On Wednesday, May 3, the 2017-18 ASUCR elections results were announced in the senate chambers by Elections Director Marcy Kuo a little after 12 p.m.
Following the announcement, the Highlander reached out to each of the winners to hear their plans for the upcoming year. At the time of print, only four candidates had responded and are organized in order of response.
Newly elected Marketing and Promotions Director Connie Wi outlined her goals to revitalize ASUCR and bridge the gap between students and the elected officials. She also said she wants to provide more information on ongoing and future plans via social media so that students are more informed. Speaking of one of her ideas on how to do this, Wi said, “I plan on executing a ‘Meet the Senators’ social media campaign. Whether it’s a video interview of our senators or a monthly recap post on our social media platforms, this can allow students to truly understand what our senators are doing, or plan on doing, for the betterment of our campus.”
When asked about what motivated her to run for the position, Wi spoke of her desire to gain more experience in marketing, which is a field that she is passionate about. She was also inspired to run in the elections — despite feeling out of her comfort zone — by her friends who “constantly motivate me to do more and be better.” In closing, she said, “Overall, I wanted to give back even more to a University (sic) that has given me so much and I’m beyond thrilled to be your next Director of Marketing and Promotions.”
Current President Pro-Tempore and second-year cell, molecular and developmental biology major Johnathan Li was elected into the position of vice president of external affairs (VPEA) for the 2017-18 school year. Li wrote in an email that his plans as VPEA include “advocating for mental health funding, food insecurity funding, and community strengthening.”
Li said his motivation for running for VPEA was “fueled by the student voices.” He also wrote about his “desire for student betterment and wellness” that started during his first year at UCR. In the coming school year, Li plans to continue working on policies and programs that help the student body, saying, “Whether (it be a) minor reduction in educational cost such as initiating the Clicker Rental Program or advocating for major fundings from legislators.”
One of the CHASS senators for the next school year is Martin Cuenca, a second-year political science major. Cuenca promises to “first and foremost always put my best foot forward for the students of this university.” Currently, he plans on providing students with various resources that are not always readily available. “A plan I have is to implement workshops and seminars to show students at UCR how to organize and to help students find avenues to have their voices heard,” he elucidated.
Cuenca reflected on his inspiration for running for this position, later expressing his desire to adequately represent the students who elected him. “Passion and love for the students of this university motivated me to run for CHASS Senator,” Cuenca affirmed. He spoke about how, “The students of this university deserve to be represented by qualified individuals who are willing to go above and beyond to represent them,” and pledged to “serve to the highest capacity and be a motivated representative of our student body.”
Finally, President-elect Aram Ayrapetyan candidly spoke about his desire to reform ASUCR in order to better serve the student population as a whole following a highly contentious election. He plans to do so by focusing on problems such as parking, food insecurity and representation. “Some of the things I hope to accomplish during my time in office with the help of the amazing student leaders that helped get me elected include: re-allocating R’Gear funding (around $50,000 dollars of student money) towards programs like R’Pantry & R’Garden, getting more female representation within the executive cabinet levels of ASUCR and finding effective short term solutions to the parking issues on campus while negotiating to get parking structures in place faster,” Ayrapetyan outlined in an email.
Ayrapetyan also acknowledged the conflict surrounding ASUCR, saying “I was motivated to run for this position because I wanted to fix ASUCR’s image in the eyes of the student population and re-affirm that we exist to serve the students. ASUCR has not done enough to connect with various communities on campus and extend ourselves as a resource to them.” Despite the setbacks, he believes that the newly elected officials will do their best to serve the student body. “We have a lot of work ahead of us and we won’t be able to completely change this flawed institution in one year. But, I am hoping this year’s election and influx of so many capable and dedicated candidates will be a step in the right direction for ASUCR,” he finished.
For the complete list of 2017-18 election results, see below:
| NAME | # of Votes |
| President | |
| Aram Ayra | 1057 |
| President Alternate | |
| Kevin Tseng | 839 |
| John Tannous | 581 |
| Executive Vice President | |
| Carisha Moore | 2180 |
| Executive Vice President Alternate | |
| Sergio Robles (write in) | 13 |
| Vice President of Finance | |
| Jose Cortez-Hernandez | 2030 |
| Vice President of Finance Alternate | |
| Salma Mahmoud (write in) | 79 |
| Vice President of External Affairs | |
| Johnathan Li | 2034 |
| Vice President of External Affairs Alternate | |
| Julia Darling (write in) | 53 |
| Vice President of Campus Internal Affairs | |
| Semi Cole | 1666 |
| Vice President of Campus Internal Affairs Alternate | |
| Louis Penafiel (write in) | 13 |
| Outreach Director | |
| Serena Cheng | 1182 |
| Outreach Director Alternate | |
| Joana Reyes | 999 |
| Personnel Director | |
| Briana Perera | 1285 |
| Personnel Director Alternate | |
| Katherine Tatley | 896 |
| Marketing & Promotions Director | |
| Connie Wi | 1523 |
| Marketing & Promotions Director Alternates | |
| Ryan Lo | 720 |
| Transfer and Non-Traditional Transfer Student Director | |
| Maria Chavez | 1518 |
| Transfer and Non-Traditional Transfer Student Director Alternates | |
| Jose Saavedra | 581 |
| GCAP Director | |
| Austin Mok | 1984 |
| GCAP Director Alternate | |
| (none) | NA |
| Elections Director | |
| To be appointed | |
| CHASS Senators | |
| Roy Tongilava | 910 |
| Mariam Al-Khalili | 808 |
| Semere Mengistu | 773 |
| Solomon Demeku | 738 |
| Dana Dinh | 671 |
| Marco Ornelas | 668 |
| Martin Cuenca | 620 |
| Reginald Wong | 619 |
| Grant Nakaoka | 600 |
| Carolyn Chang | 599 |
| CHASS Alternates | |
| Lauren Ledesma | 568 |
| Johnson Pau | 566 |
| Ariya Haghigat | 562 |
| CNAS Senators | |
| Priyanka Garg | 282 |
| Andrew Ng | 280 |
| Valeria Orozco | 279 |
| Matt Shashaty | 266 |
| CNAS Alternates | |
| Jorge Delgado | 210 |
| BCOE Senators | |
| Patrick Le | 193 |
| Amanda Xaypraseuth | 148 |
| BCOE Alternates | |
| Luis Orellana | 53 |
