The Associated Students of the University of California, Riverside (ASUCR), on Wednesday held a Senate meeting to fill three open ASUCR positions, Non-traditional Student Director, International Student Director, Elections Director and President Pro-Tempore (PPT), through special elections.
Called to order at 7:57 p.m, the meeting began with a public forum, where ASUCR President Abby Choy was the first to speak. President Choy offered her congratulations to the new ASUCR staff, and gave them information about the upcoming leadership transition summit taking place on May 30 to begin training and transition into their new positions.
Echoing her campaign goals, President Choy also asked that all former ASUCR officials come to her with past projects so they can engage in a “multi-year transition” for projects being worked on by graduates.
Next to speak was School of Public Policy (SPP) Senator Sofia Jimenez, who shared
information about her Paint and Protest event which was held on Friday, May, 23, 2025.
Incoming ASUCR President and current President Pro Tempore Leila Haider came to the podium next to introduce herself as next year’s president and encouraged everyone to come to the transition summit event.
Executive Director Asha Nettles, during public forum, introduced herself to the new Senate and gave them information about future on-boarding procedures and instructions for using the new microphones at the senators’ table.
Incoming Vice President of Internal Affairs Rishika Salvi spoke next, addressing some issues she observed throughout her time at ASUCR and resigning from her position for the 2025 to 2026 school year. Read more about this on page four in “Incoming VP of Internal Affairs resigns during senate meeting” written by Editor-in-Chief Senna Omar.
Lily Evus, an executive fellow for the Office of Internal Affairs, came to the podium next to share information about the success of her recent hygiene kit distribution event. During the Wednesday event, Evus reported that they “successfully distributed over 400 toiletries, personal grooming items and feminine hygiene products to students in need.”
Because of the success of the event, Internal Affairs has ordered more hygiene products which will be distributed to students for free during tabling at the basic needs table on Wednesday, May, 28, 2025.
Last to speak during public comment was incoming First-Time College Student Director Alice Parra Rios who shared two labor committee events that took place on Friday.
Following public comment, the Senate moved into special elections to fill the vacant Non-traditional Student Director, International Student Director, Elections Director and PPT positions.
Non-Traditional Student Director — Nina Haywood
They began with the position of Non-Traditional Student Director who, according to the current Elections Director Kevin Arizmendi, must be a non-traditional student. Nina Haywood, a UCR student who uses and works with disability services, won the vote for Non-Traditional Student Director.
Having a non-traditional student experience herself, Haywood understands “that there is a lot of stigma around being a non-traditional student and utilizing those types of services.” Haywood wants to destigmatize these resources, as well as conduct an audit into the disability services that students on campus need.
Although she is not a veteran herself, Haywood has worked with the veterans at the Student Center of California Community Colleges navigating mental health issues and problems with their GI bills.
International Student Director — Kaity Dong
Third-year student Kaity Dong won the position of International Student Director. As an intern for a law firm, Dong has a lot of experience working directly with immigration cases and case workers. Running on a “transparency” campaign, Dong believes that the resources for international students at UCR are extremely outdated. She opened her statement, asking the Senate if “anyone has actually been on the international student website.”
From her early observations of the website, Dong notices that all of the international student resources links are either outdated or do not work. “All the links are broken. The websites are not up to date. In fact, the actual UCR website on international students has data from 2023 Fall. So my biggest thing, I want to enforce in this campaign, is the lack of transparency from international administration … this administration is not prioritizing them.”
Dong hopes that throughout her time as International Student Director, international students will have easy access to resources both through the website and social media. She plans to create a newsletter for international students to have direct access to information that affects their legal status and education.
Elections Director — Diya Baskaran
Second-year political science, law and society student Diya Baskaran won the vote for Elections Director. Baskaran served as a member of the elections committee, and has come up with two main goals for the upcoming year: increase student voter turnout and election participation as well as get a more diverse pool of student candidates applying for the positions in ASUCR.
She expressed that although the 17.6 percent voter turnout from this election cycle was an improvement from previous years, they still failed to meet the 20 percent voter turnout required for referendums to pass. Baskaran hopes to increase civic participation in the next election cycle.
“I strongly believe that civic engagement is the backbone of a strong community,” announced Baskaran. However, she holds the notion that in order to engage the campus, students must first be informed about elections.
“With an attempt to increase voter participation comes a need for a more informed electorate. Many students don’t participate in elections simply because they don’t understand how they work. Many students also voted because they were told to. They did not understand the implication of their vote or even what the elections were for, and perhaps some of the students did not understand who they were voted for … I will develop clear, accessible resources explaining candidacy requirements, voting decisions and the impact of student government available to everyone,” explained Baskaran.
President Pro Tempore (PPT) — Jeevan Rao
Returning College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) senator Jeevan Rao won the position of PPT. As a returning senator, Senator Rao has experienced first hand how attendance issues in the Legislative Review Committee (LRC) caused legislation delays.
He feels that as elected, paid representatives of the student body, senators hold the responsibility “to participate,” and as PPT, he plans to “make sure senators know the consequences if they fail to meet with committee requirements, especially in LRC and Finance committee, which are vital to the way ASUCR works.”
ASUCR’s eighth meeting of spring quarter was adjourned at 10:44 p.m. CNAS Senator Anthony Ching, School of Business (SOB) senator Christopher Duran Aguilar and College of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) senators Benjamin Min and Daniel Mondragon. CHASS Senator Tildin Young Jin Han came in later during the meeting but was originally absent. School of Public Policy (SPP) Senator Pia Prashanth was excused.
