Every year, the ASUCI and AGS General Elections are held in the spring for undergraduate and graduate students to vote for their student government leaders. During the 2023-2024 school year, voter turnout was 4.2% — the lowest in UCI election history.
While the lack of participation can be attributed to multiple factors, it reveals an issue that has been a common complaint among students for years — there is no sense of community within the UCI student body.
There’s no doubt that a strong student community is essential for any university. The next generation of leaders and intellectuals have to thrive in their learning environments before reaching that point. So, why is it that Anteaters are not participating in student government and acting as a community as we should be?
One reason for the lack of community is the infrastructure of UCI itself. As the housing crisis continues, both within UCI and the larger Irvine area, more homes continue to be built.
Because of the sprawling layout of UCI’s campus and the spread-out nature of surrounding apartments and homes, it is hard to justify making the trip to school for non-campus-related events, like simply hanging out with friends. As UCI continues to build more and more housing, everything remains spread out, and nothing is close enough to easily walk between. For example, it takes about 24 minutes to walk from Camino Del Sol to UTC’s Dartmouth Court Apartments.
This likely comes down to the fact that UCI is a commuter campus, where many students come to their classes to solely learn rather than make friends, often leaving right after the session is over. This phenomenon is perpetuated by poor options for commuters to exist comfortably on campus — commuters without cars especially have no choice but to carry everything they need for school for the entire day.
Many college campuses have party scenes where students can mingle and get to know one another. UCI is notoriously not a party school, and when parties do happen around campus, they are often intimate apartment gatherings, not open-invite functions. Even then, it’s difficult to have parties when quiet hours are strictly enforced. Irvine has a reputation of being a quiet and safe city, and while it’s important for students to have those kinds of environments, the zero tolerance for anything fun to happen at night is outrageous.
The only gathering spots on campus provided for community building are The Anthill Pub & Grille, University Town Center (UTC) and Aldrich Park. Still, a single pub can’t carry the social life of an entire university, and a shopping center that feels more geared towards Irvine families than UCI students isn’t enough either. As for the park, while it is sometimes populated by clubs or groups of friends having picnics, it is mainly occupied by individuals lying on the grass with their headphones on or students taking a shortcut to class. As for every other location on campus? They are all study spaces. Even the food courts are filled with students studying or doing schoolwork.
There needs to be more spaces dedicated to community building at UCI. Third places — spaces that are designated for social and community life — are essential to building a strong student community and helping students escape from constantly being in study mode. Fixing this issue comes down to improving infrastructure. UCI needs to separate itself from Irvine’s sprawling suburban city plan that is anti-third place. A place like UTC had so much potential as a thriving community space with pubs, night markets, museum buildings, gardens and so much more, had it not been turned into a miniature Irvine Spectrum.
More student housing needs to be created at UCI as well. Having dense apartment complexes that are accessible to each other can help connect us more and foster a stronger community through proximity. Access to each other needs to be easier and shouldn’t require a 30 minute walk to make it to a party in another student housing community. Students don’t need housing that replicates the gated communities of Irvine, and they especially shouldn’t resemble the suburbs in any way.
There is still hope for creating a sociable and inviting anteater community. Last year, the ASUCI and AGS general elections saw an increase in voters by 2.87% compared to spring 2023. While it was a small increase, it’s a sign that it is possible to build community — even if it means starting from the bottom. To see significant improvements, it’s going to require a concentrated effort from the university as well to ensure that they are putting their students first and using our money for resources and spaces that benefit us.
Editor’s note: Editorials should not be interpreted to reflect the opinion, thoughts or beliefs of any individual New University editor, staff member or affiliate.