Pictured Above: Abbas and Kelly have submitted an appeal to USF Tampa’s Dean of Students and are awaiting a final decision.
Courtesy of @risewithjandj on Instagram
By Annalise Anderson
Student Body President-Elect Jaida Abbas and Vice President-Elect Jennifer Kelly have been disqualified from the presidential race after a 7-1 decision from USF Student Government Supreme Court found the ticket to be in violation of a major grievance.
The ticket has requested to appeal the ruling to Tampa’s dean of students, Danielle McDonald. As of April 15, McDonald has yet to accept or reject the appeal. If McDonald upholds the court’s ruling, Abbas and Kelly will not serve as president and vice president during the 2021-2022 term.
As the only ticket in the pool of existing candidates, Julia Cunningham and Jillian Wilson are next in line to assume the president and vice president positions. The Cunningham/Wilson ticket was found in violation of three minor grievances but they were not disqualified from the race.
The court ruled that the Abbas/Kelly violated SG statute 706.5.8.1.2 after hosting a $25 gift card giveaway on the campaign’s Instagram account @risewithjandj. The statute 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.”
The major grievance was filed against the ticket on March 12 by senior English major Matthew Gallot-Baker. The Supreme Court heard the case on April 9 and released its decision on April 13.
During the trial, the ticket’s defense argued that gift cards are not money, but rather goods, which are permitted by the SG statutes. However, the court ruled that the gift card qualifies as “money” and that, because the ticket required students to promote the Instagram account to be entered in the giveaway, it was used to persuade “students to act a certain way.”
