California High School rigs a student election to force diversity

Parents were reportedly outraged after a California high school was caught trying to rig a student election in the name of “diversity,” according to local media. One mom says officials at Raoul Wallenberg High School, a public school in San Francisco, pushed her son James Ortiz to run for student council just because of his Latino last name. When he didn’t win, they tried to unseat the white student who was selected as vice president, according to The San Francisco Examiner. The newspaper reported: "They were, like, bribing me into being on the student council," said Ortiz, who, despite his last name, identifies as white. "It was basically a thanks, but no thanks." … Assistant Principal Zaia Vera reportedly told Martinez she wanted Ortiz in office because it would make the student government look more diverse. Asian girls were the predominant candidates for student office in recent years.

"She said to me, ‘Mrs. Martinez, you could understand as a fellow Latina what we’re looking for here," [Ortiz’s mother, Christina] Martinez, who is not Latina, recalled. "We only have Asian girls run for office and we want the Wallenberg website to show not only Asian girls." The Examiner reports that the debacle may violate school district rules, which dictate that students be allowed to vote freely for anyone of their choosing.