The Boca Raton House of Representatives passed a resolution Friday, authored by Speaker Jack Nixon and Nicholas Ostheimer, president of the College Democrats at FAU, calling for an expansion in participation for the annual Rally in Tally trip.
The resolution would allow for a broader student body to participate in future trips and passed 24-1. Its introduction, however, caused an extended debate over transparency, selection processes, and accountability within student government.
Rally in Tally is a statewide lobbying event organized by the Florida Student Association (FSA), a nonprofit coalition representing student governments from Florida’s public universities and advocating for higher education. Students gather in Tallahassee to show collective support for higher education issues, then lobby by meeting directly with lawmakers to persuade them to support student priorities.
During Friday’s debate, representatives questioned who organized FAU’s 2026 trip and whether participation requirements were clearly established before invitations were extended.
At the meeting on Friday, House Representative Angelina Bonis asked Government Relations Director Ellie Raab who chose the people who went on the trip.
In the FAU student government statute 505.410 D, it states that the Government Relations Director should “organize and execute the Rally in Tally” trip.
Bonis was one of many who questioned whether the participation requirements were clear before attending the trip. Many representatives said they believed Student Body President Darsham Gonzalez personally decided who would attend.
According to Student Government statutes, the Director of Government Relations is responsible for organizing and executing Rally in Tally, but the statutes do not specify that only PAC members can attend.
In a written statement, Director of Government Relations Ellie Raab cited FSA recommendations and a lack of time as factors that played into who traveled to Tallahassee.
“This year, Rally in Tally had an extremely short planning timeline due to the Florida Student Association (FSA),” Raab said. “FAU’s involvement was planned and executed by the President’s Administrative Cabinet, and participants were selected using the same process as in previous years, in accordance with FSA’s recommendations.”
An unnamed representative raised concerns about whether organizers were aware of any restrictions before extending invitations outside the President’s Administrative Cabinet (PAC).
“I extend the open question of whether this was a requirement, and if whoever planned the trip was aware of that before invitations were extended outside of the PAC,” one representative said. Because the meeting minutes are not posted on Owl Central – where they should be according to Florida’s Sunshine Law – it’s unclear who made the comment.
Bonis said that when she was affiliated with the Atlantic Party, “Rally in Tally” was presented to her as a group opportunity, but not all party members attended.
“When the Atlantic Party pitched it to me, it was presented as all of us going to Rally in Tally, like it was one of their events,” she said. “The fact that not all of the Atlantic Party is there sends the wrong message. This isn’t about going to Tallahassee, it’s about being fair and being open, because if we knew it was only the PAC, why are we finding out after the fact?”
On Feb. 1, Jack Nixon emailed all PAC members with a series of questions about the trip, who attended, and who planned it.
In an uncommon move, Nixon ceded the chair to speak during the debate in order to share his perspective.
“As a chair of a meeting, I can’t debate. So I have to cede the chair in order to be recognized. But basically, I did it because I wanted everyone to know my perspective and how I talked with Darsh, and I genuinely believed he didn’t plan it and that we were being absolutely lied to,” he texted in a statement to the University Press.
The exchange underscored the House’s ongoing concerns about clarity, accountability, and transparency in student government processes, which the University Press has reported on previously. House members also raised concerns about informal communication and inconsistent invitations.
Powalisz noted that student government statutes list Rally in Tally participation to include the PAC, and the three student body governors, yet only one governor, Lance Moore, attended the trip. The University Press reached out to Moore for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Rep. Christian Joseph Walden disagrees with what he believes is the president’s conscious decision not to invite students from outside the PAC.
“If members outside the PAC were invited, then members outside the PAC could have gone,” Walden said. “The president could have made this happen if he wanted to. If he wanted to make this valuable to students, he could have used the money he already has at his disposal.”
Walden referenced a previously discussed proposal to reallocate funding from the President’s budget, arguing that financial constraints were insufficient justification for limiting participation.
Representatives repeatedly compared Rally in Tally to FAU Day at the Capitol, a separate lobbying trip that previously used open applications, published criteria, and interviews conducted through Government Relations.
Rep. Nick Ostheimer, one of the authors of the resolution, argued there was no clear reason Rally in Tally could not follow a similar process, particularly given that some participants were invited outside of formal executive roles. He said the debate reflected broader structural problems within the student government.
“The fact that anybody can be selected for anything in student government without a competitive application or interviews is a ridiculous version of corruption and a structural flaw in our student government,” Ostheimer said. “All I ask is that we don’t forget about this after this legislative session and don’t forget about it after elections, because that’s what I’m most worried about.”
Emily Ives is the Political Reporter for the University Press. Email her at [email protected] or DM her on Instagram @Ivesemilyy for more information on this and other stories.
