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Not to be confused with University of California Student Association.

Associated Students of the University of California
AbbreviationASUC
FormationMarch 2, 1887; 137 years ago (1887-03-02)
TypeStudent association
Legal status501(c)(3) organization
Headquarters412 Eshleman Hall, Berkeley, California[1]
Location
President
Shrinidhi Gopal
Student Advocate
Antonio Caceres
External Affairs Vice President
Saanvi Arora
Academic Affairs Vice President
Kenneth Ng
AffiliationsUniversity of California Student Association[2]
Budget
$1,678,558 [3]
Websiteasuc.org

The Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) is the autonomous and officially recognized students' association of the University of California, Berkeley. It is the only students' association within the University of California that is fully autonomous from the university administration. Founded in 1887,[4] the ASUC is an independent, 501(c)(3)[5] non-profit, and unincorporated association. The ASUC controls funding for all ASUC-sponsored organizations, advocates on behalf of students to solve issues on campus and in the community, engages with administrators to develop programming, increase student-organizational resources, and increase transparency.[citation needed]

History

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The ASUC was founded on March 2, 1887. Prior to this, Berkeley had no residence halls, sport teams, or permanent student organizations. The original purpose of the ASUC was "to organize the Student Body in such wise that it might take effective action upon all matter relating to the general welfare of the student body and the University in general."[6] The organization went on to absorb the Cal Student Store, become the center of student organization oversight, and run all university athletics until the 1960s.[7]

Various student political parties – popularly known as "slates" – and independent student communities participate in the ASUC.[citation needed] SLATE, a pioneer organization of the New Left and precursor of the Free Speech Movement and formative counterculture era, was a campus political party at Cal from 1958 to 1966, while VOICE (a radical party) and Pact (a liberal party) were campus political parties at Cal in 1967.[8]

The emergence of modern-day student political parties within the ASUC began with the formation of Student Action. Student Action, founded in 1995, formed as a coalition of organizations, including the Greek life, Pre-Law, and Engineering communities. Since its inception, Student Action served each year as the largest political faction in the ASUC, producing numerous alumni that went on to become prominent political figures at the state and federal level. Over the years, Student Action expanded their party, slating candidates each year from the South Asian, Jewish, International, and East Asian communities. After 28 years, Student Action officially announced in an Instagram post that the party would be disbanded. The controversy of student-political parties at UC Berkeley became notable during Student Action's iron grip on student elections, but it certainly did not turn away other groups of students from creating political parties of their own. SQUELCH! is a satirical party which has run and won seats in the past before suffering a major blow in the 2017 elections, when they won no seats in the senate.[9] The Pirate Party centers their messaging on technology and humor, campaigning in pirate costumes during election season. As of the 2017 elections, they held one seat in the ASUC Senate.[10] The Defend Affirmative Action Party (DAAP), founded by national activist and left-wing militant group BAMN, campaigns on a platform of radical racial justice and inclusion for students, though has found relatively little support, having won no seats for 9 years as of 2017.[11] BAMN itself began at Berkeley in 1995 and ran candidates starting in 1996 under its own name, which, at the time, was The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary.[12] The major parties from the late 1980s and early 1990s included: the Bears Party, drawing from a similar constituency as today's Student Action; Students for Progress, a center-left party; as well as Cal-SERVE. Minor Parties that won seats during that era included: More centrist groups like GRASP (Grass Root and Student Power), APPLE (A People's Party for Loyalty and Experience), Vision,[13] SEED, a progressive party to the left of Cal-SERVE; Crusaders for the Rights of Undeclared and Confused Students (CRUCS), focused on initiatives to improve student life such as extending the P/NP and drop deadlines beyond the first round of midterms; the Monster Truck Party, appealing to Greek constituencies with the slogan: "what will knowledge of other cultures do if your car throws a rod 10 miles outside of Kettleman City"; the PENIS Party, with the slogan "erect a leader," and a platform advocating for more urinals and a taller Campanile; and the Science and Engineering Party, which advocated for the interests of science and engineering students and who partnered with CRUCS to win 4 executive seats between 1990 and 1992.

Today, the largest political party at UC Berkeley is ElevateCal, chaired by Abel Birosh and Guisselle Salazar. ElevateCal's founding values are centered around the inclusion of marginalized communities in student government and transparency within the student government. In the 2024 ASUC Election, ElevateCal won the Presidency, Vice Presidency, and 7 out of 20 Senate Seats, with Independents winning AAVP, EAVP, Student Advocate, and the other 13 seats.[14]

Programs and resources

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The ASUC's responsibilities include allocating student group funding through a yearly spring budgeting process. The finance officer evaluates each club's funding request, length of time as a sponsored organization, and history of funding in order to determine how much money each registered student organization should be allocated. The ASUC budgets in excess of $1 million each year to campus organizations, including the Bridges multicultural resource & retention center.[15]

The offices of the president and the external affairs vice president focus much of their time on student advocacy, often relating to issues of sexual assault, campus safety, student voice, mental health, equality, and diversity.[15]

Governance

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The ASUC Constitution establishes a students' association with elected officials modeled after California's separation-of-powers and plural elected executive framework.[16]

The executive officers and the Senate of the ASUC are popularly elected by single transferable vote.[16] Chief appointed officers are non-partisan officials appointed by the Senate. The six chief appointed officials are the chief communications officer (CCO), chief financial officer (CFO), chief legal officer (CLO), chief technology officer (CTO), chief personnel officer (CPO), and chief grants & scholarships officer (CGO).[17]

The five elected executive officers of the ASUC are the president, executive vice president (EVP), external affairs vice president (EAVP), academic affairs vice president (AAVP), and the student advocate.[16] Political parties that compete in ASUC elections usually run candidates for the first four positions, while the fifth, student advocate, is traditionally won in a nonpartisan race by a member of the staff of the outgoing student advocate.[15]

In 2019, the student body passed the Transfer Remedy Act ballot proposition, which added the transfer student representative as a unique ASUC office intended to represent the campus' growing transfer student population.[18] The Transfer Student Representative is a voting ex-officio member of the ASUC Senate, serving as the de facto twenty-first member of the Senate and maintaining all of the responsibilities of a regular ASUC senator. The Transfer Student Representative is chosen a separate election using the single transferable vote mechanism.[18] The position was on the ASUC election ballot for the first time in the spring 2020 election.[19]

Notable alumni

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List of Executive Officers

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Years President Executive Vice President Academic Affairs Vice President External Affairs Vice President Student Advocate
1985-1986[20] Pedro Noguera Karen Licavoli M. Bruce Robinson Linda Asato Steven Ganz
1986-1987 Steven Ganz Nicole Maguire Tom Malinowski Christopher Cabaldon Matt Denn
1987-1988 Michael I. Berry Julie Chang Beth Bernstein
1988-1989 Jeff Chang Pamela Brown Pete Kennedy
1989-1990 Tisa Poe Pamela Brown Jan Young Jose Huizar Bonaparte Liu
1990-1991 Bonaparte Liu Shahed Amanullah Bess Dolmo Ben Austin
1991-1992 Mark Yablonovich Cecelia Wang Rachel Settlage
1992-1993 Margaret Fortune Mimi Aye Greg Lewis Tim Yeung Lisa (Swartout) Zwicker
1993-1994[21] Marco Pulisci Scott Kamena Mike Young Anny Huang Andrew Wong
1994-1995 Andrew Wong Alex Weingarten Joanne Loh Victor Martinez Auren Hoffman
1995-1996 Jeff Cohen Felicia Sze Eric Higashiguchi Esa Yu Mark Schlosberg
1996-1997 Grant Harris Sharon Yuan Christina Pak Renee Dall Aaron Butler
1997-1998 Sharon Yuan Lee Fink Margie Brown Sanjeev Bery Hikari Kimura
1998-1999 Irami Osei Frimpong (resigned)

Preston Taylor

Rishi Chandna Amanda Canning Shin Honma Randolph Gaw
1999-2000 Patrick Campbell Conor Moore Ally McNally Gray Chynoweth Jen Shen
2000-2001[22] Teddy Liaw Alex Ding Jen Chang (resigned November 2000)[23]

Jose Luis Lopez (appointed December 2000)

Nick Papas Kevin Hammon
2001-2002[24] Wally Adeyemo[25] Justin Christensen Catherine Ahn Josh Fryday Alex Kipnis[26]
2002-2003[27] Jesse Gabriel Han Hong Tony Falcone Jimmy Bryant Salam Rafeedie
2003-2004[28] Kris Cuaresma-Primm Taina Gomez Gustavo Mata Anu Joshi Dave Madan[29][30]
2004-2005[31] Misha Leybovich Christine Lee Rocky Gade Liz Hall Dave Madan
2005-2006 Manuel Buenrostro Anil Daryani Jason Dixson Sharon Han Vikrum Aiyer
2006-2007 Oren Gabriel Vishal Kumar Gupta Joyce Liou Jason Chu
2007-2008 Van Nguyen Taylor Allbright Curtis Lee Danny Montes
2008-2009 Roxanne Winston Krystle Pasco Carlo De La Cruz Dionne JIrachaikitti Matthew David Demartini
2009-2010 Will Smelko Tu Tran John Tran Dani Haber
2010-2011 Noah Stern Nanxi Liu Viola Tang Ricardo Gomez
2011-2012 Vishalli Loomba Chris Alabastro Julia Joung Joey Freeman Samar Shah
2012-2013[32] Connor Landgraf Justin Sayarath Natalie Gavello Shahryar Abbasi Stacy Suh
2013-2014[33] Deejay Pepito Nolan Pack Valerie Jameson Safeena Mecklai Timofey Semenov
2014-2015[34] Pavan Upadhyayula Justin Kong Summer (elected): Jeanette Corona

Fall (acting): Pavan Upadhyayula[35]

Fall-Spring (appointed): Mon-Shane Chou[36]

Caitlin Quinn Rishi Ahuja
2015-2016[37] Yordanos Dejen Lavanya Jawaharlal Melissa Hsu Marium Navid Leah Romm
2016-2017[38] William Morrow Alicia Lau Frances McGinley Andre Luu Selina Lao
2017-2018[39] Zaynab Abdulqadir-Morris Helen Yuan Andrew-Ian Bullitt Rigel Robinson Jillian Free
2018-2019[40] Alexander Wilfert Hung Huynh Melany Amarikwa Nuha Khalfay Sophie Bandarkar
2019-2020[41] Amma Sarkodee-Adoo Andy Theocharous (resigned in April 2020) [42]

Nathan Mizell (appointed in April 2020) [43]

Aastha Jha Varsha Sarveshwar Nava Bearson
2020-2021[19] Victoria Vera Melvin Tangonan Nicole Anyanwu Derek Imai Joyce Huchin
2021-2022[44] Chaka Tellem Aditya Dev Varma (resigned in August 2021)

Antonio Kobe Lopez (acting)

Giancarlo Fernandez (appointed in September 2021)

James Weichert Riya Master Era Goel
2022-2023[45] Chaka Tellem Giancarlo Fernandez James Weichert Bailey Henderson Crystal Choi
2023-2024[46] Sydney Roberts Shri Gopal Kenneth Ng Alexander Edgar Ariana Kretz
2024-2025[47] Shri Gopal Robert Carrillo Kenneth Ng Saanvi Arora Antonio Caceres

List of Senators

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Term Senator
2020-2021 [1] Alexis Aguilar Sarah Bancroft Julia Castro Maddy Chen Sheena Dichoso Echano Naomi Joy Garcia Will Liu Samuel Peng Apoorva Prakash Sahvannah Rodriguez Michael Savides Ruchi Shah Ronit Sholkoff Rebecca Soo Ellis Spickermann Chaka Tellem Mateo Torrico Aasim Yahya Liam Will Rex Zhang
2021-2022 [2] Muz Ahmad Amy Chen Sam Coffey Jason Dones Mehnaz Grewal Amanda Hill Varsha Madapoosi Sophie Morris Adrianna Ngo Osirus Polachart Sammy Raucher Ashley Rehal Isabella Romo Dil Sen Elif Sensurucu Gabbi Sharp Jerry Xu Griselda Vega Martinez Stephanie Wong Kalli Zervas
2022-2023 [3] Deena Ali Emma Centeno Shay Cohen Manuel Cisneros Shrinidi Gopal Kailen Grottel-Brown Yasamin Hatefi Raymond Hufnagel Anjali Jogia-Sattar Mahathi Kandimalla Deborah Kim Joshua Lee Tyler Mahomes Soha Manzoor Charles Peng Akash Ponna Thin Rati-Oo Carlos Vazquez Stephanie Wong Megan Yao
2023-2024 [4] Lanah Duque Caitlyn Guntle Kailen Grottel-Brown Luca Hadife Andrea Jimenez Jose Massuh Ayal Meyers Ashi Mishra Ariel Mizrahi Sky Montogomery Isabel Prasad Thin Rati-Oo Aanya Niharika Schoetz Christine Song Imaan Sultan Bianca Torres Doty Andy Liu Helena Wu Sonia Zu

List of Appointed Officers

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Years Chief Communications Officer Chief Financial Officer Chief Legal Officer Chief Personnel Officer Chief Technology Officer
2019-2020 [5] Bryan Huang Lucy Liu Jedidiah Tsang Evan Cui / Ilene Kung Leon Ming
2020-2021 [6] Annie Pan David Wang Athalia Djuhana David Zhou Grace Luo
2021-2022 2 Nancy Kim Soomin Kim (resigned in January 2022)

Henry F. Isselbacher (Appointed in January 2022)

Mina Han (resigned in February 2022)

Athalia Djuhana (acting)

Stephany Su (appointed in May 2022)

David

Zhou / Eliana Kim

Oscar Bjorkman
2022-2023 Ryan Barba / Jennifer Rojas Henry F. Isselbacher Jason Dones Eliana Kim / Michael Moy Saruul Amarbayar
2023-2024 Jennifer Rojas Catherine Park Jason Dones Michael Moy / Riley Anderson Vedha Santhosh

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "ASUC | Home". Associated Students of the University of California. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  2. ^ "Student Board - University of California Student Association". University of California Student Association. 2019. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
  3. ^ "ASUC FY23 General Budget [FINAL ABSA ALLOCATIONS]". Retrieved May 8, 2022.
  4. ^ Johnson, Robert S. (1966). "Berkeley: Student Government". University of California History. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  5. ^ ASUC Form 990 for the 2008-2009 tax year
  6. ^ ASUC Constitution of 1887
  7. ^ "ASUC". asuc.org. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  8. ^ Glusman, Paul (October 6–12, 1967). "Anti-Plaque Claque Wins". Berkeley Barb. p. 14. Retrieved January 29, 2017. Voting in the affirmative were [Norm] Pederson, Steve Greenberg, Herb Englehardt (all of VOICE, the radical party), and Martinas Ycas, an anarchist. Voting against were the conservative senators, and Pete Ross, Charlie Palmer, and Bill Bennet of Pact, the liberal party.
  9. ^ Fineman, Jake (May 1, 2017). "SQUELCH! is dead, long live SQUELCH!". The Daily Californian.
  10. ^ Lynn, Jessica (March 17, 2017). "Pirate Party announces 3 ASUC Senate candidates". The Daily Californian.
  11. ^ Provencio, Elaina (March 17, 2015). "DAAP announces 4 ASUC general election candidates". The Daily Californian.
  12. ^ Associated Students of the University of California Voter's Guide, 1996
  13. ^ "CalSERVE partners with Cooperative Movement Party, gaining new political ground". The Daily Californian. March 14, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  14. ^ Brown, Matthew (April 12, 2024). "LIVE: Results from the 2024 ASUC general elections". www.dailycal.org. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
  15. ^ a b c "What is the ASUC?". Associated Students of the University of California. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  16. ^ a b c "ASUC Constitution". ASUC Central Drive (Google Drive).
  17. ^ "Staff Directory | ASUC". ASUC. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  18. ^ a b Katewa, Aditya (April 1, 2020). "ASUC 2020 elections ballot introduces transfer student representative position". The Daily Californian. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  19. ^ a b "ASUC Elections Council, Judicial Council certify election results for 2020-21 academic year". The Daily Californian. April 24, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  20. ^ Krueger, Chris (April 16, 1985). "First black president in ASUC history". The Daily Californian. Vol. XVII, no. 67. Berkeley, California. pp. 1, 3. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  21. ^ "ASUC Elected Officials List 1930-1999". asuc.org/archives. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  22. ^ "Party Sweeps Top ASUC Seats - The Daily Californian". archive.dailycal.org. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  23. ^ "Error-Ridden Cal-FACTS Stir Demand For VP Recall - The Daily Californian". archive.dailycal.org. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  24. ^ "Elections Results Finally Released - The Daily Californian". archive.dailycal.org. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  25. ^ "Wally Adeyemo | Center for Strategic and International Studies". Archived from the original on July 6, 2017.
  26. ^ Appointed after the elected candidate, Matt Holohan, stepped down shortly after his election.
  27. ^ "Student Action Sweeps Executive Office Slate - The Daily Californian". archive.dailycal.org. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  28. ^ "Cal-SERVE Sweeps - The Daily Californian". archive.dailycal.org. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  29. ^ "Editorial: The Daily Californian Endorsements - The Daily Californian". archive.dailycal.org. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  30. ^ Took over the Student Advocate office following the disqualification of candidate Bryant Yang from the election; his only opponent, graduating senior Richard Schulman, received a majority of the votes but could not serve, according to ASUC rules.
  31. ^ "Student Action Rises Again: Leybovich Nets ASUC Presidency - The Daily Californian". archive.dailycal.org. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  32. ^ Morris, J. D. (April 19, 2012). "2012 ASUC general election results". The Daily Californian. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  33. ^ Mehra, Curan (April 18, 2013). "ASUC Election 2013 results: CalSERVE takes 3 of 4 partisan executive seats". The Daily Californian. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  34. ^ Messerly, Megan (April 17, 2014). "2014 ASUC general election results". The Daily Californian. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  35. ^ As ASUC President, Pavan Upadhyayula was the de jure acting AAVP under the ASUC Constitution during the vacancy. However, AAVP Chief-of-Staff Denim Ohmit was the de facto acting AAVP.
  36. ^ "Mon-Shane Chou confirmed as academic affairs vice president | The Daily Californian". The Daily Californian. October 9, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  37. ^ Chinoy, Sahil; Weiner, Chloee (April 16, 2015). "LIVE: Results from the 2015 ASUC general elections". The Daily Californian. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  38. ^ Abbott, Katy (April 8, 2016). "LIVE: Results from the 2016 ASUC general elections". The Daily Californian. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  39. ^ Platten, Andrea (April 14, 2017). "LIVE: Results from the 2017 ASUC general elections". The Daily Californian. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  40. ^ "LIVE: Results from the 2018 ASUC general elections". The Daily Californian. April 13, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  41. ^ "ASUC Executive Vice President Andy Theocharous resigns". The Daily Californian. April 14, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  42. ^ "LIVE: Results from the 2018 ASUC general elections". The Daily Californian. April 11, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  43. ^ "Nathan Mizell to serve as ASUC executive vice president through end of semester". The Daily Californian. April 23, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  44. ^ "LIVE: Results from the 2021 ASUC general elections". The Daily Californian. April 9, 2021. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
  45. ^ "Independents hold slight majority in 2022-23 ASUC executive offices". The Daily Californian. April 8, 2022. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
  46. ^ Katewa, Aditya (April 14, 2023). "LIVE: Results from the 2023 ASUC general elections". The Daily Californian.
  47. ^ Brown, Matthew (April 12, 2024). "LIVE: Results from the 2024 ASUC general elections". www.dailycal.org. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
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