By Nasai Rivas
Candidates for the Vice President of Finance, Executive Vice President and ASI President met face to face on Wednesday for the 2025 Associated Students Incorporated Executive Candidates Debate.
Issues like student finance, parking, affordability, equity, construction of the new University Student Union and the welfare of students were at the center of the debate.
The 2025 Executive Candidate Debate was co-hosted by ASI and the Long Beach Current. Managing Editor for the Current, Linsey Towles, served as the debate’s moderator.
Candidates for ASI president are Chief Legislative Officer, Nicholas Nieto, and Senator-At-Large for Athletics, Sonny Ciampa.
Nieto said as president, he plans to focus on representing undocumented students, increasing affordability and implementing accountability in ASI and the administration.
“I want y’all to know that I’m going to fight for us. At the end of the day, I am a student, I’m not a president,” Nieto said.
Ciampa stated his goal as president is to create a campus where every student is welcomed and a student government that listens to the student body.
ASI Presidential candidate Sonny Ciampa answered questions about unity, campus life, student resources, food accessibility and shared governance at Executive Candidate Debate on March 5 at the USU Beach Auditorium. Photo credit: Justin Enriquez
“My time as senator, I learned that real change starts with student engagement,” Ciampa said. “With my experience, I’m ready to fight for you on day one.”
During the debate, both candidates spoke about the closing of the USU and the construction of the new building.
Nieto said investing resources into clubs and student organizations on campus so they can keep up with the accommodations for students will help the community when the USU closes.
“These students [need] to find a community somewhere on campus, and we need to invest in those clubs, [to] make sure that they can accommodate for that increase of students,” Nieto said.
Ciampa said as president he will help students by pairing ASI with student organizations and increasing engagement with students and direct communication.
“With our student union closing, we need to strengthen our sense of community,” Ciampa said.
Candidates for Executive Vice President are current Executive Vice President Matt Melendrez, URECBOT Trustee and Chair of the Programs Evaluation Committee Alex Lopez, and political science major Shelton King Jr. All three candidates cited different priorities if they were to be elected for vice president:
King Jr. said his focus would be parking.
ASI Executive Vice President candidate Shelton King Jr. discussed parking during the March 5 Executive Candidate Debate at Long Beach State, which is one of his top priorities if elected. Photo credit: Justin Enriquez
“Parking here sucks. It’s very bad. It’s extremely bad,” King Jr. said. “There’s no other way to put it. It’s something that should be addressed, and it’s a student need and want that everyone should have access to.”
Another issue he focused on is optimizing student lives, stating that student ID cards should be digitized in order to modernize the lives of students.
Lopez said his goal as vice president is to make the ASI Senate more interpersonal and engaged with students.
“I aim to develop long lasting relationships with many organizations and clubs to ensure a fair and equal representation to all college communities on campus,” Lopez said.
Melendrez said his campaign is about affordability for students on campus and getting rid of any financial barriers that hurt students’ education.
ASI Executive Vice Presidential candidate Matt Melendrez answered questions regarding campus equity, social justice issues and student advocacy during the March 5 Executive Candidate Debate. Photo credit: Justin Enriquez
“No student should have to choose between taking a second job or going to class between affording textbooks and buying groceries,” Melendrez said.
URECBOT Trustee-at-large, Kim Nguyen, was the only candidate for vice president of finance.
Nguyen said she wants to help students with financial literacy by providing workshops for them, and help manage the ASI budget.
“I know firsthand the struggles of navigating financial literacy on my own, from figuring out tuition to managing expenses and finding resources to navigate my education,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen said she wanted to become vice president of finance because of those struggles and wants to advocate for students who also struggle with finances.
Students can vote for their candidates online from March 10-12 on their Long Beach State portal app under ASI elections. ASI will also send students an email link where they can vote.
