Students aren’t running for ASUS Senator positions.
Of the six ASUS seats on University Senate, only one candidate is running for a senatorial role, ASUS Governance Officer Piper Veloso confirmed. The three executive positions were uncontested, with low turnout for the debate on Jan. 26.
ASUS Senators and elected executives represent students’ perspectives on governing bodies at the University such as the University Senate, Arts and Science Faculty Board, and ASUS Assembly.
Niki Ehsan, ArtSci ’25, is vying for one of the one-year ASUS Senator positions. Another candidate, Liam LaChapelle, ArtSci ’25, was disqualified from running for ASUS Senator for the 2024-25 school year due to currently serving a one-year term on Senate. Individuals can’t run for two consecutive as an ASUS Senator.
READ MORE: Candidate Profiles: All ASUS candidates run uncontested in election
One of the six Senator positions is a designated two-year term, while the rest have students serving for one year. Veloso said students typically prefer running for the one-year positions over the longer .
Veloso isn’t surprised by the low engagement within the faculty society. She has observed a decline in student involvement over the past few years, attributing it to the instability in the relationship between the Society and the student body caused by COVID-19.
Veloso believes ASUS is doing the best they can, but the challenge of connecting with a student body who appear to be uninterested in governance positions remains. ASUS represents approximately 12,700 students, making it the largest faculty society by numbers of students represented.
“As we found, it’s people who are already engaged in student government, that are student leaders on campus, that are interested in holding these positions,” Veloso said.
“There’s always going to be improvements to make. It’s never going to be perfect but we’re doing the best that we can to get to as many students as possible.”
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