At Wednesday’s final Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) meeting, the senate deliberated on the 2025-26 ASI budget, the adoption of a new proposed election code and bylaw changes.

The senate began by discussing and voting on the new proposed ASI budget for the next academic school year, which is $1,842,000.

Vice President of Finance Guadalupe Zamudio Telles explained that the factors going into the proposed budget include the $495 student fee increase and increased ASI interest earnings, which have risen from 0.5 to 3-4%.

“ASI’s operating budget has increased approximately by $200,000,” Zamudio Telles said.

Shortly after Zamudio Telles finished presenting her proposition, the motion passed unanimously.

The next action item concerned the proposal of a new election code, which Executive Vice President Frederick Lisitsa brought to the senate. He said that ASI is overdue for these changes.

“For too long, ASI elections have operated under vague procedures, unclear responsibilities and inconsistent enforcement, which has opened the door to confusion, power struggles and even manipulation in the past,” Lisitsa said.

Two of the changes presented in the proposed election code are listed below.

• ASI executives within the agency must define themselves as a candidate if they plan to run for office in an upcoming election cycle.

• The student court will turn into the elections complaint committee.

Since the proposed election code is approximately 70 pages long, Lisitsa kept the presentation brief. The motion passed, and the new election code will be in action next semester.

The senate then proceeded to discuss new bylaw and policy changes, also presented by Lisitsa. All ASI bylaws are provided on the ASI website.

Some of the changes are listed below.

• Everything relating to the election code will be provided in a separate document.

• The president is able to refer and not refer to the senate in light of staff issues.

• If the senate disagrees with the executive vice president’s actions, they have the right to conduct a digital or physical petition to adjust these behaviors outside of designated senate time, given that the request aligns with ASI bylaws.

• If any member of ASI is accused of targeting another member, a substantiation process must take place. If it is found that these charges are true, two strikes out of the three that are necessary for removal will be allotted to the individual at fault.

After taking a roll-call vote, the proposed bylaw changes were passed unanimously.

To conclude the meeting, the executives and senators each gave farewell addresses, starting with ASI President Faith Van Hoven.

“I think that this is especially sad for me because ASI has been a part of my life for two years,” Van Hoven said. “Serving as president has truly been, just I think, a privilege and an honor.”

Many of the senators and executives became emotional while speaking. Some will be returning to ASI, though many are graduating. Zamudio Telles is among those graduating.

“Though my term is ending, I will never stop showing up and showing out for our students,” Zamudio Telles said. “This isn’t a goodbye, it’s just a new start to a new chapter.”

ASI Executive Vice President Frederick Lisitsa shared a similar sentiment as Van Hoven and Zamudio Telles. This was also his last ASI meeting.

“I am supremely thankful to all of you because I am, still in my head, a senator and I see the things that you guys do and I wish I had more time here,” Lisitsa said.

ASI meetings will resume in the Fall 2025 semester with a new cohort.