The Undergraduate Student Government West Valley has two executive tickets running for the positions of president, vice president of policy and vice president of services for the 2025-26 school year: the Shahin ticket and the Cole ticket.
Voting will take place from April 1-2, and the winners will likely be announced on April 7.
The Shahin Ticket
The Shahin ticket is led by Sedra Shahin, a junior studying business administration, business law and business public service and public policy. She is the current USG-WV student body president and seeks reelection.
Rabiul Mustak, a freshman studying health sciences, is running for vice president of policy alongside her. He serves as a USG-WV senator for the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation.
Leander Newton, a junior studying business administration and business information security, is running for reelection as vice president of services.
The Shahin ticket is built on three pillars — accountability, impact and connection.
Shahin said accountability is a cornerstone of student governance, and it requires transparency, responsiveness and accessibility.
Her ticket plans to create a public budget so students know where tuition dollars go and to continue their vow sheet, which tracks campaign promises.
Her administration also will continue their monthly newsletter, The President's Post, to update students on different USG-WV initiatives and events. They plan on adding a section to the newsletter for online students.
Newton said their second pillar, impact, consists of "making real change that matters to students."
One of the ways they are trying to achieve this is by pushing for Fletcher Library to be open past 10 p.m., as well as creating an alternative study space for students that wish to study past library hours.
Another priority for the ticket is making sure students are aware of their transportation options and to "promote sustainable commuting through increased awareness of the UPass program, Metro Valley Transit, and ASU's electric shuttles," according to their official platform.
Their third pillar, connection, consists of increasing student engagement, increasing the mentorship between students and professors and ensuring all students, regardless of their background, are welcome on campus.
They plan on partnering with the International Students and Scholars Center to make sure international students feel welcome at the West Valley campus.
Newton said international students often face challenges in finding familiar food, building connections and adjusting to campus life.
"We want to make sure that they have that support network," Newton said.
While Newton believes the stabbing that took place in September 2024 on the West Valley Campus was an anomaly, he said student safety is a priority of the ticket. He emphasized the importance of their ticket spreading awareness about different resources available to students like the ASU Police Department.
READ MORE: ASU student faces charges of first degree attempted murder for alleged stabbing
Read more about their campaign here.
The Cole Ticket
The Cole ticket is led by Joshua Cole, a sophomore studying applied computing. Cole currently serves as the vice president of policy for USG-WV.
Mikah Dyer, a freshman studying secondary education, is running for vice president of policy. He previously ran for the Peoria Unified School district governing board in high school.
Emra Muslim, a junior studying political science, is running for vice president of services and is the current chief of staff for USG-WV.
The Cole ticket is built on the pillars of affordability, livability, accessibility and student and community empowerment.
Dyer said affordability as a pillar would be focusing on increasing financial transparency.
"This year, there was a promise to provide transparency with finances for the organization, and it wasn't, and it still has not been fully implemented yet," Dyer said.
Dyer plans to use various means of communication like newsletters, social media and flyers to ensure students have accessibility to information about fees. He advocates for holding open forums and town halls where students can voice their concerns about proposed fees.
Muslim said accessibility, their second pillar, is a key focus for the ticket, emphasizing that "West Valley students should have access to equal opportunity to all ASU resources."
She said they plan to work with Uber to create a voucher program for students.
"So every student has an opportunity to get groceries, healthy groceries and also go across campuses," Muslim said. "A lot of our students are athletes that go to Tempe, for clubs, for organizations, games."
Muslim noted that the West Valley campus has a large commuter and online population, and their ticket is committed to tailoring events to those students by increasing advertising and hosting online events and in-person events that occur earlier in the day.
Cole noted that accessibility to athletic events is also a factor they wish to address in their ticket.
"Students don't feel connected to ASU or athletics right now, so they don't want to go to the events," Cole said in reference to the difficulty of commuting from Glendale to Tempe.
Cole's ticket plans to provide Uber vouchers, encouraging students to represent the West Valley campus in Tempe.
When addressing the stabbing from last year, Dyer said during the incident, communication from the University and ASU PD could have been better.
READ MORE: An ASU student was stabbed in a classroom, students nearby never received alert
"It leads to misinformation, which leads to rumors," Dyer said. "Which leads to sometimes these incidents becoming bigger than what they actually are."
To address this, the ticket plans to increase promotion of safety forums and student counseling.
Read more about their campaign here.
Editor's note: Emra Muslim is a former politics reporter for the State Press.
Carsten Oyer contributed to this reporting.
Edited by George Headley, Sophia Braccio and Katrina Michalak.
Reach the reporter at vcruzbut@asu.edu and follow @valeriacbutron on X.
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