This quarter, the Daily Nexus covered the Associated Students Spring General Election. Throughout that process, several community members alleged conflicts of interest both within the Association and the Nexus. We are writing today to address some claims in the hopes of being transparent, taking accountability and stating concerns with the Association that have arisen from our coverage.
First, we would like to address a conflict of interest within the Nexus News team. The 2024-25 Lead News Editor, Anushka Ghosh Dastidar, has interpersonal connections with former Associated Students (A.S.) presidential candidate and Senator Daniyal “Dan” Siddiqui, as she is the roommate of his “Big” in UC Santa Barbara Indus, a South Asian cultural organization on campus. From the beginning, we took into consideration Ghosh Dastidar’s conflict of interest, and she did not have any part in the process of Siddiqui’s endorsement or his Judicial Council (JC) case coverage.
We acknowledge that it was an oversight on our part not to update the endorsement when the petition against Siddiqui was submitted. For context, Attorney General and fourth-year chemistry major Eric Carlson sent an Association-wide email on April 18 announcing a class action against the legislative branch, but did not name specific individuals involved. The class action was later divided into three separate cases per the JC’s request. Carlson published the petition against Siddiqui on April 23, and the JC announced the decision that disqualified Siddiqui on May 12.
Our interview with Siddiqui took place on April 20, and we finalized endorsements on April 22 so that they could be published according to the original timeline of the Spring General Election.
To remedy the oversight in our coverage, the News team is currently taking steps to deepen their training on Senate and overall A.S. coverage to better prepare for the next academic year. We hope to maintain clear lines of communication with all branches of the Association to have the most up-to-date information possible.
Additionally, unbeknownst to the rest of the team, Ghosh Dastidar obtained access to files related to Siddiqui’s JC case before the endorsement interview. This was not disclosed to the rest of the editorial team until last week. Ghosh Dastidar said the file was shared with her by Siddiqui off the record in a personal capacity, and that she didn’t know what the file contained when it was opened. We believe that her actions were ultimately a misstep, given Ghosh Dastidar’s role in covering A.S., as well as Siddiqui’s role as a member of A.S.
Despite his disqualification, we formally withdraw our endorsement of Siddiqui. Although we still believe in his institutional knowledge and ambitions to address housing and basic needs for students, the new information found in our investigation has clarified that Siddiqui acted in ways that are improper for a presidential candidate. We have made this decision to maintain our commitment to transparency and to urge future news teams and association members to publicly disclose all conflicts of interest.
Since that information was shared off the record and not to the entire news team, it wasn’t utilized in our original coverage of the case nor in our endorsement process. The JC found “clear and convincing evidence” against Siddiqui for three counts of Membership Rights violations and one count of Abuse of Power. The Nexus has investigated Siddiqui’s case, including the aftermath of the election, to provide the student body with a more comprehensive timeline of events and allegations.
In addition, Ghosh Dastidar was called onto the case as a witness, but she did not attend any hearings. We acknowledge that this should’ve been disclosed in our coverage, regardless.
To ensure transparency within the news team, the Nexus will examine and expand upon its conflict of interest policies. Up until now, conflict of interest procedure has been conducted verbally.
It is important to acknowledge that both A.S. and the Daily Nexus have a duty to properly serve the students on this campus. We are all students who are learning how to navigate our respective fields. That is why it is important for us to maintain transparency; A.S. will make mistakes, and the Nexus will as well. Since we strive to be a neutral disseminator of information as the sole financially-independent student-run newspaper at UCSB, we aim to hold ourselves to a higher standard.
Seeing as student fees fund both the Association and the Nexus, it is of utmost importance that all our coverage is factual and fair. As the election had its lowest turnout in at least a decade, we believe many students may not know or fully understand what their tuition is going toward. We seek to be a resource for students through our coverage to make the Association more accessible.
That being said, we believe it is important to acknowledge the alleged conflicts of interest present within A.S. and the Judicial Council. First, Policy 15 of A.S. Legal Code contains a conflict of interest form. The Nexus believes that the council did not go through the proper steps to ensure there was no conflict of interest present within Siddiqui’s trial. Based on our investigation, this form was not distributed by the Attorney General or filled out by either the council, concerning this case, or A.S. at large.
It is also important to acknowledge the 75th Senate’s behavior within group chats. One specific group chat, titled “Senate shenanigans,” featured many disparaging messages regarding other senators. Per the note sent with the decision letter from Judicial Council Chair and fourth-year political science major Krishna Thaker, we understand that the council can only hold accountable those who are respondents to a petition. Although the council did not charge Siddiqui or anyone else for the conduct exhibited within the group chat, we condemn it and believe A.S. should uphold professionalism, even in private settings.
Throughout our coverage, an issue that has become abundantly apparent is how easily conflicts of interest can arise within the Association. Members are free to join various committees, chairships and positions across A.S., which makes it difficult for members not to hold positions that may result in conflicts of interest later. We understand that as students, we are all free to explore our interests and decide how we want to serve the student body. However, we encourage the Association to facilitate a better way in which all members disclose all A.S. involvements publicly. We believe this would aid in the transparency of the Association.
We are striving to keep ourselves more accountable and hope that the Association does the same. As future contributors to the workforce, we must model the same standards and values we’d like to see in larger institutions. Considering a new Senate and executive cohort has been sworn in, and the 2025-26 Nexus news team has been promoted, we look forward to working together in a professional capacity to ensure transparency and accountability across both organizations.
what in the gaslight is this. anushka’s name is still on the articles who are you fooling. for a written newspaper y’all sure seem to depend on your readerships illiteracy pretty heavily. The doublethink from the nexus this year has been as been consistently astounding
the nexus used to be a source of information and pride for UCSB students. This is an embarrassment of what once was an honorable student institution. You tarnish the paper you’re printed on with your ‘whataboutism’ word vomit and call it news.
Bro why would they take her name off an article she wrote? If they took her name off the article it wouldn’t change the fact that she wrote it. I don’t see anything wrong with the Nexus investigating the Associated Students. A.S. has a lot of power on campus and oversees a huge amount of student fee money—our money. It’s the Nexus’ job as a student-run newspaper to keep the student body informed, especially when it comes to transparency and accountability within A.S. A group chat isn’t just a minor detail in this case. If key decisions and conversations about… Read more »
as a person who’s been in associated students every year at ucsb, the coverage by the nexus has gotten progressively worse, pretty disgusting stuff if you ask me
seriously, the articles endorsing Dan for President continued to stay up until after the election, with Anuska’s name still on them. also, as these events were unfolding, the Nexus (by way of Anuska’s coverage) covered up details — “coverage” indeed. KCSB’s emails with weekly senate recaps from spring quarter had more information about what was going on and were NOT confusing to the student body. Anushka had an ethical obligation to her journalism commitments to either disclose the relationship or take herself off the beat. I am seeing now why Anuska and Dan are friends.
this is so ridiculous and full of false narratives just say you’re an uninformed racist and go
Which is why no student media should be funded by student government. This became a huge issue several decades ago at Cal State Fresno. The Daily Collegian was directly funded by the Associated Students (Fresno’s student government body). Over the years, Associated Students (AS) came to believe that, since it funded the paper, it should have a say in its reporting on student government. The conflict between AS and the paper reached a boiling point where a referendum was placed on the student body election ballot to remove AS from any role in the funding or operation of the Collegian.… Read more »
The Daily Nexus used to be such a reliable, unbiased paper that was rooted in facts, not feelings. The new Woke Nexus is run by a bunch of crazy, illiterate they/thems with personal biases against and true contempt for average everyday students. Shame on you, Nexus.
Even North Korean state media has more objective reporting than the Nexus. This weak statement is a far cry from accountability. Even now, the Nexus is happy to allow Siddiqui to mount his discredited defense. The Nexus’ “investigation” is a tortured piece of mental gymnastics. On the one hand, the Nexus seems to admit “yeah, okay you got us, Dan is guilty.” On the other hand, the Nexus tries, so desperately, to sow just a bit of confusion and uncertainty over that finding, “hey maybe there is some conflict of interest.” Then there’s the question of how and why does… Read more »
Great job, Nexus. You caved for all the haters and people who bullied your team just to receive nothing but hate in return. It’s almost as if no matter what you do or say, the same small group of individuals will continue to spew irrational criticism towards you!
Also, is there a reason why there was no revocation of your endorsement for the IVP or any of the other candidates who had JC Cases ruled against them? Is it because you thought faking the veneer of being objective only required you to revoke his endorsement?
The Nexus is so pitifully cucked into folding under pressure from the 5 loudest and most annoying right-wing students on this campus. Congratulations Nexus, you did it! You threw your lead News reporter under the bus and proved yourself to be the true centrist beacon of news! No mention of the fact KCSB reporters also had access to materials related to the case before it concluded. No mention of the fact KCSB reporters were also called into the case as witnesses and failed to disclose that in their reporting. Cowards.