of Associate students 2024 student government general election The election ended with the announcement of run-off elections for the presidency, the newly created Senate, and eight councils from each university. Results for the 2024-2025 period were published in Dirty Birds La Jolla on April 12th.
Without a majority vote, ASCEND presidential candidate Leslie Vallejo-Avila will face independent Elizabeth G. Lopez in a runoff election scheduled for this week. The former candidate received 40% of the vote, or 1,834 votes, the closest to a simple majority.
Elections Director Madeline Pitkin said further information about the runoff will be announced through the Associated Students Instagram platform or website.
Campuswide voter turnout totaled 14.46% this year, an improvement from 12.51% in 2023, with 4,559 students voting out of 31,526 registered. Eighth College had the highest turnout of her seven colleges, at 20.91%. Level University had the lowest turnout at 11.62%. More than 100 candidates participated in the 2024 ballot.
Campus Organizers Revitalization Grassroots Initiative and ASCEND were the two leading candidates vying for campus-wide offices. ASCEND won her seven seats, including her four of the five campus-wide Senate seats, and CORGI won her three seats.
Under the Associated Student Election System, executive candidates must receive a simple majority of votes to take office. Candidates running for the remaining positions (including those intended for positions that require more than one officer, such as university or campus senate) will need to receive more than one vote to be sworn into office.
The newly elected university-wide officers are as follows.
- AS Executive Vice President – Vanna Hoang
- AS Vice President of External Relations – Eduardo Tapia-jr-Urbieta
- AS Vice President for Academic Affairs – Rishi Yalamati
- AS Senators: Across Campus – Elena Padilla Macias, Nelly Zapata-Castillo, Alex Lujan, Lizbeth M. Diaz, Wuyi D. Heryadi
- AS Senators: Off-Campus Representatives – Ruby I. Garcia & Ashlyn Bautista
- AS Senator: Relocation Representative – Jennifer Lewis
- AS Senator: International Representative – Danny Zhu
- AS Senator: Out-of-state member – Daniel Perez
Throughout the first week, Pitkin organized public forums and debates across campus and for university senate candidates. His AS Senate candidates for Seventh College, Sixth College and Level College Council did not attend their respective forums. All discussions follow a similar format, beginning with the candidates' opening statements, followed by a question period based on preliminary questions from the AS organization, and questions submitted by the direct audience of students with a 20-minute time slot for him. It has been established.
UCSD Guardian Editor-in-Chief Raymond Tran and Design Co-Editor Adalia Luo moderated the forum and discussion.
In a discussion on “Financial Management and Student Funding” scheduled for the Vice Chancellor's Debate, winning candidate Vanna Hoang addressed the importance of scholarships and their equal distribution throughout the UCSD community.
“lots of [the current scholarships] Really competitive.Number of students is 40,000 [in UCSD] No 40,000 scholarships either… [A.S. needs] Increase scholarship amounts and increase opportunities for low-income students to receive financial aid [and additionally] We will provide training to senators,” Huang said during the debate.
Huang's position, CORGI, sought to reclassify AS, the current official arm of the UCSD administration, as a 501(c)(3) organization and model it more on a nonprofit. With this, CORGI is expected to leverage its associate students and independently raise funds to achieve the above goals through means separate from university operations.
In light of recent worker protests, Independent Vice Presidential Candidate for External Affairs Eduardo Tapia Jr. Urbieta has announced plans for student participation in housing issues and beyond UCSD's official management, including AFSCME 3299. He emphasized the possibility of cooperation with other organizations. and the University of California Student Association.
At each panel, newly elected Vice President for Academic Affairs Rishi Yalamati said he would use his term to seek greater inclusivity, transparency and connectivity among students.
“The time it takes to secure accommodations through OSD, the time it takes to retest, the lack of resources that undocumented students have, the limitations on people by race and ethnicity; [none] “This should be a problem,” he said. “[I want] Help students grow and connect with other students. Create her campus-wide Discord channel, managed by AS, to allow students to meet for all classes offered each quarter. [and collaborate]”
All-campus senators affiliated with ASCEND include Lisbeth M. Diaz, Oui D. Helyady, Alex Lujan, and Elena Padilla Macias. ASCEND's policy is to ensure that the basic needs of students are met, to establish a fair funding process for student organizations, to increase engagement with existing student services, and to improve the relationship between student government and the student body. The focus is on creating new means of communication.
In their candidacy statements, incumbent University Senate member Lujan and independent Sen. Nelly Zapata-Castillo advocate increasing student access to resources such as the Basic Needs Hub and OSD, and improving support for undocumented students. He pledged to advocate for workers' rights. Diaz and Padilla, both first-generation students, delved into accessible housing and campus safety with Helyadi, emphasizing the importance of amplifying underrepresented voices.
The Rebel University Board of Trustees and Warren University Board of Trustees elections were accompanied by corresponding referendum votes on changes to student activity fees. Both referendum results were invalidated due to low university turnout and failure to meet standard requirements.
of Revelle University Activity Fee Referendum Revell University's Student Activities Fee ranges from $9.00 to $11.50 per quarter to “help fund traditional events across Rebel University…open up opportunities to organize large-scale events that appeal to Rebel students…” He proposed increasing the amount to US dollars. [and] Financial Resource Center”.
on the other hand, Warren University Activity Fee Referendum advocated a $4.50 increase in the student activity fee to account for the significant increase in the price of goods and services since the amount of the fee was last assessed. The proposed quarterly student activity fee totals $14.91 and is intended to “support better social events, fund student organizations, and increase financial aid for Warren students.”
The complete list of elected University Councils is as follows:
Thurgood Marshall University Board of Trustees
- AS Senator – Kayla Hyun & Fiza Omer
- Chair – Maria Lucilla DL Bernal
- Internal Vice Chair – Rigan Johnson
- Vice Chairman of Finance – Sophia Earley
- Programming Director – Jessica Mariel N. Pascual
- Marshall Organization Director – Cham Hong
- Administrative Director – Isabella Balledon
- Director of Public Relations – Rogelio Gallardo
- Student-at-Large: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) – Daniel Rodriguez
Earl Warren University Board of Trustees
- President – Aries Cole
- AS Senators – William Simpson and Nam Nguyen
- Out of State – Ariel Oppenheim
- Counselor’s Secretary – Annalisa Anderson
- Council Treasurer – Mariah Arteaga
- External Vice President – Juliana Ibarra
- Internal Vice President – Ghazal Saeedi
Eleanor Roosevelt University Board of Trustees
- President – Avian Collins
- AS Senator – Rhea George & Aasa Shah
- Diversity Champion – Cecilia Quan
- Special Events Director – Alice Alonzo
- Vice President of Finance – Alex Kapnik
- External Vice President – Jasmen Martinez
- Internal Vice President – McKenna Maroney
6th University Council
- President – Nicole Pham
- AS Senator – Kabir Vats
- Commuter Student Senate – Dennis Lopez
- Senator 4th Year – Jennifer Lewis
- Vice President of Finance – Lanchi Nguyen
- External Vice President – Mike Borisov
- Internal Vice President – Kevin Dominado
Muir College Board of Trustees
- President – Ariana J. Esparza
- AS Senators – Wei Jay Huang & Trinidad Hermann
- Student Org Ambassador – Jennifer D. Gonzalez Hernandez
- Vice President of Finance – Bianca V. Ortiz
- External Vice President – Anna Dudek
- Vice President of Administration – Leslie Calderon
- Internal Vice President – Sneha Sairam
roger revel university council
- President – Grace A. Constantian
- AS Senator – Gage R. Mowry
- 2nd year representative – Isaac Rodriguez
- Spirits & Events Director – Golsa Rabhari
- Director of Student Services – Andie MD Ongaco
- 4th year representative – Kylie Jo
- 3rd year representative – Kylie Hickey
- Vice President of Finance – Madeline Mercado
- External Vice President – Vickie D. Ngyuen
- Vice President of Administration – Irene I. Ocampo
- Internal Vice President – Samantha Parker
7th University Council
- President – Maya Chan
- AS Senator – Erica Yu & Jacqueline Chan
- Event Director – Ryan Dagamak
- Treasurer – Ethan O’Keeffe
- Secretary – Alison Otanes
- Student-at-Large – Kodi Kim
- External Vice President – Jheel Gandhi
- Internal Vice President – Umi Steinwachs
Eight University Council
- AS Senator – Avantika Ramasamy
