The University’s student elections start Tuesday, with two pairs of running mates campaigning for president and vice president of Illinois Student Council.
Gabi DalSanto, junior in ACES and president of ISC, is vying for a second term in the Feb. 17-19 elections. Anjali Kumar, junior in LAS and vice president of ISC, is not running for reelection. DalSanto’s new running mate is Omer Mohsin, junior in LAS.
The other candidates are Jaden Campbell, junior in LAS, and Ethan Lopez, junior in LAS, who are running for president and vice president, respectively.
The Daily Illini spoke with DalSanto and Kumar about the ups and downs of the last nine months and what they hope to accomplish before their term wraps up in April.
Partnership
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Kumar said she and DalSanto ran together and made a good team because of her prior student government experience and DalSanto’s advocacy work on campus.
DalSanto has been involved with Students for Environmental Concerns since her freshman year, serving now as vice president. Kumar previously was a student representative for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and chairperson of ISC’s Committee for Community & Governmental Relations.
“I think that (our experiences) made us very well equipped to be able to run together and grow and figure out how to lead ISC together throughout this past year,” Kumar said.
Adjustment period
As DalSanto and Kumar spoke about running together in the February 2025 student elections, DalSanto began attending meetings of ISC’s legislative branch.
DalSanto said assuming the presidency came with a huge learning curve, as she became responsible for representing over 60,000 students.
“It took a lot of sitting and listening and watching, asking a ton of stupid questions, asking for advice, just having to really trust my gut and trust the amazing people like Anjali and our chief of staff,” DalSanto said. “(They) were there to help me learn the ropes and also help guide me when we have those hard decisions to make.”
Kumar said even with her past experience as chairperson, serving in the vice presidency was different.
“As a chairperson, I was focusing on more initiatives that I wanted to implement, whereas as vice president, it’s a much broader view,” Kumar said.
Expressive activity policies
As an individual, DalSanto said she is proud of the work that has been done to make the expressive activity policies more readable and responsible, as these policies determine how campus protests are treated.
One policy, based on how it was originally written, made it appear that only one megaphone could be used during protests from noon to 1 p.m, according to DalSanto. In actuality, she said, it meant that more than one megaphone could be used during that time, but just one outside of that time.
“Even clarifying that one word from the letter ‘a’ to ‘one’ really changed not only the perception of the policy, but also the enforcement of it,” DalSanto said.
Another policy ISC clarified was related to decibel readings, DalSanto said, which made clear that chanting and clapping were not a problem, but noise from speakers was when it could be heard in classrooms.
DalSanto said this was done so students can feel safer planning and attending protests.
“With the federal things that are going on, I want to make sure that (the University) is a safe space for people to use their voice to express discontent, whether that’s against the University or against the federal administration,” DalSanto said.
Achievements
Kumar said there has been more engagement from different parts of the legislative branch, with student representatives writing more than twice as many resolutions as last year.
DalSanto said ISC has handed out preventative safety bags to students that included Narcan, condoms and other items.
“(This is to) make sure that students who are maybe experimenting or just trying to have a fun time don’t face life-changing consequences for that,” DalSanto said.
External communication
DalSanto said there are between 65 and 70 members of ISC at any given time, and these members are tasked with representing the entire student population.
“It’s very hard to get the word out there that we are the one-stop shop for people who want help navigating University administration,” DalSanto said.
To combat this disconnect, she said ISC has held outreach programs across campus, such as having the Committee on Student Experience conduct food insecurity tabling at Ikenberry Commons and ISR.
DalSanto said members of ISC should have a broad perspective.
“Advocacy should not and cannot only be in ISC,” DalSanto said. “The best member of ISC is also a member in a billion other different clubs.”
Internal communication
Even with past ISC experience, Kumar said leading 25 executive officers and constantly communicating with the legislative branch as vice president was not easy.
She said she wished they had set the precedent of early communication between members of ISC earlier. That way, Kumar and DalSanto could make sure people were happy with their leadership and how they were running the organization. They now have officer hours.
New chancellor
As vice president, Kumar serves on the Senate Executive Committee, which Chancellor Charles Lee Isbell Jr. — who assumed the top job in August — is also on.
“It’s just been great to hear from him in that committee and the plans that he has for the University and why he’s excited to be here,” Kumar said. “It’s a time of great change.”
Kumar said she and DalSanto met with Chancellor Isbell once last semester, and they hope to meet with him again this semester.
Next few months
Still in its infancy, ISC — which replaced Illinois Student Government in 2023 — is currently undergoing a revision process for its constitution, bylaws and code of conduct. DalSanto said she wants to wrap that up.
Kumar said she hopes stricter transition rules are implemented. She mentioned how when she entered her position, she received a six-to-eight-page transition document, which included the obstacles her predecessor faced and what they would have done differently.
“Transition documents are super, super important, especially because ISC is such a young organization and there aren’t a lot of parameters on what exactly each role entails,” Kumar said.
Reach out
Kumar said she wants students to know that she and DalSanto are here to represent them.
“I just want students to feel comfortable coming to us and telling us about any issues that they might be having that we can help with and just knowing that we’re here for them,” Kumar said.
