The ASUCI Elections Commission and New University hosted debates between ASUCI student services vice president and student advocate general candidates on April 8 at the Crystal Cove Auditorium in the Student Center.
The debates took place ahead of the annual ASUCI elections, which will be held April 14-18, and aimed to give candidates another platform to reach out to the UCI community and voice their ideas to the public.
The evening began with the student advocate general debate. While four candidates are running for the position, only third-year computer science major and the current ICS senator Arnav Nigam was in attendance.
When asked about how to best handle the most important issues within the UCI student body, Nigam said it is important for ASUCI to maintain transparency and accountability with students.
“Students often look at ASUCI as a black box, and something [they] can’t really see into … My aim would be to open up that black box and really give students an insight into what goes on,” Nigam said.
When asked about nominating different officers, such as the internal and external student advocate generals and student financial officer, Nigam said hiring someone who is unbiased and has a degree of autonomy would be a primary concern during the hiring process.
Nigam was also asked how to best ensure that information about student rights and policies is accessible and understandable to the student body. He responded by saying that the best way to maintain accessibility is to put all of the information on one website, making it readily available to students.
Nigam said the ASUCI website was one of the most underutilized tools for ASUCI offices. He said updating the website to make navigation easier for students would help improve accountability and transparency within the office and better support students trying to navigate the bureaucratic processes within ASUCI.
After the debate for student advocate general, the debate for student services vice president took place. Two out of the three candidates running were in attendance; third-year student double majoring in chemistry and biological sciences Patrick Kendrick Maranon and second-year student double majoring in psychological science and criminology, law and society Jocelyn Aboufares. Maranon currently serves as the co-commissioner of student talent, and Aboufares currently serves as campus spirit co-commissioner. Both titles fall under the Office of Student Services Vice President.
When asked about incorporating new events for students during the school year, both Maranon and Aboufares agreed that including more diversity and showcasing different cultures within events is a priority. Maranon specifically suggested putting on a drag race event to give student drag performers an outlet to share their talents with the student body.
Maranon and Aboufares both expressed interest in bringing back ASUCI’s Zotumn Night Market, which gave students access to food and merchandise vendors along with live student entertainment around Ring Road. Both candidates said they would bring back the Night Market Commission within the Office of the Student Services of the Vice President to ensure the event could return for the 2025-26 school year.
Both candidates also said that ASUCI needs increased student engagement and feedback for its events. Maranon suggested implementing and advertising feedback forms on all official ASUCI accounts, while Aboufares proposed updating the student services webpage more frequently and hosting open forums to allow students to express what they want from ASUCI events.
“These events would be more exciting to attend … if the students feel they are providing their input and their voice in putting [them] together,” Maranon said. “There [are] a lot of things that go on behind the scenes in ASUCI … that makes students feel as though we’re not being fully transparent with them … I will provide an outlet for people to provide feedback to us, and I will make sure to relay that with my office.”
Candidates were asked how the office can ensure the student body that ASUCI fees are being used effectively when planning student events. Both agreed that the offices need to be transparent about how funds are allocated.
“If students see how much it costs to rent Aldrich Park or rent a stage … I think they will definitely be understanding [and know] exactly how much of their money is being allocated to ASUCI [events],” Aboufares said.
The Elections Commission and New University hosted debates for the external and academic affairs vice president on April 9. The final debate for the president and internal vice president will will take place at the Crystal Cove Auditorium in the Student Center from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on April 10. For more information on ASUCI elections, visit elections.uci.edu.
Grace Hefner is a News Staff Writer. She can be reached at ghefner@uci.edu.
Edited by Jaheem Conley.
