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Biola’s Student Government Association (SGA) released its election results in an Instagram post last Saturday, Feb. 15. According to the results, the undergraduate student population elected two senators of 10 total senator spots, and did not meet the 10% threshold of votes to elect the candidates for president and vice president, Faith Ising and Josiah McCracken.
In this episode’s interview with Hope Li, The Chimes’ opinion editor Isahi Minero identifies problems and offers solutions regarding SGA’s current elections process and the lack of student participation in running for office and voting. Their conversation regarding SGA’s next steps in hiring a new president and vice president was recorded before SGA posted its 2024-25 Statement & Voting Statistics on Instagram, which provided expectations for the hiring process, explanations of SGA’s constitution and a request that students pray for the current president and vice president as they begin the process.
For more details about this week's headlines: LAUSD cellphone ban, FireAid charity concert, humpback whale briefly swallows man, Delta jet flipped over in Toronto, South Korean AI data center. Our international headlines are written by Izah DeFigh.
Creators and Guests
What is The Chimes Weekly?
Bite-sized podcast episodes with your top news stories from The Chimes, Los Angeles County, the nation and the world, with an interview with a Chimes writer to close out your week.
By Biola University students, for Biola University students. Previously known as Chimes Rundown and KBR Daily News Updates by KBR The Torch.
Thomas Rahkola: From the Torch Podcasting network, this is the Chimes Weekly. I'm Thomas Rahkola reporting from Biola University. It's Friday, February 21st.
Isahi Minero: I've asked a little bit to different people who were involved in this process and everybody really doesn't know what's going to happen next and I think people in SGA are trying to figure out that as well.
Thomas Rahkola: SGA presidential candidate Faith Ising and her running mate Josiah McCracken fell short of receiving the necessary amount of votes required by the SGA Constitution for uncontested candidates. Coming up, my colleague Hope Li will interview Chimes opinion editor Issahi Minero and ask him about the next steps for SGA. But before that, let's take a look at this week's headlines.
Thomas Rahkola: This Wednesday, Cafe Biola hosted executive chefs from Concordia University and Vanguard University to compete against Biola's own Sidoe Dukemajian in a head to head cooking competition called Caf Wars. The menus included ahi poke nachos, carne asada bows and red curry turkey and egg meatballs.
Thomas Rahkola: Last June, board members from the Los Angeles Unified School District passed a resolution banning cell phones in schools in a 5- 2 vote. The ban, which took effect this Tuesday, prevents students from using their phones, smartwatches and earbuds during the school day. The resolution does allow for some exceptions, however, including students who need their phones for translation purposes or learning disabilities.
Thomas Rahkola: Last month, musicians and bands performed at FireAid to raise money for LA fire relief efforts. The charity concert raised over $100 million through text donations, ticket sales and sponsorship deals. This Tuesday, the FireAid organization announced the first $50 million worth of grants to the organizations providing temporary housing rental assistance, food access and other disaster response efforts.
Thomas Rahkola: Relations between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump have fallen apart this week, after Zelensky criticized Trump for excluding Ukraine from talks with Russian officials, the president fired back on social media, calling Zelensky a, “dictator without elections.” The future of peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia remains uncertain, though Trump has been clear it is a priority of his.
Thomas Rahkola: Last Friday, an 88 year old Pope Francis was admitted to the hospital with bronchitis. He was since diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs on Tuesday, but is reported to be in stable condition. The Vatican will continue to release updates as his status changes.
Thomas Rahkola: A man was briefly swallowed by a humpback whale while rafting with his father in Patagonia, Chile. The video posted to the New York Times, was taken by his father and captures the moment the whale came to the surface and engulfed Adrián Simancas, only for him to resurface moments later, largely uninjured.
Thomas Rahkola: Investigations are underway for the crash landing of a Delta jet that flipped over upon landing at Pearson Airport in Toronto on Monday. The right wing of the jet was torn off in flight, causing the jet to roll over on the snowy runway before bursting into flames. As Of Tuesday, all 80 passengers are reported to have survived, with 18 of them taken to the hospital. This was the fourth major aviation incident to happen in North America in the last three weeks, according to the Associated Press.
Thomas Rahkola: South Korea is building the world’s largest AI data center with a capacity of 3 gigawatts. The project is valued at $10 billion and is projected to be completed by 2028. The data center is expected to place South Korea as the world’s leader in global technology for next gen AI.
Thomas Rahkola: That’s all for this week’s headlines. Next up, uh, our executive producer Hope Li talks with Chimes opinion editor Isahi Minero about the recent SGA elections. Last year, Issahi served as the commuter senator for SGA and ran for president last spring. He’ll break down what we should expect from SGA in the near future as they begin the hiring process for our next president. He’ll also explain certain SGA constitution bylaws and propose areas of reform.
Hope: Before we start this week's interview, please note that we recorded this conversation before Biola’s SGA released a statement and voting statistics from the election. In an Instagram post published last night, SGA outlined expectations for the hiring process, explained parts of SGA s constitution, and requested that students pray for the current president and vice president as they began the hiring process. We've linked the Instagram post in the show notes below. Now onto the interview.
Hope: I'm joined today to talk about Biola's Student Government Association, otherwise known as SGA with Isahi Minero. Hey, Isahi!
Isahi Minero: Hey, Hope. How's it going?
Hope: Good.
Isahi Minero: Thank you for having me.
Hope: Yeah. Could you introduce yourself, tell us your major, what you do at Biola, your role in the Chimes.
Isahi Minero: Yeah. Yeah. So for those who don't know, my name is Isahi Minero. I'm a senior political science student here at Biola University. I'm also a Spanish minor and I'm part of the Torrey Honors College. Um, yeah, I'm the opinions editor at The Chimes Newspaper Um, so I just pretty much see over oversee our section with the opinions. So I have my writers. They write articles every week. Uh, they run them through me. We make edits, we look at the different angles of the story, make sure they're all factual, and then when they're ready to be published, we publish them. So I spearhead that section in The Chimes.
Hope: Yeah. Awesome. And you guys have been doing some great work with the opinions section as well.
Isahi Minero: Thank you very much.
Hope: I'm really impressed this semester and this year. Um, so you have an upcoming article coming out about SGA, our student government. Um, and first things first, tell us a little bit more about what SGA is. I've been talking to some students, especially with our SGA elections. Um, just came and went by. Um, a lot of them are a little confused. They know it's our government, but they're not really sure what that means, their relationship to the government and what they do for us.
Isahi Minero: Yeah, yeah. well, that's a great question. Um, so I think the best way that I can kind of explain what SGA is, it's the clearest bridge between the administration and the students. Um, and it's composed of students who are elected or should be elected by their fellow peers to represent them in two different forms. So represent, um, through the senate as senators. Then obviously you have a cabinet which is composed of the president and the vice president, who are elected by the students at a general election. And each one has, uh, different purpose and different, um, function and powers. Um, but at least as a general entity, um, they just advocate for students and they help manage the student fee. So that means that every student at Biola pays a certain amount of money every single year. Um, it's called the student fee. Um, and then SGA and a couple other organizations, organizations on campus, including SMU and The Chimes, are recipients of this fee. So they're entrusted with this real power in the form of money and funding that SGA helps to spread out across the different departments and manage that as well. Yeah, so that's like the overview of what SGA is. Just a couple sentences.
Hope: Yeah, gotcha, gotcha. I was reading a little bit of your article and um, you are basically talking about student participation in student government, Could you explain a little bit about the premise of your article and then go a little bit from there?
Isahi Minero: Yeah, exactly. So I think it's pretty fitting for the time. So we just had our election, um, and out of the different candidates who ran for some sort of office, only one of them I believe was elected or received their position. And it was the Hope senator. Um, so I've had a couple like months to think about theser of issues as a senator, an SJ last year and then even now as a member of The Chimes and just the news and the press. and I've realized that this issue of participation in the different forms that it comes out, it's the biggest problem affecting SGA today. Um, and it takes place in two different forms. So the first problem of participation pertains to students and voting. So when the election comes around every year, um, the number of students who vote is actually pretty inconsistent. So last year when I was a candidate we had pretty good numbers. It was pretty solid numbers compared to other years. Um, but then this year it like no one came out. And then even the year before that very few people came out as well. Um, so there's just this huge inconsistency in the numbers of people who come out and participate through their vote. Um, and then the other way that students participate in this whole thing um, is as candidates themselves. So obviously in order to have a government you need to have people who are willing to be a senator and be an SJA president. And it's also a big inconsistency in numbers where we don't have enough students running for office or even having the courage to fill out a registration form as a candidate. Um, and the whole idea of a democratic government, um, it's based on the idea and the hope that people come out and participate in these two ways. So you can't have a government if there's no one to a lag then if people aren't going out to vote. Um. So yeah, the way I see it is at the very core of all the different problems that we're looking at at SGA, the very core of it is a participation problem and its' students not voting and its students are just the general student body not participating as candidates either.
Hope: According to the SGA's Instagram page, um, looks like there were two senators who got elected, um, for Sigma and for Hope, two of the dorms on campus. And they published a little blurb,
Isahi Minero: Mhm.
Hope: talking about how the presidential candidate didn't meet the required vote percentage outlined in its constitution for uncontested candidates and won't assume the role of student body president, end quote.
Hope: Tell us a little bit more about the SGA constitution that the post talks about. especially about how it says, um, there's a required vote percentage for uncontested candidates. What does that exactly mean, especially with the lack of participation you're saying that you've noticed, um, over the years in students voting and also in students participating as candidates?
Isahi Minero: Yeah, yeah, great question. Um, I think even if we look across the past three election cycles. So it's this one where we had faith ising running for SGA president, then the last election where you had three candidates running and then the election before that was just one candidate running. So in the past three election cycles we've had two years where it's only been one person. Um, so what that looks like, um, talking about the constitution is the constitution provides a series of like, rules and principles that must be followed in order to protect the integrity of this institution, this government thing that's called SGA. When there's multiple people running at the same time, the hope is that the people will vote for the person who simply presents the best ideas forward and convinces a significant portion of the student body that their plan and that they themselves are the best person for this position. Um, so that's what we call candidate equality. When there's more people running, better candidates will win. Or that's at least the hope. Um, but when you have only one person running for an office, um, it doesn't necessarily mean that that person is going to win, which is why we have these thresholds. So during any election cycle when there's a, position that's running uncontested, that candidate still has to convince a certain amount of people that they are the right person for this job in order to get that job. Um, so it varies for different positions. Some of them I think are like 10% of the student body. Other ones require 20% of your constituents or the student body to get that position. So that would mean that in this case, um, the candidate who ran did not get, did not meet that threshold of students who voted for their ticket to win. I think that's also equally powerful to some degree. So you can also have students express their vote through like a landslide victory. That's one way of showing you, of showing just how involved they are and how much they believe in one person. Which possibly could have happened last year with Jacqueline and Andrew winning. Um, and this year we had a lot of students who chose to abstain. And a lot of the people that I've been talk, Talking to, um, have mentioned how um, they really weren't informed about SGA or they looked at the different candidates and they just didn't think that their Senate candidate or their SGA president candidate, it um, was the right person for them. So they chose to just abstain from voting altogether. That's also I think another very valid way which people can make their opinions heard. Um, so I think yeah, just the fact that the candidates didn't meet that threshold, um, indicates that there's a couple of problems going on not just with a candidate, but just with the whole system like entirely, you know.
Hope: So what now? Since there's no SGA president elect for next year and um, our only running candidate didn't meet that 10% threshold of the votes that the constitution outlines. What are the next steps for student government and is there anything that the student body does to get anyone elected?
Isahi Minero: Yeah, which I think that's a great question. I've asked a little bit to different people who are involved in this process and everybody really doesn't know what's going to happen next. Like exactly know what's going to happen next. So it would be up to the current administration, especially HR, to try to determine what the best path forward is. So there's a couple provisions in the constitution that outline what should happen. Um, and I'm not quite familiar with those provisions at the moment. There's been a couple of changes with the SGA Constitution, so I'm not up to date with those. But yeah, I think it's a fair question to ask. What's going to happen? Well, I wouldn't know. Um, and I think people in SGA are trying to figure out that as well. I've sat out at our office a bit and I've seen them come and go from their office and everybody's meeting and stuff. So I think they're trying to figure that out as well. But I would assume it would be some sort of hiring process where different candidates will be able to apply for the SGA President and Vice President position. Um, and it'll probably look like maybe even the uh, current SGA President and Vice President along with HR and the SGA adviser or whoever is the interim SGA adviser making that final decision for the student body, yeah.
Hope: We'll have to wait and see.
Isahi Minero: Yeah, we will.
Hope: According to the SGA constitution and the bylaws which you can find on Biola's SGA website, we'll link in the show notes. Um, it states that quote, any Senate position not filled by the election process shall be hired by the president elect and senior vice president elect subject to the approval of the SGA adviser Um, so that's more like if someone did win and they would fill in those Senate positions.
Isahi Minero: So I'll use like last year's example to try to show how this provision and the constitution would be fleshed out. So this provision just says that um, any Senate position not filled in by the election process, it's ultimately hired by the new president elect and vice president elect. For example, last year there was a number of uh, Senate positions that were not filled in, but the president and vice president elect who was, or who are Jacqueline McCauslin and Andrew Ambrose, um, were given the power by the constitution to then hire those vacant Senate positions that weren't filled in through the election process. So then they have the power to hire the new round of senators who will be coming in.
Hope: Got it.
Isahi Minero: I didn't realize that until now. Oh wow. That actually can't take place because there's no president elect. So they can't even hire senators. Wow.
Hope: So the hiring process would be a little bit, I guess delayed in time because they don't have a president elect and a vice president elect.
Isahi Minero: Yeah. Now that I'm thinking about it. It would be like an extended hiring process because first you gotta wait a couple weeks or so just to hire an SGA president and then just to get the ball rolling for the hiring of senators. In previous years we've had a number of senators, um, who are hired well into the school year. I um, think the last one that happened was maybe two, three years ago. So it's not an idea that's completely foreign that some vacancies are still vacant by the time the first day of school rings around.
Hope: Thanks for explaining.
Isahi Minero: Yeah, of course.
Hope: All right. So we had a couple Instagram comments on The Chimes' post that announced the SGA election results. And two current students at Biola were in conversation just about how we didn't elect a student body president. And now the hiring process is starting to find a new one. One of the first comments is just that the system doesn't make any sense and if you run uncontested, why don't you win? Um, and another student who worked for SGA formerly was actually noticing a lot of the same problems that you noticed as well that Biola's population isn't really participating much on the voting side and also in um, running for candidacy. And so it's kind of like that double problem. And the student suggested that a solution could be for the administrations to demonstrate how they're making student lives better. Kind of like what is SGA doing with the student funds, how does this matter to me as a student here? And there's some more comments on here too that you can respond to, but I just wanted to get your comment as well on the students' thoughts and any other new ideas about the situation.
Isahi Minero: Yeah, yeah, that's a great question. So I've always believed during my time at Biola, especially my time as an SGA senator is that um, you need a very vibrant and very energetic SGA that will kind of jumpstart Biola. Like Biola student body's participation. Kind of like how you jumpstart a car when your battery dies, you give it a really good jump, boom and then your car will start up. Um, so I think we need an administration and we need just a new SGA that will be very energetic and very vibrant, um, well known on campus who will be able to spread this energy across. But the only way you get to re energize the student body, um, is through personal relationships and personal experiences with people. So I think that's an invitation for current senators and including the SGA admin. You know, everybody's looking inward, building up the constitution, doing a bunch of stuff internally, which is great, but I think in some regard they have disregarded the need to go out into their communities. Um, constituents need to see their senators more. Not that they don't see them now, but I think they need to see them more in a more innovative and more creative way. Um, because it's only based off of those personal relationships and encounters with people that will help, um, inspire a new generation of SGA leaders. And I can speak personally on that. Um, the only reason why I was ever connected with SGA is because I knew the commuter senator. Um, and he was always checking in on me. He, um, was asking me questions and then when the time came, he knew I was a political science major and he encouraged me to apply. Um, so it was only through that personal connection with him that I actually knew what SGA was. Um, so if we have more of these personal relationships and personal connections happening across campus, then I think we'll start to see the student body become energized and much more involved with everything and anything that happens with SGA. Um, because it's not just like this thing that's happening out there in the universe somewhere, but it's much more personal and close to you. I think there's also room for growth. And I think it's an honest invitation to SGA to be much more transparent with all the good stuff that they're doing. Like I've sat through their Senate sessions and they're doing a lot of great stuff. But the problem is sometimes it's really hard for them to get the word out there. So a lot of students, like if you ask some random student at the library, "Hey, do you know anything about SGA and what SGA has done for you this semester?" The chances are, they don't know. Um, but yeah, there needs to be new ways, um, to get that message out to students, but it has to be done through a personal way with an interaction with a face and with a person and not just through an Instagram account, if that makes sense. Um, so I think its like a wake up call, but I think it's also an invitation, to be more innovative with the job and maybe be more resourceful with the stuff that you have, um, because the students really depend on it — the livelihood and integrity of SGA ultimately depends on it as well.
Hope: Yeah, that's great to hear that you're thinking about that. What can we look out for some more articles in the future regarding SGA in the opinion section?
Isahi Minero: Yeah, yeah. So I have a couple more opinions articles lined up um, that we'll talk about SGA and I think the next ones will just be proposing a couple new solutions to some of these problems that they have. Personally I don't think that their current hiring process is good for the university and good for the student body. The way the constitution is written right now, um, like we said the president elect and the vice president elect get to hire senators. There's lot of things can happen when that sort of thing plays out. Um, there's a possibility where candidates can hold a monopoly on all of the senate if they can pick senators. Um, or even like some people have also stated a concern for favoritism in the hiring process. So for all those different concerns which I think are pretty valid, um, I'm going to be proposing a new solution which is reform the hiring process and have senators hire other senators and have the cabinet hire the cabinet. So kind of like in real life like when a president gets elected, the president only gets to hire his cabinet and his different cabinet members and that's why we have the confirmation hearings from the Senate and you know those are headlines in the news nowadays. But the president in no way ship reform gets to hire the senators because it's a clear distinction of separation of powers. And that's how you keep a healthy or you should keep a healthy government running. It's with a clear separation of powers. And I think right now the line is really blurred with that here at Biola, but I think it's also an invitation to reconsider how things are done and maybe try to explore new ways um, of hiring senators in a way that's much more democratic and just good. Good for the student body. Yeah. So that's one to watch out for for these next couple weeks. Yeah.
Hope: Awesome. Anything else you wanted to add?
Isahi Minero: No, no, I'm just really thankful to be here. Thank you, Hope for inviting me. This is really cool.
Hope: Yeah. Thanks for coming on.
Isahi Minero: Yeah, thank you.
Hope: This is Hope Li for The Chimes Weekly and thanks again for your time, Isahi.
Isahi Minero: Thank you.
Thomas Rahkola: Thanks for listening. As always, if you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review and share it with a friend or roommate. For more stories from The Chimes, head over to our website at chimesnewspaper.com. This episode was produced and hosted by myself and Hope Li. It was engineered by Jason Li with music from Warner Chappell Productions. Hope Li is our executive producer. I'm Thomas Rahkola, we'll see y’all next week.