Dacity, Nunis drop out of USG presidential election
Three pairs remain in the race as the only ticket featuring a drag persona and billed as staunchly anti-Greek life steps down.
By CHRISTINA CHKARBOUL, NICHOLAS CORRAL & SASHA RYU
Dacity and Abitha Nunis have stepped down from the Undergraduate Student Government presidential and vice presidential race. The pair announced their decision in a statement on their campaign Instagram on Friday afternoon.
In an individual statement, Nunis wrote that she could not endorse the abolition of Greek life given its harmful effects on the National Pan-Hellenic Council and Latine communities. Nunis is a member of Delta Kappa Alpha, a professional cinema society.
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In their statement, Dacity pointed to their work with the LGBTQ+ Student Center and Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation and expressed support for sexual assault survivors. Dacity has criticized Greek life, citing what they called institutional issues related to hazing and sexual assault.
USG elections began Tuesday with three tickets remaining in the presidential and vice presidential race.
In interviews with the Daily Trojan, the pair took different positions on what led to the decision to end their campaign. Dacity said the decision was due to safety concerns stemming from online hate messages they received related to their identity. Nunis meanwhile pointed to disagreements on their approach to Greek life that had appeared after the debate as the cause of their decision.
Dacity also said after the USG presidential and vice presidential debate on Tuesday they no longer felt that USG offered a forum to solve student issues.
“I don’t want to run for something and then have the chance of getting elected to a position where I can’t actually make any change because everybody around me, the bureaucracy, opposes it,” Dacity said.
Dacity alleged USG president Divya Jakatdar laughed at them as they spoke during the USG presidential and vice presidential debate Feb. 13. Nunis and multiple members of USG said they did not see people laughing at them during the debate.
Jakatdar denied the allegations in an interview with the Daily Trojan and said she apologized to Nunis after the debate for any unintentional harm, though Dacity had declined to speak with her.
“I really feel like we’ve been making an effort to be as respectful as possible and we respect all candidates and all their different viewpoints. We’ve been through the process. We know it’s very tense,” Jakatdar said. “But if someone was offended, that really wasn’t our intention and we really respect all the candidates, including Dacity and [Nunis].”
Nunis said she had been surprised by Dacity’s statements regarding Greek life during the debate — which she understood to support the abolition of Greek life. During the debate, Dacity described Greek life as institutionally problematic and unaccountable.
Nunis had understood their platform — which described their stance as “uncompromisingly anti-Greek life” — to mean reform of the Greek life system.
“To me, accountability does not mean abolishing [Greek life]. Abolishing doesn’t do anything but allow them to continue doing what they are doing but without anyone seeing,” said Nunis, who served as sergeant-at-arms for Delta Kappa Alpha — a member of the Professional Fraternity Council — and worked to address issues of safety in the organization. “I felt like reformative measures would have been the best strategy.”
Dacity acknowledged that differences in opinion regarding Greek life had emerged following the debate. They said they did not intend for their statements to refer to cultural and professional fraternities. Dacity said they did not express support for abolition during the campaign, but they stand by the statements they made during the campaign.
After reviewing interviews the pair did with campus media as well as the debate, it was not found that Dacity explicitly expressed support for the abolition of Greek life. During the debate, Dacity described what they called institutional issues in Greek life related to sexual assault and hazing and called for a reevaluation of ties between USG and the Greek system.
“We must do whatever it takes to reevaluate these histories and acknowledge them and also recognize that as it stands, currently, our Greek system does not work in the way that it’s supposed to when it comes to bringing [sexual assault] survivors justice,” Dacity said.
Nunis said the abolition of Greek life at USC would mean cultural and professional fraternities, including the National Pan-Hellenic Council, would be subject to policing by the Los Angeles Police Department rather than the Department of Public Safety.
“[Multicultural fraternities and sororities] are exposed to LAPD the moment that ties are cut from USC,” Nunis said, “and for me as a person of color who’s seen how historically relationships are between LAPD and Black and brown people, that scared me and that didn’t feel like we were trying to keep people safe.”
Nunis said personal safety was not a factor in her decision to leave the race, though she said she had also received hate messages online.
Both candidates stressed that their campaign was focused on student basic needs and expressed intention to continue work outside of USG to support students.
In a statement to the Daily Trojan, USG chief justice Nivea Krishnan wrote the pair would not appear on students’ ballots. She wrote the pair sent a formal statement of withdrawal via email on Saturday.
The USG website lists the withdrawal deadline as Feb. 19, though the USG Elections Code says changes to the ballot will be made so long as withdrawal occurs before the third Friday of February — or Feb. 16. Krishnan told the Daily Trojan the pair will not appear on the ballot because USG was able to make the change in the time before voting began.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Dacity had called for the abolition of Greek life. The Daily Trojan reviewed interviews the pair did with campus media as well as the USG presidential/vice-presidential debate and did not find that Dacity explicitly expressed support for the abolition of Greek life. The article was updated at 11:57 p.m. on Feb. 19 to more accurately reflect Dacity’s comments. The Daily Trojan regrets this error.
Disclaimer: Dacity served as digital managing editor at the Daily Trojan in Spring 2023. They are no longer associated with the paper.
