Voting for campus student elections opens Tuesday at noon, and students can vote for several positions and referendums. The full profiles of each candidate running can be found here.
Illinois Student Council student body presidents, vice presidents
Six pairs of candidates are running for the seats of student body president and vice president. The candidates include Alex Belanger and Carter Blount, Katie Comrov and Julianna Longo, Gabi DalSanto and Anjali Kumar, Patrick Holt and Nina O’Dea, Piotr Kierner and Julia Smith and Noah King and Carter Lee.
Belanger, DalSanto and Holt discussed their campaign platforms Thursday evening in a debate hosted by UI7. The Daily Illini spoke with each pair about their intended administrations. The full article is available here.
Student trustees
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Ariana Mizan, the current student trustee, is running for reelection against Ezra Landman-Feigelson and Dylan Sarsany. Charlotte Bossler dropped out of the race last week.
The candidates discussed their campaigns in a public forum Wednesday evening.
The elected student trustee will sit on the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. The board consists of one student trustee from each campus in the UI System, alongside nine trustees appointed by the governor to serve six-year terms. The governor assigns one student trustee to have an official vote each year, and the University will have the vote this year.
ISC representatives
The Illinois Student Council Congress consists of 44 student representatives elected by the students in their college. Representatives advocate for the unique interests of those in their school.
Urbana-Champaign Senate student senators
The Urbana-Champaign Senate consists of 200 faculty, 50 students and 10 academic professional members. Members of their college elect the student senators. The U-C Senate has authority over academic policy at the University but works with other actors in the UI System to implement goals.
Student Organization Resource Fee Board
The Student Organization Resource Fee Board falls under the Student Organization Development & Administration team and is responsible for allocating funds to support RSO programs and activities. Students elect 14 annually to sit on the SORF Board; 11 are undergraduate students, and three are graduate students.
Referendums
The first referendum on the ballot asks voters if the University should adopt a mascot for athletic and recreational events. According to the resolution, the University has not used a mascot to represent it at events since 2007.
Another referendum asks for approval of a $3 increase to the Health Service Fee each semester to fund McKinley Health Center in providing optometry services, including eye exams, glasses and contact lens prescriptions and treatment for some eye conditions. McKinley could begin to provide these services in the 2026-27 academic year, according to the resolution.
The next referendum concerns the Helping Others’ Personal Excellence scholarship, which was established in 2020 to aid students who would otherwise be ineligible for financial aid. The fee is $3.50 per semester and has not been raised since its implementation despite tuition increases. Voters are asked if they support raising the fee to $5.50 per semester.
An additional referendum asks students whether they recommend the Board of Trustees divest from companies involved in “human rights violations of marginalized groups worldwide.” The resolution’s background specifically mentions violations “affecting Palestinians and marginalized groups based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender, class and ability.”
The final referendum asks voters if they support total University divestment from the fossil fuel industry within five years. According to the resolution, the UI System has at least $120 million invested in fossil fuels, which results in 78% of the UI System’s financed emissions.
Voting will close on Thursday at noon. Until then, interested voters can cast their ballots online on OneIllinois.
