs appeared to have been disturbed.
Calls to TCU Police have not been returned.
Marple said the Westphal campaign has asked the Elections and Regulations committee to look into the missing signs to keep the elections fair.
Removing or altering a opponent's signs or campaign materials is a violation of campaign rules, according to the Student Government Association Election Code and Handbook. The Elections and Regulations committee, after learning of a violation, will investigate the alleged violation. If there is a violation, the committee will impose sanctions or fines.
Elections and Regulations committee chairman Jansen Harrison said since the committee doesn’t have any evidence of who took the signs, they can't do anything formally.
Westphal would not be reimbursed for his signs, he said. Candidate’s signs are taken every year but Harrison said he had never seen a candidate’s signs disappear in one night.
Westphal said the wind couldn’t have knocked down the signs considering signs for the other candidates were still standing. He also did not think signs were taken at random because his were specifically targeted.
He also said he did not think another student body officer candidate took the signs or ordered somebody to take the signs.
Westphal said he does not have the money to order new signs. The signs cost him about $200. Marple also said there would not be enough time for new signs to arrive before voting begins.
