AS Senate Recap – 5/14/25

text by News Director

19 May, 2025

This recap first appeared in the May 19 edition of the KCSB News Weekly Newsletter.

The AS Senate is a group of elected student representatives which serves as the policy-making body of Associated Students. Every Wednesday at 6:30 PM, the AS Senate convenes to pass bills and resolutions, hear reports from Boards, Committees, and Units (BCUs), and hold public forum. 

KCSB’s Joyce Chi summarizes their most recent meeting on May 14, 2025.

 

Boards promoting candidates and fee initiatives are coming down following the end of the election.

After weeks of delay, the Spring General Elections have finally concluded. The results were announced last Thursday in the Interactive Learning Pavilion. See simple and full results breakdowns on the Elections Board website.

Fee initiatives: All reaffirmations passed (including KCSB’s 🙏), while nearly all fee increases failed (including KCSB’s 😶); only Food Bank’s passed.

Constitutional amendments: All three constitutional amendments passed. As a refresher, these allow for more flexibility in the Spring Election timeline in the event of things like religious holidays or natural disasters; greater student and Senate involvement in AS personnel decisions; and the return of political parties to AS elections.

Candidates: Click here for the list of your new Senators (featuring several returners). Below are the winners of the executive office positions (and a few words from them too).

  • President: Le Anh Metzger
    • “I am extremely honored to have been elected AS President. I promise not to take this privilege for granted…I will make UCSB safer and more inclusive, and bridge the gaps…between AS and the student body. The work starts right now!”
  • Internal Vice President: Enri Lala
    • “It truly is an honor to have been elected by thousands of fellow students…I believe this upcoming term will represent a new age for the Association’s relation with the student body.”
  • External Vice President for Local Affairs: EJ Raad
    • “I’m incredibly grateful and excited to be serving as UCSB’s next External Vice President for Local Affairs…I’m ready to represent our entire student body and fight for us.”
  • External Vice President for Statewide Affairs: Leiya Kadah
    • Kadah did not respond to our email requests.
  • Student Advocate General: Sydney Bivins
    • “I’m very grateful to all of the Gauchos that voted for me and am excited to lead the Office of the Student Advocate next year!…Our office has established very strong professional relationships with various University offices and advocated for the student body on various fronts along the way…Thank you again for your trust and support, UCSB!”

Blast from the past: On Instagram, former AS President Tessa Veksler praised Metzger and Lala on their victories, calling them “two people…that I trust implicitly and who have always shown kindness and moral clarity.” (Lala said while he appreciated Veksler’s congratulations, “this will be a new term defined by new goals” like “housing, infrastructure, financial access.”)

We ended this election cycle the same way we started – with one presidential candidate on the ballot. The Spring General Election, which usually ends by Week 5, was extended several times because of low voter turnout and was initially halted due to Judicial Council decisions stemming from investigations brought by Attorney General Eric Carlson. 

By the way, we asked Carlson his justification for bringing a case against Senator Dan Siddiqui – which eventually disqualified him from running for AS President – while later endorsing Metzger, Siddiqui’s presidential opponent. 

He said that because of “over 500 pages of evidence,” it was “obvious” that the Council would rule against Siddiqui. He also said that the Judicial Council decision wasn’t guaranteed to be released before the election finished, so endorsing Metzger (whom he called “the right choice”) meant he could also “pursue justice…electorally.”

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We don’t really have much of an update for you on last week’s Senate meeting…because there was no meeting. Around thirty minutes after it started, the meeting was cancelled since not enough Senators showed up to meet quorum. An email vote over the weekend tabled agenda items until this week’s meeting. 

Senator (and now, IVP-elect) Lala said that this upcoming meeting on Wednesday would be the last of the current 75th Senate’s term. At this last meeting, we expect the Senate to vote to dissolve itself to make way for the new cohort. Lala said that might take longer, though, since those tabled agenda items need to be addressed first, such as…

Access this week’s AS Senate agenda (which includes their bills and resolutions) using your student email here. You can see last week’s agenda here. Meetings are typically held each week at the Flying A Room of the University Center (Main Floor) throughout the quarter, aside from Week 10. You can also watch live and past meetings on the ASUCSB YouTube here; the meeting can also be livestreamed on Zoom.

Find all our previous Senate Recaps here.

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