Santa Fe College United Party President Candidate Gives Interview on Campaign
Updated March 3: Clarified how to vote.
The United Party is running for the executive branch of Santa Fe (SF) College student government. J.P. Dishinger is running for president, Gabriel Taiveros is running for vice president, and Massimo Gonzalez is running for treasurer.
Dishinger spoke in an interview about the United Party’s goals if elected.
Q: Where are you from, and how did you start going to SF College?
Dishinger: I was born in Cancun, Mexico, and moved to Orlando when I was about two years old. I decided to go to SF because I wanted to get into the University of Florida (UF). I didn’t get into UF after high school, so I decided I was going to take these two years and work the hardest I could to get into UF.
Q: What field are you going into?
Dishinger: Business administration.
Q: Tell me a bit about the student government here at SF and what kind of power you’d get if elected?
Dishinger: The most power you’d get is getting to meet with important people. If I’m the president, I get to meet with people in the administration who are making these decisions. I don’t have the power to push a certain bill, but if I can present an idea well enough that makes sense and get the student body behind it and advocate for them, that’s how I can make change.
Q: Have you had any experience with student government or politics before, or is this your first time trying it?
Dishinger: I’m the vice president of a venture-capital club [and] I’m a lead sales representative at EcoShield. I’ve never been in student government, but I have a lot of leadership skills.
Q: What are the main things you want to do for the college if you win?
Dishinger: My number one priority by far is getting the people’s money into their pockets. It's not a question of whether or not it's theirs; it's distributed by the federal government. There's a lack of transparency from the administration, and it's causing a rift between the [students and] people who work at the financial aid office because they’re not being told as much as people might be led to believe. People are angry because they don’t have their money back, so they blame the people at the financial aid office, but it's actually because of an IT system that's not integrating well, from what I’ve heard. If you look at our campaign, we’ve primarily focused on getting people’s money in their pockets and being transparent with financials. We’ve exposed the funding disparity between clubs compared to UF with SF. When you look at their budgets online, UF gets about $2 million per year out of their $20 million budget for student activities that goes into clubs; it's around 8%. While in SF’s budget, they give $41,885 out of their $3.9 million budget to student organizations, just 1%... The math doesn’t add up.
We also want another food spot at the food court. To take one of those spots, you have to pay a lease here, but on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, there's practically no students, so they have to close up shop. In winter, spring, and summer break, there are practically no students, so they have to close up shop again. They’re having to pay a lease while being closed 20% of the year. What incentive does that give them to be here? Why are we charging them a lease when they provide a necessity to students?
Q: Do you know how much the lease is?
Dishinger: We’ve looked into it, and we’re not able to find that out at the moment.
Q: What do you think the core issues with the financial aid system are, and what do you think needs to be changed?
Dishinger: Number one is transparency. It's one thing for people to not have their money, but to not be able to take accountability and tell them the honest real truth of why it's not here. I’ve had to go around talking to faculty to get somewhat of a real answer of what's going on. When you ask a student, 1/20 know what's actually going on, and I’m still not completely sure because they haven’t said anything on the book. This happened last semester and now this semester, and it's unbelievable to me they can't be transparent about it. Another core issue is that they haven’t had a safety net in place for this. They should have grants for this specific thing. If they already had this problem last semester, why not save some money to front these financial aids to students? They have the Life Happens emergency grant, but you can only get that for something short and unforeseen. If you’re expecting your financial aid for groceries, utilities, and rent but haven't gotten it and haven't been able to adjust your hours for work, and now you’re getting an eviction notice. I’ve talked to a veteran single mother who was facing eviction, and she actually got interviewed by WUFT. She was facing eviction, but from my understanding, the school kind of helped her out and got some resources for her, but she was owed around $8,000…. It's unbelievable something like that can happen at this school, especially at a school where single mothers are supposed to be able to thrive.
Q: Why was United banned from campaigning for two days by the SF Elections Committee?
Dishinger: We were reposted by the business club account. Apparently you’re not supposed to use Student Government resources to promote an account. I don’t understand how we’re supposed to control whether someone reposts us or not. I will be honest with you, on our ticket we have the president of the business club, the treasurer…. I assumed they thought it was him that reposted it, but it was not. We actually figured out who it was; it was one of our friends, Ayah. She reposted it, but she’s okay with us saying that. She didn’t know it was against the rules because she's not in student government. We got punished for that, and we did request a hearing, but we were unable to get one. It was just a two-day social media ban. But one thing to take note of is that the business club doesn’t receive any funding from the student government. They’re privately funded and raise money through fundraisers. I don’t understand how that's considered a student government resource considering they don’t receive any funding.
Q: How much do you think club funding should be increased by?
Dishinger: I don’t see why the budget shouldn’t be as much as other colleges do. I’m not asking them to give as much money in general like UF is doing because they obviously have a bigger budget, but if they can allocate an equal percentage, from 1% to 8%, they’d be getting around $10,000. They could do field trips and easily afford snacks compared to now having to prioritize funding for getting new members and snacks at each meeting. I don’t see it as unreasonable to get that 1% to 8%. It's a lot and a big difference, but I’m going to set a high goal because I think it's very feasible.
Q: What do you think of counseling services at SF, and do you think there needs to be any improvements?
Dishinger: There could be improvements. I’ve talked to someone who said they were told he was “beyond their care,” which is ridiculous to me. If someone is beyond your care, you shouldn’t tell them that, and you should have a system in place where you can refer them to somewhere they can be helped, but they should be able to handle this. What’s the point in having a counseling service if you can’t help people? There should be some improvements to counseling services. There can be students dealing with issues with how stressful school can be and financial aid issues, worrying about paying their rent.
Q: What do you think of academic advising on campus?
Dishinger: I think there needs to be improvements there as well. I’ve gone to academic advising quite frequently, and I’ve actually been told by an academic advisor there that they don’t have a discourse with UF admissions. They don’t have any communication. Everything they tell us is what they get off the website. I could get that myself, so why have an advisor in the first place? There should be more articulated agreements on how to get into UF, and advisors should be constantly speaking with admissions from not just UF but other schools. At the end of the day, this school is primarily a feeder school to four-year universities. People typically don't finish their degree here…. It's vital for these advisors to have a constant discourse with other admissions, so I’d say it's subpar right now.
Q: What are your thoughts on the Santa Fe College Police Department (SFPD)?
Dishinger: I’ve been taking a lot of feedback from the student body, and I have not heard many problems with SFPD. I think they do a great job here on campus. They have a lot of resources for people. I know they’ll walk you to your car if you feel unsafe…. I’m not aware of any issues currently with them.
Q: Are you aware of the incident last semester after the [U.S. presidential] election with the body camera footage?
Dishinger: I am not aware of that.
Q: On November 7, 2024, Officer Christopher Davis with SFPD and another officer were investigating a gun possession incident on campus.
Dishinger: I did hear about that.
Q: It depends on who you ask with regards to how they handled the gun possession incident, but pretty much everyone you ask will agree Officer Davis made some inappropriate comments about students while waiting for the suspect to show up. I can send you the article and the employee corrective action report that I just got if you want to respond to it.
[An employee corrective action report shows Officer Davis was placed on a six-month probation and required to attend crisis intervention and QPR suicide training for "making unprofessional comments concerning the [U.S. presidential] election, mental health, and suicide hotlines." After the interview, Dishinger viewed the report and commented on SFPD's decision.]
Dishinger: I think the department did their job and held him accountable for his actions. He definitely acted out of order, and I hope that the training and probation put him on the right track. It does raise uncertainty on the empathy of the officers at Santa Fe, considering he is supposed to serve and protect, yet he is talking about these delicate issues with little to no compassion.
[Treasurer candidate Massimo Gonzalez later gave a statement on what he brings to the SF United Party ticket.]
Gonzalez: As a student leader at Santa Fe College, I’ve spent significant time researching the financial disparities affecting our student body. One of the biggest issues we face is the inefficiency of the financial aid office, where delays in processing FAFSA and distributing aid leave students struggling to pay rent, afford transportation, or even stay enrolled. I’ve heard from countless students who have had their academic progress jeopardized due to these delays. Beyond financial aid, there’s also a clear disparity in funding allocation across campus. While certain programs receive extensive support, others—especially student resources—are left underfunded. This is evident in areas like our campus dining options, where students have limited access to affordable, healthy food. Many rely on vending machines or expensive off-campus options due to the lack of variety and availability on campus. Addressing these financial barriers is essential to ensuring that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed.
Students can vote by clicking a link on an email they were sent on Esantafe. Results will be announced on Wednesday, March 12 at 4:00 p.m. in room WA-108.
