After a five-hour meeting, the De Anza Student Government Senate declined to overturn the disqualifications of the five candidates who campaigned together as the Elevate coalition because of election code violations in the Student Council Chambers on Wednesday, April 23.
Senators voted to overturn the disqualifications 11-6. However, the motion did not meet the required two-thirds majority, so the disqualification remained.
The decision followed a previous election certification and complaint meeting on April 16 when the senate disqualified the Elevate coalition on the basis of election code violations.
The amendment to undo the disqualification was placed on the agenda by DASG President Luca Paliska, 20, computer science major, who voiced concerns about the disqualifications after talking to candidates and “after extensive discussion with some senators and the advisers.”
“These points came from senators … which implies the final verdict could have been different,” Paliska said.
The five Elevate members that were disqualified are:
- Aroush Fatima, 18, former DASG president-elect, computer science major
- Lakshya Saini, 18, former events chair-elect, computer science major
- Kunishka Mundada, 18, former student trustee-elect, political science and psychology major
- Varshi Patcha, 18, former administration chair-elect, economics and psychology major
- Shreyas Menon, 18, Inter Club Council chair-elect, computer science major
DASG senator Katia Bravo, 20, data science major, said the reasoning to undo the disqualification was because not every Elevate member necessarily deserved the disqualification. Bravo cited the Student Code of Conduct rather than the election code, which last week’s verdict was based on.
“Looking at the (Student) Code of Conduct, a couple of the members of the coalition should be disqualified,” Bravo said. “But there are some members who were acting very respectful.”
Occasional bouts of yelling and unsolicited chatter amongst the public and senators could be heard during the meeting.
During the meeting, Miranda Carlberg, 28, animation major, a member of the public in attendance, described the meeting as “clownery” and said she wasn’t impressed with how either the senators or Elevate were conducting themselves during the meeting.
“Get it together,” Carlberg said. “Why is it taking so long for such a simple decision? Why the show of good faith for people who, time and again, explicitly show no good faith, who are disrespectful, who are blatantly breaking rules?”
DASG senator Matsuko Estrada Nakamatsu, 21, English major, said she hopes this is a closed case.
“It got very messy,” Estrada Nakamatsu said. “I don’t think the coalition or even the senators or the public would like to go through this again … it is a constant back and forth of fighting.”
By the end of the meeting, the senate voted 11-6 to overturn the disqualifications under the elections code. The motion failed by one vote to garner the required two-thirds majority. The disqualification still stands.
All positions have been awarded to the runner-ups except for the position of student trustee, which sits vacant after the disqualification of leading candidate and Elevate member Kunishka Mundada. Runner-up Alona Agmon, 18, business major, did not meet the vote threshold, and the trustee position is in limbo until the senate makes a final decision.
“Sometimes we have to gently cut the cord in order for there to be a sense of balance and equalness,” Estrada Nakamatsu said.
