Pictured Above: Student Body President-Elect Jaida Abbas and Vice President-Elect Jennifer Kelly won 53.5 percent of the vote last month.
Courtesy of @risewithjandj on Instagram
By Annalise Anderson
USF Student Body President-Elect Jaida Abbas and Vice President-Elect Jennifer Kelly were tried by Student Government Supreme Court Friday for a major grievance filed against them regarding a $25 gift card giveaway.
Filed by Matthew Gallot-Baker, a senior English major at the Tampa campus, the grievance came as a result of an Instagram post by the Abbas/Kelly ticket.
Posted on March 7 to the @risewithjandj account, the caption advertises a giveaway of a $25 gift card to the place of one’s choosing; to be entered in the giveaway, students had to follow the ticket’s Instagram account, tag two additional students in the comments and share the post on their personal Instagram stories.
The grievance claims that the ticket violated SG Statute 706.5.8.1.2, which prohibits candidates from using “money or favors to persuade a person or group to act in a certain way, not including the purchase of goods or sponsorships.”
Campaign Manager Yusuff Fattah and Devon Shank, the campaign’s “student government expert,” served as Abbas and Kelly’s defense during the trial. Fattah and Shank argued that gift cards are not money, but rather goods, which are permitted by the SG statutes.
“It all comes down to this one fact, a gift card is not money and money is not a gift card,” Fattah said. “You cannot use a gift card interchangeably like you can money.”
The $25 gift card was not included in the ticket’s March 15 budget statement. When asked why the gift card was excluded, Abbas said she forgot to report it.
The Supreme Court has yet to reach a verdict, however, should Abbas and Kelly be found guilty of the alleged major violation, they will be disqualified from the presidential race. That would leave Julia Cunningham and Jillian Wilson, the only remaining candidates, to fill the student body president and vice president positions.
The Cunningham/Wilson ticket was found in violation of three of seven minor grievances regarding the use of USF logos in campaign and advertising material. The grievances were filed by the Abbas/Kelly ticket on April 5.
