On May 15th, the winner of the Student Trustee election, Wataru Kondo, was officially disqualified by the Campus Council. He had earlier been disqualified by the election committee on May 12th, and it was now finalized. It was a uniquely complicated set of circumstances that led to one of the most popular Foothill candidates of the year being disqualified by the ASFC elections committee.
When Nicole Nguyen, Foothill College’s Student Trustee, posted in 2024 “I beat the 1% acceptance rate” on LinkedIn to announce her transferring to Stanford, it soon went viral. It didn’t take long for Foothill students to realize that several recent student trustees had been accepted into Stanford. The student trustee is perhaps the most influential position in the Foothill student government, the ASFC, and often the trustee is a catalyst for real change. Unsurprisingly, the 2025 student trustee race was quite competitive.
To make the race even more contentious, this was the first ASFC election since Foothill’s sister college, De Anza, faced allegations of fraud and voter intimidation. In response, the current ASFC imposed strict campaign rules, banning coalitions, any campaigning by anyone outside the candidate, and threatening disqualification for any violations.
There were four candidates in the 2025 student trustee race: Diego Godoy, Ivy Hoang, Wataru Kondo, and Maria Blaze. Though it initially looked like a four-way race, Godoy and Hoang didn’t campaign much, allowing Blaze and Kondo to pull ahead. Kondo campaigned prolifically, garnering strong support among international students.
The final result was a blowout in favor of Kondo, who garnered 246 votes. Blaze came in second with 161. Hoang and Godoy trailed with 90 and 68 votes. Had the latter two, who were ideologically closer to Blaze, not run, it is likely that she would have defeated Kondo. The ASFC doesn’t use ranked-choice voting.
The ASFC immediately launched an investigation into Wataru Kondo for allegedly having friends promote his campaign on Instagram. Paulo Versoza, ASFC president and election committee member, confirmed with Kondo’s friend, Tejasvi Dawra, that he had promoted the campaign twice on Instagram. Additionally, Blaze accused Kondo and the VP of Activities candidate, Ridhi Thapar, of pressuring her to campaign with them.
Kondo was also accused of entering the dorm area of Stanford to speak with former Foothill students who had transferred there during the campaign. An investigation by Dean of Student Affairs Catalina Rodriguez found that it was a coincidental meeting rather than something preplanned.
There were three hearings before ending in disqualification. In the first on May 6th, no result was decided. The primary claim addressed was Dawra promoting Wataru’s campaign twice on Instagram. As Dawra had already admitted to the claim, the question was whether or not this action (a campaign rule infraction) was grounds for dismissal. Versoza, who was also on the election committee, suggested as such, stating, “In an election, you either win fairly, or you don’t.” Kondo pushed back, asking whether posting a flyer of Blaze would have led to her disqualification. The committee maintained that candidates were responsible for campaign materials, as stated in mandatory campaign meetings.
The claims that Kondo pressured Blaze to campaign with him in professor Jennifer Sinclair’s math class also led to a confrontation. Kondo said he had campaigned in front of many classes and had coincidentally seen Blaze outside Professor Sinclair’s room. He invited her to speak after him. Blaze, who had independently been invited to campaign in Professor Sinclair’s class, argued that doing so alongside Kondo would violate campaign rules. While the claim didn’t lead to action, it sparked a contentious back-and-forth between the ASFC and Kondo’s supporters, where it was ultimately determined to not be a significant violation.
The hearing also proved the beginning of the end for Ridhi Thapar’s ASFC dreams. The Vice President of Activities candidate had won a thin victory over Steven Gandhi, an ASFC member. Her elder brother had promoted her campaign on Instagram, and she had apparently instructed Foothill students on how to vote for her, which is listed as a form of campaign manipulation due to its misuse during the DASG election.
On May 12th, from noon to 2pm, Kondo and Thapar’s fate was voted on by the ASFC election committee. Both candidates were disqualified for mishandling promotional materials and for showing students how to vote. He expressed surprise at the results, noting once again that he knew nothing about Dawra’ promotions.
Finally, May 16th saw the Campus Council rule in favor of the election committee’s results. Thapar was shocked, and Kondo was completely absent. He had privately expressed that he was not going to contest claims and move on. Even Blaze was visibly tense and frustrated. Unless something completely unexpected occurs, Maria Blaze will serve as Foothill College’s next Student Trustee and Steven Gandhi as Vice President of Activities.
The head of the election committee, and current Vice President of Activities, Shahana Shaik, defended her and the election committee’s decision. In response to the concern over disenfranchising over 100 Foothill voters, she explained that “While Wataru did receive the majority votes, it was our job as the Elections Committee to uphold the Elections Code and make sure each candidate followed the rules to allow a fair election. In the decision that was made, his disqualification was based on the multiple violations of the rules set by the Elections Committee.”
Despite this, no one seemed particularly happy with how things played out. In a statement to the author, Blaze stated “I was saddened to see that fundamental misunderstandings of the election code led to the result of confused and frustrated candidates. I hope to work with Austin, VP of Admin, next year in order to revise and clarify election code.” How she will do so is yet unknown, but it is certain that the start of her term will deal with the consequences of this controversial election.
