SGA vice president-elect accused, charges cleared for falsifying documents during campaign

Photo by Emily Paris, Photo Editor

The newly elected vice president of Student Government Association (SGA) has been accused of running under false pretenses, according to members of SGA and formal complaints sent to The Panther by an anonymous source.

Zoe Zadah, a junior double majoring in political science and economics, ran against sophomore environmental science and policy major Gil Lopez Garcia for the Vice President position. Zadah won with nearly 62% of the votes. 

Multiple complaints were filed against Zadah, stating that she initially launched her campaign for a senator position. According to the complaints, Zadah gathered the required amount of signatures needed to run with multiple witnesses stating that they signed off on her campaign for senator. 

She then allegedly changed her campaign plan to vice president without alerting any of the signees, which a source said violates the student conduct code for dishonesty. 

According to several anonymous sources, Zadah allegedly used Wite-Out to cover up the section of her form that said she was running for senator, afterwards writing in “vice president.” 

Other sources within the professional pre-law fraternity, Kappa Alpha Pi, shared that Zadah had announced in their Feb. 11 chapter meeting that she was running for senator.

“Zoe is running for SGA Senator!” the meeting minutes state. “Sign her form if you haven’t.”

These complaints were brought to Director of Justice Sarah Mohareb, an anonymous source within SGA told The Panther, but no action was taken. 

The Panther reached out to Mohareb, who declined to comment.

The election process itself contained roadblocks, with the percentage of students having voted for VP falling below the required 10% of the school population. 

However, due to misreading of the election software, Zadah was not told about this issue until after she had already been alerted that she won.

In the case that a vice president-elect receives between nine and 10 percent of student votes, the decision falls to the election committee and a few other members of SGA to validate the results or not. In this case, the election was validated, and Zadah was chosen. 

Zadah had filed her own complaints against Cintya Felix, who is now the President-elect, during the campaign period. She told The Panther that she believed Felix had broken student conduct codes, including election code violation and bullying.

Zadah also sent these complaints to the Director of Justice, but she said that no action was taken. 

Felix, a junior majoring in political science and Spanish, was elected as president with over 10% of students voting. In an interview with The Panther, she questioned the validity of the election results and accused Zadah of violating campaign guidelines

According to Zadah, she was told that she needed to attend a hearing to answer questions about the allegations. There were no resulting consequences from the hearing, and the charges have since been dismissed.

“I am being targeted by Cintya Felix, the SGA President, and her boyfriend, Evan Figueroa, who continue to spread false claims about me even after these claims have already been proven untrue,” Zadah told The Panther. 

She also stated that she feels “bullied and harassed” by fellow SGA members. 

As the Vice President-elect, Zadah will be getting compensated $12,000 and is in charge of overseeing the Senate, as well as serving as the point of contact between the Executive Council and the Senate. She also assists the President in their duties and works closely with the Chapman community.

Following the controversy within SGA, rules have been put in place to remove the signature requirement for entering a campaign. The changes are reflected in Article III of the updated election protocol.

Felix told The Panther that these changes were implemented to “remove a barrier to filing for candidates, making Senate seats more accessible to students, and prevent any miscommunication between candidates and constituents.” 

Last month, another election was held to fill 15 positions on the Senate. Of these vacancies, 12 spots were filled. These new senators are now voting members of SGA.

Updated on Thursday, June 5, 2025:

After this story was published, SGA posted a statement on Instagram. Dean of Students Jerry Price issued the following statement in response:

“On Wednesday, May 15, the Student Government Association released a statement on Instagram regarding a story that was published by The Panther on May 12 about alleged SGA election violations. The SGA statement indicates their intent was “to provide clarification on a few statements” in the article; while I am glad that SGA released a statement, I do not believe it was completely successful in providing the necessary clarification. Therefore, I want to share the following information:

From The Panther article’s headline, “SGA vice president-elect accused of falsifying documents during campaign,” a reader could infer that there is an active, ongoing investigation. That is not the case.

More than two months ago a complaint was filed alleging SGA election violations; such election complaints are not uncommon.

In accordance with SGA rules, the complaint was referred for review by the Director of Justice, who determined that no election violation occurred. I do not understand why the SGA Instagram statement indicates that “the possible violations were outside of SGA’s jurisdiction” since SGA receives and adjudicates election complaints almost every year.

The complaint information was also shared with the Dean of Students Office to determine whether the alleged conduct constituted a violation of the Student Conduct Code; that review had the same outcome: there was no evidence a violation occurred.

Just to be absolutely clear: the Dean of Students Office is not considering any disciplinary charges based on the information provided by SGA.

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions please let me know. Thanks – jmp”

Previous
Previous

A threat to academic freedom and free speech: Chapman takes a stand

Next
Next

Students move out of Davis Apartments after sewer line failure