ASB leadership chaos: Are we really a STUDENT body?

We encourage readers to first read the related news article in the news section of the website (or page 2 print version) for important context. This will provide a clearer understanding of the issues discussed and help frame the opinion piece presented by our staff member.

From the change in advisor leadership, to the questionable election mishaps, the Samo Associative Student Body (ASB) has suffered from much internal turmoil. This has prompted many questions about the leadership in the class and transparency within the association itself.

While there has been ongoing discussion around ASB for years, it’s caught more attention with the recent controversy regarding the ASB election, where there was an absence of an “other” button. When asked about the process the election ballot must endure before being sent out to the student body, almost all the members in ASB had little to no idea. Members were also in the dark as to who actually made and approved the ballot. They were equally as unaware as to why there was such a short time period for voters to amend their decisions when the corrected ballot was sent out. If those who are supposed to be representing us (the student body) are not even fully aware of the actions that will directly affect us, then what even is the purpose of ASB?

Current ASB Co-Head of Community Service, Isabella Rosales (’28), expanded on the need for improvance in ASB. 

“I was really confused. Because up until, I would say a couple days before the election, I thought there were two presidential candidates on the ballot,” Rosales said.

“The lack of transparency completely takes away power and authority from students who were elected cabinet,” Mihret said.

Art by Kayman Mangan

The singular choice for the presidency completely undermined school democracy by forcing votes. There were two, fully qualified candidates, Gelila Mihret (’26) and Sadie Gryczman (’26). However, by a last minute disqualification, only one was allowed to run. In all previous ASB elections, there has always been an “other” button, allowing voters to write in another candidate. The exclusion of this essential choice creates an inaccurate representation of the student body and their diverse backgrounds, views and opinions.

Mihret was disqualified on the grounds that the candidate turned in a form (stating that the candidate would abide by all campaigning rules) late. Mihret felt that this painted her as an irresponsible applicant in the eyes of administration and Stefani Tovar, who serves as the ASB teacher and activities director. Senior Class President Ben Komlos (’25), believed the decision to completely disqualify Mihret was hypocritical, given the past changes to election qualifications. The qualification of needing to be in ASB the year prior to one’s term on the Executive Board was changed to allow current ASB Executive President Ethan Fitzgerald (’25) to run.

“I believe that Tovar doesn’t believe in making it fair. [...] But if Tovar really did care about making it a competition - especially for the presidential executive position - she would’ve allowed Gelila to run against Sadie,” Komlos said.

ASB members have been widely outspoken about faculty encouraging competition in elections, so it’s confusing and hypocritical that there would only be one candidate for such an important executive position. If the election really wanted to be competitive, a trivial thing - such as turning a form in a few hours late - wouldn’t have stopped Mihret from running. Mihret expanded on how she felt upset that there were exceptions made for previous candidates, specifically Fitzgerald, and that the same leniency was not shown for her.

“In the way that he [Fitzgerald] was spoken about and just presented as a candidate - it felt very like ‘Oh he’s the one Tovar wants.’ It seemed like he was Tovar’s candidate and the others were just running,” Mihret said.

Given that ASB members felt rules were adjusted for Fitzgerald to run, some believed that faculty leadership could’ve done much more to allow Mihret to run for the presidential position.

“It’s just weird seeing it now, because her whole goal was to - or what she said was her goal - was to open up the polls or the position to anybody and get a more competitive race. But then this year there was only one presidential candidate, which diminishes her doing,” Komlos said. 

Reports of bias for and against certain people have also been made by numerous ASB members, including Executive Vice President, Ry Bardacke (’25), who expressed what he has noticed of Tovar’s tendency for preferential treatment towards students in the class.

Art by Kayman Mangan

“There are some people in the class who don’t hold a lot of respect for our advisor. She definitely reciprocates that and it’s just kind of a cycle where they don’t listen to each other and they don’t take [each other] seriously,” Bardacke said. 

ASB is supposed to be a student-run class, however when the class turns into something more controlled by the teacher, turmoil will ensue. Students won’t be able to learn from their own experience - which is more impactful and memorable - and only learn from being told what to do. Bardacke expressed his dislike for the culture change in the class.

“There’s definitely been a huge culture change in the class; it felt more student-led in previous years, when it was designed to be a student leadership class - students were learning their own skills. And now the teacher has a little more authority in the class, and exercises it, and it feels like she’s the one who’s pushing us to get our work done all the time,” Bardacke said.

While there has been a shift in tone in the classroom, Principal Marae Cruce explained that there was student input behind that.

“The only reasons that we’ve gotten involved is when we’ve had students asking us to get involved. So students have asked for more of a presence in the classroom, so we have responded,” Cruce said.

While some students may have asked for this, there is still a way to go about it to facilitate student-let processes in the classroom. Mihret explained how she feels like this has overridden student authority in ASB.

“We all feel like figureheads. Even our presidents don’t really have presidential authority. We oversee finances but then don’t have a say in financial issues. We find things out super last minute. We are just as in the dark about things as the rest of Samo,” Mihret said. 

Transparency in any governing body is crucial. In a governing body that is supposed to navigate the authority of school leadership, but also represent the student body, it’s understandable how transparency can be hard to come by. However, if the students representing us are unaware of what's going on in their own association, the “student body” part of ASB is lost.