The three candidate slates running for Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) Executive President and Vice President debated the impact of national politics on the University and student campus life at the 2025 ASSU Executive Debate on Tuesday.

The debate was hosted by the ASSU Elections Commission at The Arbor. The Executive Branch serves both undergraduate and graduate students, unlike the Undergraduate Senate (UGS) and Graduate Student Council (GSC). The ASSU Executive Branch aims to “advocate for the well-being and collective empowerment of the entire Stanford student body,” according to an email sent to the student body on Tuesday. 

Candidate slate Ava Brown ’26 and Will Berriman ’26, whose platform is named “Your Friendly Neighborhood Cardinal,” focused on community-centered programming and policy initiatives. Proposed community programming included get-to-know-you events, a winter “Stanford Student Symposium” for students to present on projects for additional ASSU discretionary funding and spring philanthropy events. 

In terms of policy, Brown and Berriman pledged during the debate to “establish a committee to focus on how the Department of Education rulings impact Stanford students to be best educated on protecting students’ rights.”

The two highlighted the campaign’s focus on student needs, noting that they had met with over 25 student leaders.

Candidate slate and current UGS co-chairs Ivy Chen ’26 M.A. ’27 and Gordon Allen ’26 shared that the focus of their campaign, “BUILD,” is “student life, social life and graduate students.” 

Chen and Allen pointed to UGS initiatives they spearheaded to extend Green Library hours, create a continuous four-year sexual violence education program and increase meal plan dollars. At the debate, the team committed to creating a “coalition of multicultural groups,” establishing an end-of-year “Cardinal Fair” and fighting for graduate student needs like fair housing and affordable transportation next year.

Chen and Allen highlighted their strong faculty connections, mentioning past meetings with University president Jonathan Levin ’94 and Provost Jenny Martinez. “We met with these faculty to [understand] how we can better serve students, and through these meetings we’ve gained experience on how to fight back against faculty, how to push them,” Chen said.

Candidate slate Artem Arzyn ’25 M.S. ’25 and Raina Talwar Bhatia B.A, B.S. ’25 M.S. ’26 emphasized student rights, particularly free speech and the rights of international students. The leadership board of the Stanford Graduate Workers Union (SGWU) formally recommended voting for Arzyn due to his past accomplishments in housing affordability for graduate students, free speech and international student rights. 

If elected, Arzyn and Bhatia pledged to work with Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) to improve vegetarian dining options, streamline and simplify the Office of Accessible Education (OAE) process, reduce the cost of renting on-campus venues for student groups and advocate for funding for researchers in light of recent NIH cuts.

Arzyn noted that students frequently reached out to them for support, including when rumors spread of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on campus and when they “thought the University would no longer be covered under sanctuary state policy.”

“We are here because people from a variety of marginalized communities have asked that we come here, have asked that we speak up,” Arzyn said.

The candidates also debated how best to respond to the effects of national politics on students after an audience member asked whether they “promise to sue Trump and his administration.” 

Berriman shared that his slate doesn’t “want to unnecessarily draw the ire of the federal government, as this could have direct consequences to the rights and protections students want.”

“I think it’s important to consider every action we do in response to the [Department of Education], in response to the federal government, in response to the Trump administration before we actually try to implement something,” Berriman said.

Chen and Allen promised to take a stand on political issues. “We live in scary times. We live in uncertain times. And we live in terrifying times. But one thing Gordon and I can promise you is that the ASSU will not remain neutral anymore,” Chen said. “For the past couple years, the association has been too neutral. Being neutral, being silent, is being complicit. We will not shut up about this.”

Bhatia emphasized the need to work with University administration. “I understand that the instinct right now is to fight admin with everything we have. The reality is admin makes these decisions,” she said. “We can fight them as hard as we want, but we need to figure out a way to work with them to make sure that they make the decisions that we want.”

In closing statements, Brown and Berriman emphasized their ability “to speak to the entire Stanford experience.” 

“At the end of the day, Your Friendly Neighborhood Cardinal is really here for neighborhood engagement, and Will and I truly have that experience with community leadership to be a mouthpiece for multiple aspects of Stanford,” Brown said.

Chen and Allen highlighted their determination to advocate for students, emphasizing that their standout point was “not just the experience, but the passion, the grit, the determination and the will to fight for you guys, to make sure that we continue to fight for students.” 

Arzyn and Bhatia underlined the communities that asked them to run including undergraduate students, transgender students and undocumented students. 

“I am concerned by the fact that there is not faith in the people leading the Undergraduate Senate,” Arzyn said. “There’s a lot of people that are behind us, both undergraduate and graduate, that have reached out to us because they trust us, they believe in us, and they asked us to run to represent them.”

The election will be held from Friday at 12 a.m. to Saturday at 11:59 p.m. Ballots will be delivered electronically via email to all students.

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Bhatia’s degrees and misphrased the recommendation of the SGWU. The Daily regrets these errors.

This article has been updated to reflect the correct times that the election will be held.