ASDVC election results publicly criticized on social media
Students vote at the ASDVC elections in the Food Court on Wednesday, April 8.
April 11, 2015
Former Associated Students of Diablo Valley College President Keith Montes suggested a strong voting influence from international students affected the 2015-16 election results. Montes, who was not re-elected this spring, criticized the results on the official ASDVC Facebook page on April 10.
Interim President Kevin Tian said Tuesday he decided to respond to the dispute on the ASDVC Facebook page after critical comments continued to surface over the weekend.
Tian said he recognizes freedom of speech and appreciates student input and involvement. However, he said the ASDVC Facebook page is a public channel that should exist to keep students updated, and it should not become personal. Tian said heated arguments happen, but they should be handled internally.
“The conversation they are seeing in this thread doesn’t really represent the whole entire truth of what ASDVC is doing,” he said.
Newly elected President Hao (Jason) Wang, along with the nine other elected officials, compose an executive board of both domestic and international students. Nonetheless, Montes’ original comment said they are not representative of the 20,000 students of DVC.
“Let’s not fool ourselves or the public into believing that this election was not swayed by the strong, ever growing international student network at DVC,” he posted. “The task of this mostly international executive team should be to resolve this vacuum of power and not exploit it.”
Student Scott Brown, who goes by Cesare Borgia on Facebook, mentioned the former president’s decision to resign from office in the Fall 2014 semester and recommended Montes take this break from student government to focus on his studies.
“The student body has spoken,” Borgia commented. “Listen carefully, they are saying you are no longer desired as leader.”
ASDVC director of public relations Vivian Natalia then wrote a post accusing Montes of being condescending, racist and bitter.
“Multiculturalism is definitely not international vs. domestic students, let me tell you that first,” she said.
Montes was quick to respond with his defense. He said it is not about race, it is about understanding cultural and socioeconomic differences. He said not all DVC students have parents who can afford to pay for their college education and living expenses.
“It doesn’t make me racist to analyze the demographics of the board or to analyze voting patterns,” he commented. “My father was an international student and I will not tolerate being accused of racism when I have shown great support of the diverse student body we represent.”
Natalia posted that she doesn’t understand the discrimination between ASDVC members.
“Because in my eyes all students are equal,” she commented. “Because at the end of the day, no matter our skin color, living environment and preference, we’re all only a proud DVC student.”
Montes is a former Inquirer editor and Natalia has also been on staff. Montes is on staff this semester, but has not participated since beginning his campaign.
The ASDVC normally uses its public Facebook page to announce meetings and events and post agendas.
Contacted by phone, Montes said ASDVC has a longstanding issue of lack of involvement from domestic students. He blames a lack of advertising targeted at domestic students.
Montes said he decided to go public with the issue because “It’s time to confront the elephant in the room.”
Montes said he and Borgia have an ongoing, personal dispute.
Contacted by Facebook Messenger, Natalia confirmed that there are both domestic and international students on the ASDVC executive board. She was not sure of the exact ratio.
Also contacted by Messenger, Wang declined to make any personal comments.
“Right now I just want to focus on how to accomplish our goals, and provide more convenience to the student body,” he messaged.
Scott • Apr 14, 2015 at 6:00 pm
I believe the story had merit, but that it was not a complete story. If you are going to report on any subject where you clearly state there are personal issues, you would serve all who read these articles far better by obtaining both sides of the story, not only one, and reporting both in a way that is not bias.
Considering that Keith is a staff member, and was called and interviewed over the phone, and that the other party involved was never given this same opportunity allows people to make the assumption that this was done with intent.
It was clearly stated that Keith was using specific tactics that caused a personal issue with the other party in question. In the way it was reported, it made it seem that the political followed behind the personal, when it was truly the political that caused the personal issue which makes it not only relevant but far more so.
I would encourage the Inquirer and it’s staff to ensure in future articles or commentary, to be fair and report their stories in a way that is not bias or self serving. The story has value, but only if it is reported in a responsible way following the best reporting practices.
Tyler Elmore • Apr 16, 2015 at 2:42 pm
Thank you for your comment. As we said over messages, our reporter talked to several different people for the story
including, Kevin Tian (interim ASDVC president), Vivian Natalia (Director of Public Relations), and Hao Wang (elected ASDVC President).
Jacqueline Bueno was also contacted but was not used in the final edit of the story. But again thank you for interest and we hope to have you continue with your engagement in the paper.
Peter Wiggin • Apr 11, 2015 at 11:13 pm
This article is emblematic of this amateurish and gossip oriented nature that The Inquirer chooses to adopt. Rather than cover a more pertinent issue regarding this election such as the passage of the Student Representation or the actual platforms of the candidates of the election, it instead chooses to summarize the squabbles of ASDVC members on Facebook. Rather than write an article on the candidate forum, The Inquirer shed light on a personal conflict between two individuals. The devolution of what we consider newsworthy has clearly continued even to the lowest recesses of “journalism”
Feel free to write another controversy article on my comment!
Miggy • Apr 16, 2015 at 1:26 am
Peter, you really are not informed enough about news if you think that public officials making controversial statements about a possible bias taking place in an election is not newsworthy.