As of Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2025, there are 108 candidates for the Associated Students of the University of California Riverside (ASUCR) elections for the 2025-2026 academic year. Assistant Elections Director (AED) Aushee Heagney spoke during Public Comment about updates on the upcoming elections.
With the candidate form closed, the current count, as of Feb. 12, 2025, per position is as follows:
Executive Cabinet (ECAB):
President, four candidates
Executive Vice President (EVP), four candidates
Vice President of External Affairs, two candidates
Vice President of Internal Affairs, three candidates
Vice President of Finance, two candidates
Vice President of Sustainability, two candidates
Vice President of Marketing, three candidates
Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), four candidates
Personnel Director, four candidates
Transfer Student Director, three candidates
Non-Traditional Student Director, zero candidates
First Time College Student Director, one candidate
International Student Director, two candidates
Each ECAB position has one seat.
Senators:
College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) Senator, 30 candidates for nine seats
College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) Senator, 18 candidates for five seats
Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE) Senator, eight candidates for two seats
School of Education (SOE) Senator, one candidate for one seat
School of Public Policy (SPP) Senator, three candidates for one seat
School of Business (SOB) Senator, 14 candidates for one seat
A change in interpretation of who can apply for SOB Senator has increased the number of candidates for the position. Previously, the role was limited to students within the School of Business, specifically students with a business administration, actuarial science or business analytics majors. However, for this election cycle, professional staff, ED Kevin Arizmendi and AED Heagney, decided to have pre-business majors also fall under SOB rather than in CHASS, where the major is housed. The decision was made because it would be possible for pre-business majors to enter SOB during their term once they get accepted. To avoid having a senator representing a college that they are no longer a part of, all pre-business majors are required to run for SOB Senator.
This announcement received backlash from some senators. CHASS Senator Ryan Choi had expressed his qualms with this new policy. He sees pre-business majors as better representatives of CHASS due to their course load being primarily CHASS classes and their peers being in CHASS. He also brought up the concern that students are choosing pre-business as a back up major while exploring other CHASS fields.
BCOE Senator Karen Vo suggested that first-year and second-year pre-business students should be able to continue running for CHASS, but those who are older can be required to run for SOB.
AED Heagney expressed that this choice was not made lightly and meant to be equitable due to the possibility of them changing schools during their term.
President Pro Tempore Leila Haidar attempted redirection and reminded senators that the decision to change which school pre-business majors run for was not made solely by ED Arizmendi or AED Heagney, more detailed questions should be directed towards Executive Director Asha Nettles.
CHASS Senator Choi, however, continued and reminded Senators that the Elections Committee has more leeway with the bylaws and that it is “not right” to restrict pre-business majors to SOB. He expressed that Senators should be working on policies that can keep the Elections Committee in check.
SPP Senator Jimenez asked if this restriction has been finalized and if senators can assist the Elections Committee in finding alternative solutions. In response, AED Heagney expressed that she is not sure, and EVP Naia Pizarro explained that it is against the bylaws for senators to work with Elections Committees.
AED Heagney finished the conversation by affirming that each of the candidates have been told that they will be running for SOB instead of CHASS. This announcement is the first mention of this alteration to the public.
For the Legislative Review Committee, there were grammatical friendly amendments made to SB-W25-012 and SB-W25-013. SB-W25-002, a bill designed to adjust the bylaws describing the Vice President of DEI, and SR-F24-003, a resolution for forest preservation with California Public Interest Research Group, were both approved unanimously.
During Senator Reports, CHASS Senator Mia Rose Tuifua updated the Senate on the initiatives for the wrestling and martial arts clubs. They have located a place for these groups to practice with mats. They are currently working on how to accommodate all the groups involved in one place.
CHASS Senator Carter Anderson followed with his report by reminding the Senate that there would be the CHASS Town Hall in two weeks and the campus safety walk should occur either late winter quarter or early spring quarter.
For attendance, CHASS Senator Keaston Bunker, CHASS Senator Alice Parra Rios, SOB Senator Dhruv Patel, CNAS Senator Mitchel Wei and BCOE Senator Uma Akundi were excused. CNAS Senator Anthony Ching was absent.
