May 10, 2021 at 9:00 am by Max Abrams and Katherine Swartz
The Nexus has compiled profiles of our current Associated Students elected officials to reflect on their past year in office. Looking back on their campaign platforms, we asked our elected officials to tell us about their successes and shortfalls throughout their terms in office. The term in reviews for the other executives â IVP, EVPSA, EVPLA and S.A.G. â can be viewed at dailynexus.com.Â
[Editorâs Note]: Daevionne Beasley was accused of sexually assaulting another UCSB student during his freshman year, an allegation the Nexus last spring. Term in reviews are specifically intended to examine an executiveâs work during their time in office, which is why the allegation is not being addressed in the piece.
Carolyn French
National Beat Reporter
Voting for UCSB’s Associated Student (AS) elections concluded on Thursday, April 22, and the results are in: Five executive positions and 26 legislative positions were filled. Additionally, a list of 33 reaffirmations and five new financial measures were voted on with a 5,122 undergraduate student turnout for the online election.
Undergraduate students showed a 24.16 percent voter turnout while graduate students showed a 24.78 percent turnout, surpassing the 20 percent voter threshold needed to validate the results. The undergraduate turnout showed a 4.68 percent drop from 2019’s election, marking it as the lowest voter turnout in the past six years.
Storke Party member Avital Rutenburg, a newly-elected collegiate senator for the College of Letters & Science, said that voting declines in the past two years have been caused by off-campus learning due to Coronavirus.
Isla Vista Party Takes Home Executive Majority, Storke Party Claims the Most Senate Seats
Isla Vista Party will hold a majority within the Associated Students executive branch for the 2021-22 school year, with the newly founded Storke Party capturing one seat â the presidency.Â
The election, which was hosted in a Zoom webinar format as opposed to its traditional in-person location at the University Center Hub, garnered 125 viewers, according to Andrew Yan, elections board chair.Â
Nexus file photo
In its first year on the ballot, Storke Party edged out the Isla Vista Party by one senate seat, taking home a total 12 compared to Isla Vista Partyâs 11. Three seats were filled by independent candidates, two of whom were write-ins. No party retained a senate majority this election, as it would have taken at least 14 seats to do so.Â
The Daily Nexus endorses Yuval Cohen â a current off-campus senator running with Storke Party with clear goals and the ability to get the job done in an unprecedented year â as the next Associated Students President.Â
Cohenâs platform centers around helping students with their most pressing basic needs.
Courtesy of Yuval Cohen
The next president will have the tremendous responsibility of helping students transition back to in-person learning. Cohen clearly acknowledged that even when students are able to return to campus, life will not immediately go back to normal.Â
âI wish I could say it’s possible to just pick up where we left off, but I know that’s not going to happen,” Cohen, a third-year political science and philosophy major who is running with Storke Party, told the Nexus. “There’s definitely going to be some looming effects of COVID-19, people will still be struggling financially. I definitely want to focus on helping students with th
The Daily Nexus endorses Shannon Sweeney, a third-year environmental studies and sociology major running with the Isla Vista Party, as the next External Vice President for Local Affairs.Â
If elected, Sweeney said she would prioritize studentsâ basic needs while working with the community to bring back Isla Vista open markets and showcase local talent.
Courtesy of Shannon Sweeney
Sweeneyâs three years of experience within the office â first as an Pearman Fellow in the office during her freshman year and then as the officeâs chief of staff during her sophomore and junior years â and her deep roots in the Isla Vista community make her the obvious choice for the position.Â