Naila Din, Student Senate President, initiated the removal of Senator Tan Francis from the position of Chair of the Standing Committee on Government Relations and Oversight (GRO) on Jan. 12. The approval process will take place during the Jan. 14 Student Senate meeting, which will require a two-thirds approval from the Senate to complete the removal. 

In Din’s statement of the initiation, she expressed two main concerns leading up to the action: absences with no communications and unfulfilled chair duties. 

Din wrote that GRO Vice Chair Preston Spencer told her that Francis would be missing a month of Committee meetings and that Spencer would need to lead the meetings. “While missing meetings are acceptable as we are students, the concern I have is that I was not directly communicated with at the beginning of such a long absence,” wrote Din. 

Din outlined numerous attempts to contact Francis through emails with no response and, as a last resort, reached out through text messages.

Concerning unfulfilled duties, Din highlighted the responsibilities of the Chair position: 

• Hold bi-weekly ‘touchpoint’ meetings with the Student Senate President and the Student Senate President Pro Tempore. 
• Attend monthly All Chairs Council meetings.
• Submit Committee reports and legislation reports to the Student Senate.

Din then wrote, “After multiple weeks of cancellation of these touchpoints from Chair Francis, Chair Francis canceled all of the remaining touchpoint meetings without notice or reasoning on 10/21/25.” 

Din ended by saying, ”I don’t feel confident that she is committed nor has the time to uphold her responsibilities.”

On Jan. 12, Din and Francis engaged in email correspondence that led to the initiation of the removal process. The Nubian Message reached out to Chair Francis for a comment. Francis said that she communicated her absences through Student Senate Pro Tempore Taquan Dewberry due to feeling uncomfortable communicating directly with Naila Din due to the tense environment she created. 

“Her remarks about my friend Taquan Dewberry have made me uncomfortable. She has conspired behind the scenes to discredit him, badmouthing him to her friends during meetings,” said Francis.

“Naila Din has repeatedly threatened to remove me from my position whenever things didn’t go her way or when she disagreed with my actions,” she said. “I felt she was abusing her power as Student Senate President by threatening my job, and I repeatedly asked her to proceed if she thought I was unfit for the role. Aside from November, I completed and submitted all tasks on time when I had access to the necessary materials,” she said. 

Dewberry supported Chair Francis’ statement, “It is true that Tan Francis communicated with me her issues regarding needing to be absent and for her Vice Chair to take over her responsibilities for the month of November. She did so proactively, prior to taking a step back from Student Government.”

He also shared the same sentiment that Din has created an uncomfortable working environment for the session, “Through conversations with various Student Senators and members of Senate Leadership, I have been informed time and time again that senators feel uncomfortable and unsafe under current leadership circumstances,” he said. 

These actions had been reported in Din’s 105th Session Student Senate President Review, which the All Chair Council, her appointed leaders of the Senate, conducted. 

“Furthermore, the environment has only become increasingly more confrontational with certain members citing being forced or misled into having conversations they did not want to have with the Senate President about confidential or personal matters,” he continued. 

Student Senator Mordecai Mengesteab said that other members of the Student Senate reached out to him about interactions regarding Din. Mengesteab said that Din interacted with him in ways that became increasingly concerning, stating that she spoke negatively about members such as Senator Judson Avery, Pro Tempore Dewberry and others. Mengesteab said that these experiences contributed to a larger concern about appropriate meetings and power dynamics within Din’s leadership role. 

Senator Judson Avery reached out as well to offer his experiences with Din. Avery said that he was concerned about Din’s attempt to remove Francis from her GRO position. 

He said he was “further disappointed to learn that the only person consulted by [Din] about this decision was the Vice-chair of Senator Francis’ committee who stands to benefit directly from her removal, Senator [Preston] Spencer.” Avery said that Senator Spencer, in collaboration with other senators, was involved in an attempt to block Francis’ original appointment. Conservative-leaning senators spread a rumor that Francis was inexperienced, even using the words “DEI hire”. Spencer previously rose with a motion to single out Francis during her chair approval to prevent her appointment and failed. 

We reached out to Din about the numerous allegations of creating an uncomfortable work environment. She initially claimed to know nothing of it, after citing the Senate’s review and her own documentation to initiate the removal of Francis, she stated:

“I have done nothing but make the Senate a positive environment and build a strong culture within the Senate–a commitment I made when running for this position. I have held monthly Senate Socials, reinstated After Senate Eats, hosted fun competitions to improve skills and teamwork, have open office hours, reduced the length of Senate meetings, and I brought the Chancellor to the Senate for students and Senators to ask questions and share concerns – something that has not been done for as long as we can remember.”

To clarify the situation with Chair Francis, the only time in which I discussed removal from her position was in the email sent to her [Jan. 12]. I have not brought it up before in person or through messages. I expect a commitment from all my Senators and Chairs to uphold and meet the expectations that they are elected and appointed to do.

As stated to all of [the] Senate, I welcome anyone to set up a meeting with me to discuss issues they see present in the Senate. If they have concerns about my leadership style, I encourage them to come directly to me rather than spread misinformation to Student Media.”

Din’s own documentation, provided in the removal of Chair Francis, disputes her own claim of only bringing up removal in one instance. 

The Nubian Message attempted to ask Student Government President Isaac Carreno about the actions. He refused to comment.