Sac State administration allegedly coerced ASI to change election code, lawsuit says

Sacramento State's administration allegedly attempted to coerce Associated Students, Inc. into making sweeping changes to its student government election code, according to documents filed in a lawsuit settled for over $10,000 on Monday, Feb. 23. A memorandum obtained through court records was sent by President Luke Wood and Vice President for Student Affairs Aniesha Mitchell to ASI Executive Director Hoan Nguyen and ASI President Aranjot Kaur. The memorandum directed the new board to implement "rules, changes and plans" to its operating and election code. These two changes have since been officially implemented. The memo said that if the board did not implement the changes, Wood would not sign ASI's operating agreement, which would halt the organization's work on campus completely. The agreement is not due for renewal until 2028. During a Faculty Senate meeting Thursday, Feb. 5, it was alleged during public comment that college deans, specifically social sciences and interdisciplinary studies, had similarly attempted to influence legislation. The attempt was allegedly shut down by senators. David Lang, the dean of SSIS declined to comment on the matter. SSIS faculty senators could not respond by press time, though two said that they had never heard of the email. ASI bylaws and governing documents do not directly prohibit university demands to student government, and such actions are not illegal. However, critics argue the action represents an overstep by administration to coerce the student body under threat of nonrenewal. The civil lawsuit was filed by Josiah Ben-Oni, former president of Project Sunrise and a 2025 Sac State alumnus. Ben-Oni was unable to share specific settlement details at press time. However, he said that in exchange for dropping his three lawsuits and his Public Records Act Requests, he was offered over $10,000. The suit alleges that ASI violated the Gloria-Romero Open Meetings Act by not offering a second reading or long enough notice to the public. The suit also alleges that ASI bypassed standard procedure by passing the legislation during a special meeting. It was also alleged that the memo violated ASI's autonomy as an independent entity, regardless of ASI operating as a CSU auxiliary. According to ASI's operating rules, all legislation must be subject to a first reading during a working board meeting before being brought to vote at a formal meeting with exception to time sensitive and emergency legislation. Otherwise, the legislation would be considered null and void. Tamara Dunning, the certified parliamentarian for ASI over the past eight years, also testified that ASI did not violate the Open Meetings Act. She said that ASI followed proper procedure to meet the deadline set by the university and that the special meeting was justified under the Fall semester deadline. She said in the statement that she is not an employee of the university or ASI, but rather is an outside independent contractor. "A memorandum issued by university administration required that ASI respond prior to the start of the semester. The semester started Aug. 25, 2025. The next regularly scheduled ASI board meeting was Sept. 10, 2025," Dunning wrote in a court statement. "The ASI Board wished to meet the deadline set forth in the memo by university administration. Thus, in order to meet the timeliness of the response requested by university administration, ASI had no choice but to call a special meeting." Nguyen said in court filings that the legislation was passed under time constraint because modifications to the election code require significant time to be implemented. Since ASI elections take place every spring, Nguyen's statement said that the legislation cannot be overturned this late, and to do so would nearly halt the ASI election process. Nguyen also said that Ben-Oni has a history of an excessive amount of complaints about ASI, stating that he distributed a 36-page manifesto to board members in 2024, has made public false statements and personal attacks regarding ASI board members. Ben-Oni says that, though he did submit a long report to ASI that the use of the word "manifesto" was just strong rhetoric to paint a picture of legal proceedings. He said that the report was discussing alleged nepotism concerns of the last administration, and provided no inappropriate or unsubstantiated information. Ben-Oni denies any claims of harassment on the part of himself or Project Sunrise. In a special board meeting before the Fall 2025 semester began, Kaur and ASI Vice President Richard Angulo proposed and passed the requested changes: abolition of the "Three Strikes Policy," a disciplinary measure for board members, and the requirement of election slates for candidates to platform together. "To improve the climate and promote a healthy and safe environment of respect and collaboration, I am requiring ASI to make the following changes to their operating and election rules," Wood wrote in the memo. "I expect these new rules, changes and plans to be in place by the beginning of the Fall 2025 semester for the operating agreement between ASI and Sacramento State to be renewed." The suit also alleges that the Office of the President and its designees have exercised "pervasive control" over the vote and that the board was under "administrative duress" at the time. In another special board meeting in January, the board affirmed that they were under no "undue influence" when passing the legislation allowing slates but reasoned that they had to vote on it before the fall semester began due to the deadline given in the memo. ASI and Sac State denied or did not respond to all claims made by Ben-Oni. "I have observed numerous instances in which members of the ASI Board of Directors did not live up to the Code of Conduct," Wood wrote in the memorandum. "The climate in ASI has not consistently promoted a healthy and safe environment and has, for too many students, not felt like one that values respect, fairness, integrity and collaboration." The memorandum cites the Sac State ASI Board of Directors Code of Conduct, stating that the changes were intended to improve the environment at ASI. The memorandum was sent May 30, 2025, a month after election results were announced and two weeks after they were finalized, following election complaints made against the president and executive vice president ticket. Kaur and Angulo were accused of university endorsement related to Kaur's role as a founder and leader of Combat U. Kaur and Angulo's ticket was also mentioned in a complaint regarding illegal coalition forming, or slates, which accused ASI Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies Director Johnathan Poston among five other candidates. Colin Haskin, a senior political science major and previous candidate for SSIS director, launched the complaint and said that the candidates were all knowingly organized under one umbrella through the Coalition for Progress. The complaint against Kaur for university endorsement and Poston for coalition forming were found to be unsubstantiated by the ASI Elections Complaint Committee."It felt pretty obvious that they [were] running under a singular platform," Haskin said. "The media was consistent. The commentary was consistent. You could see them consistently fraternizing among each other during election season." The accused slate was allegedly organized by Project Sunrise, led by Ben-Oni at the time. It is a political activism club on campus that is part of the Coalition for Progress, which encompasses several campus organizations such as NextGen Democrats (formerly Sacramento State Democrats), Lavender Alliance and Allied Students for Justice. Haskin said that Ben-Oni was a listed donor and went between tables to provide shared resources during campaign season in Spring 2025. "I fear the only reason they didn't accept my complaint is because it would have gotten four elected members of ASI out, including the president and EVP," Haskin said. Daniel Smith, a second year political science major, was part of the campaign team for Project Sunrise. He said the campaigning he did for the candidates did not have any immediate signs of anything illegal happening but cited red flags from club leadership as time went on. "It was, in many senses, a regular endorsement," Smith said. "But the fact that it was a broad group of candidates running for positions, all endorsed by the same coalition and roughly the same people." Group chat messages obtained by The State Hornet show Project Sunrise leadership congratulating their club's campaign team, the election of candidates that they endorsed and the candidates themselves. There is no explicit evidence provided that verifies that the candidates pooled resources. Ben-Oni admits to being a donor and contributor to multiple candidates, but affirms that Project Sunrise was within their right to support multiple candidates and did not violate any election codes. He denies any intentional or unintentional slate forming. Members who were not a part of the alleged coalition said they were harassed and defamed during the election season, according to the ASI election complaint. Furthermore, in screenshots anonymously given to The State Hornet, candidates who were involved in this coalition were asked to sign a nonbinding agreement ensuring that their interests still align during their term. This information was corroborated by Ben-Oni and Smith. Currently, the lawsuit has finished settlement negotiations and has yet to publish full details. Sac State and ASI declined to comment, citing pending litigation.