Members of the executive tickets for the West Valley campus's Undergraduate Student Government debated campus issues Wednesday ahead of elections.
Incumbent Student Body President Sedra Shahin is running for re-election alongside Rabiul Mustak for vice president of policy and Leander Newton for vice president of services. They are facing Joshua Cole for student body president, Mikah Dyer for vice president of policy and Emra Muslim for vice president of services.
West Valley students can vote for candidates from April 1 to 2 on Sun Devil Sync.
READ MORE: Meet the two tickets for the 2025 USG-WV presidential election
Moderator Sara Mionske, the West Valley elections commissioner, and the audience asked questions, all of which were posed to both tickets.
The Shahin ticket highlighted building community and helping to connect students.
"Just because your major is here and you have to go to this campus does not mean you should feel excluded," Shahin said.
However, the Cole ticket emphasized plans to improve USG transparency and accountability.
"We are committed to making a campus where students can thrive and where your voices are heard, and we elevate those voices to administration," Cole said.
Student engagement and inclusion
Several of the questions candidates faced regarded student involvement on a small campus where many students are either online or commuters.
Candidates answered questions centered on student involvement in a campus where many students are either online or commuters, Muslim said.
"Something we really are trying to emphasize is meeting students where they are," Shahin said.
The Cole ticket agreed with this sentiment.
Muslim, representing the Cole ticket, pointed toward record low club engagement the past year, saying that they would streamline the club funding process and raise awareness for organizations on campus.
Shahin said her campaign hopes to increase communication between clubs and USG-WV regarding funding. She also intends to facilitate further collaboration on events with campus organizations and help students interact with faculty outside of class.
Both tickets provided plans to engage and represent online students.
Shahin said USG-WV has faced challenges with involving online students in student government, but her ticket is looking to add an online-only section of the "President's Post," the campus's USG newsletter, and hosting more online events.
"Online students are an unseen backbone of our University," Cole said. "This year, we promised to support those students, and zero dollars of the money we set aside for those online students have been put toward them."
In terms of fostering inclusion and diversity on campus, the Shahin ticket stressed expanding access to resources for students, while the Cole ticket proposed advocacy for student rights and services with University administrators and state legislators.
Newton said the Shahin ticket will require student coalitions, such as the Rainbow or Black African coalitions, to come to West Valley to support students.
Newton added that they will work to increase the presence of the West Valley Multicultural Community of Excellence location. Dyer, representing the Cole ticket, also said USG-WV ought to build up MCoE.
Dyer brought up a changing education landscape at the federal level, promising to fight for students.
"Trust me, I love going down to the state legislature," Dyer said. "I can do it every day and voice your concerns."
Accountability in USG operations
Much of the debate focused on enhancing accountability and transparency in USG-WV, particularly with student-initiated fees.
Shahin highlighted her administration's vow sheet, which shows the progress made on the campaign promises she made when running last year. She passed around an updated vow sheet for the current campaign.
Shahin said the vow sheets allow students to hold her and her administration accountable.
Cole said his ticket will allow for the student body to see where finances are going and what projects are being funded.
"We promise to be transparent just about every year, and we make promises about transparent budgets so students can see what we're spending," Cole said. "The communication is what's lacking."
Cole later added that his administration would not be "pacifying the student body with a couple different promises" that provide an image of transparency. He and Dyer also promised to reform the Council of Presidents, which has broad authority over student-initiated fees, to be more transparent.
A point of contention arose between the tickets over the use of one-time funding that carries over to the next year from surplus appropriations. The current proposal is to devote this funding to improving the USG-WV office space.
Cole said, if elected, he would give the student body a say in how that money is used. Dyer repeatedly proposed a practice he called "participatory budgeting," in which students have a direct say in the appropriations process.
Shahin disagreed with her opponents' characterization of the office space improvement proposal, saying that many of the changes would be to a student-used space. She also said the funds would purchase a much-needed larger table for USG-WV meetings.
After the debate, Cole said the funds dedicated to the student-used space would be excessive. He also said that a portion of the money would only benefit USG-WV members.
CRU at ASU and non-partisanship
While it didn't happen on the West Valley campus, an issue that tickets addressed was the Jan. 31 College Republicans United tabling event, where CRU asked students to report their peers to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
READ MORE: Hundreds protest CRU at ASU event, in solidarity with immigrants and DACA students
"A lot of our undocumented and Hispanic population students felt very threatened and unsafe on this campus," Muslim said.
The tickets later responded to a question from an attendee on how they would advocate for students in that situation, and if they would change the bylaw that prohibits West Valley's USG from engaging in partisan political activity.
"Undergraduate Student Government is a non-partisan institution with a zero-tolerance policy towards partisanship or partisan politics of any kind," states Title I, article I of the USG-WV bylaws.
"I want to emphasize that we are firm believers in non-partisanship, in putting our own political views aside and making sure that we're representing and hearing all voices," Shahin said.
Shahin said "sometimes that might suck," but her goal is to avoid alienating any University students, including CRU. She referenced the statement by USG-WV in response to the CRU at ASU event.
"Our focus remains on ensuring that students feel safe, welcomed, and supported while upholding ASU's commitment to inclusivity and student success," the statement reads.
The Cole ticket, however, disagreed with Shahin's approach to the topic. Dyer said he and others in USG-WV are working to change the bylaw.
"We claim that we couldn't take sides, but that statement that we put out did take a side, and it took a side against our marginalized communities," Dyer said.
Members of the audience snapped when Dyer finished speaking.
Valeria Cruz Butrón contributed to this report.
Editor's note: Emra Muslim is a former politics reporter for the State Press.
Edited by George Headley, Abigail Beck and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporters at coyer1@asu.edu and follow @carstenoyer on X.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on X.
Carsten is a freshman studying journalism and mass communication. This is his first semester with The State Press. He also worked as his high school's newspaper editor-in-chief.
