The Associated Students of the University of California, Irvine’s (ASUCI) spring 2025 elections announced Serene Li, Arnav Nigam and Kendall Baldrias as the student advocate general candidates at the end of the winter 2025 quarter. According to the ASUCI’s Office of the Student Advocate General, the role is “committed to ensuring transparency from our student government and implementing support structures for students.”
Student advocate general acts as an advocate for the UC Irvine undergraduate community — any students who harbor concerns with UCI can file complaints through the Office of the Student Advocate General. In addition, the position includes ensuring checks and balances within student government and aids in informal mediation and resolution for conflict.
First-year undeclared student Li ran for student advocate general to continue her journey in leadership and help an underrepresented student body. Before attending UC Irvine, Li worked as the first youth commissioner of San Mateo and hopes to continue to speak for those in her community.
“[In high school] I brought up underrepresented voices and concerns that many of my peers and friends had, and I hope to bring that same sort of spirit and way of advocating for students who feel like their voices aren’t heard at UCI,” Li told New University.
Li traveled from Northern California to attend her first year at UCI and explore fields in the biological sciences. She also enjoys playing badminton and participating in student government.
Li’s greatest challenge consists of the grapple she has with her identity as a Chinese American student. She empathizes with international students who find difficulty in navigating college and hopes to help international students feel welcome, informed and represented.
“I always feel like I’m not kind of connected to my two identities as being either American or Chinese, and I always thought I had to maybe choose one,” Li said. “Coming to UCI, [which is] known for their international students and kind of diversity in that aspect, I have come to really learn a lot about my identity … There’s a greater challenge to navigating college, and I think as a student advocate general I want international students to also feel welcome, to also feel included in UCI.”
Li described the person she is today in three words: open-minded, approachable and spontaneous.
“I’m a person who’s really down for anything. I just like hearing people talk — I’m a listener,” Li said. “I think for my friends they usually come to me for any advice, either social-wise or academic-wise, and I’m really just always down to help as best as I can.”
Third-year computer science student Nigam also shares similar sentiments as Li. If elected, Nigam looks to improve the overall trust of UCI students in the ASUCI Senate.
“We’ve generally had a lack of trust from the general student body [in] ASUCI as a whole … ASUCI, while [we] can do good, we have a culture problem in the sense [that] it wishes the best but it’s unable to do the best,” Nigam told New University. “And so, I feel like in the role of student advocate general itself, which kind of serves as HR but also the only body apart from the judicial board that can really investigate internally … [I’ll have] the best bet at making a difference.”
Nigam is an international student from Dubai who lived in Saudi Arabia for eight years. His personal challenge included the adjustment from traveling across the world.
In addition to student government, Nigam enjoys going to the gym, gaming, hiking and participating in computer science-centered events. He currently works as the director of Hack at UCI, a major student-led organization for computer science majors on campus.
“One of my fondest memories is actually my start in the club Hack at UCI,” Nigam said. “We put on hackathons, which is kind of an event — one of the biggest events — for CS [computer science] majors around. And so, my first year I volunteered for something called — well, it was previously called Hack at UCI and now it’s called Irvine Hacks — it is the biggest hackathon in Orange County.”
Nigam described the person he is today with these three words: outgoing and optimistic, yet stubborn.
“I think my friends would definitely describe me as someone who is very, very straightforward. I don’t really take shortcuts, or I don’t really beat around the bush, and I think they would also describe me as someone who is very honest and upfront with people,” Nigam said. “I would call myself to be slightly stubborn … I’m able to hold my weight when it comes to things, and so while it can also be seen as negative, I do look at it in both perspectives of being slightly positive as well.”
Baldrias was unavailable to comment on her candidacy at this time and carried a Level 2 sanction entailing a digital posting restriction. Baldrias was in violation of Art. VI, § C(3) of the ASUCI Elections Code which required all candidates to attend one mandatory candidates’ meeting from March 18-20.
According to her statement, she aims to “create a safe space where students and those within UCI feel comfortable coming to our office for support.” Baldrias is a first-year undeclared student who currently serves as an internal and accountability deputy of the Office of the Student Advocate General.
ASUCI terminated Abir Hingorani’s candidacy in the beginning of the campaign period due to a Level 5 sanction entailing a campaign disqualification. According to the ASUCI rulings under the elections commission, Hingorani failed to meet the qualifications to be a candidate.
Students can vote for a student advocate general during the voting period through Week 3, April 14-18. For more information on voting and candidates, visit the ASUCI elections commission.
Alyssa Villagonzalo is a 2024-2025 Assistant Features Editor. She can be reached at akvillag@uci.edu.
Edited by Kaelyn Kwon and Jaheem Conley.