An increase in student participation and interest in ASUI in 2025-26 is among major accomplishments cited by the outgoing ASUI president.
Seyi Arogundade, during the April 22 ASUI Senate meeting, said, “Coming from a place with ASUI, where we barely had any people come to our meeting all at last year, this is really heartwarming to see how much students care and are involved in our community. Thank you for being here, thank you for advocating for yourselves.”
This highlighted the growth in ASUI during her campaign. Arogundade has also made history as the first African-American to be elected as student body president in UI’s existence.
The Argonaut held a sit-down interview with Arogundade, current president of ASUI, asking about original campaign promises, the most important accomplishments of her administration and what she hopes her legacy will be for the future growth of ASUI.
Arogundade and ASUI Vice President Bryant Sitts’s biggest goal during their campaign was to improve the club funding system to be more transparent, which was achieved in their administration, as reported by The Argonaut.
“Really being able to give clubs a lot of money, especially the clubs that were shut down due to the multicultural and DEI offices being closed, and I really think we accomplished that,” said Arogundade.
These changes allowed ASUI senators to vote on club funding amounts, and for UI clubs and organizations to speak directly to ASUI, explaining the purpose and goal of their funding. This led to the creation of the director of finance position, currently held by Zac Knapp, and previously held by incumbent ASUI president, Lance Butikofer. Another effect of publicizing the club funding process was an increase of meeting attendance by club members explaining and supporting their club.
“We’ve definitely given clubs more money this year than we ever have, and being able to support clubs and organizations in that way was a big goal for us.”
When asked about a goal not reached by the administration, Arogundade stated they ran with the goal of creating “an Idaho Student Association” where Idaho universities’ student governments could come together and approach the state with united concerns or solutions.
“Although that didn’t happen, there was a lot of collaborative work that we haven’t gotten to do before amongst all of the colleges.”
ASUI Senate has passed one piece of legislation in collaboration with other universities inside of Idaho, most prominently the Launch Scholarship Statement, where the presidents and vice presidents of BSU, CWI, The College of Idaho andISU approached Gov. Brad Little toexplain the importance of the Launch Program to students.
“It was just so many of us working on one goal and to help support students here in Idaho. To see so many institutions represented from across the state represented and in one place… I think we got a really great start and a really great jumping off point for future generations to take over our spots,” said Arogundade. “ When the colleges and institutions are aligned, we have such a strong voice and we represent a large factor of the economic and public of Idaho, so being able to strategize and use our voices effectively will allow people in the legislature to take us more seriously.”
Arogundade also stated that ASUI has helped her network beyond, helping her move on past graduation.
“I have met so many people and done so many things that I never thought I’d be able to do over the course of my college experience because of ASUI. Not just in the presidency role, in other roles I’ve been a part of an ASUI,” said Arogundade.
Josie Adjanohoun can be reached at [email protected].