On the issues: WRSU interviews RUSA presidential candidates

Voting for the Rutgers University Student Assembly’s 2026 general elections is open, allowing undergraduate students to cast their votes for their student government representatives of the 2026-2027 academic year.

All positions in RUSA’s executive board are up for election, including President, Vice President, and Treasurer.

Elected leaders will lead the student assembly in hearing and voting on legislation, the execution of RUSA initiatives, and work with administration to address the needs of students. 

The student assembly controls the rules and guidelines for a number of University organizations and initiatives, as well as use of the student fee included in every undergraduate student’s tuition bill. 

The student assembly president is the primary voice of student needs on campus and has the power to enact executive orders, veto RUSA legislation, and manage the presidential budget.

WRSU spoke to both presidential candidates on their plans for RUSA if elected. 

Alejandra Afanador is the current DEI director of RUSA and is running for president under the campaign Knights4Change. She is a rising senior, and is also a member of Latino Student Council. Afanador is running alongside Legislative Chair Dina Abdelfattah, who is a candidate for Vice President.

Alina Chen is the current University Affairs chair of RUSA and is running for president under the campaign Uknighted. She is a rising junior, and was a member of RUSA’s constitutional ad-hoc committee this year. Chen is running alongside RUSA Secretary Isabella Esposito, who is a candidate for Vice President.

Each candidate answered the same five questions, then answered two questions regarding their individual experience in the student assembly. You can see the questions and read their responses below, as well as listen to their full answer to WRSU.

Questions to both candidates

“Why are you running for RUSA President?”

Afanador said she sees RUSA as a vehicle for change, and she wants to use the privileges of the position to empower student government. She also discussed her involvement with several groups that have given her experience for the position, including Latino Student Council, the Latin American Student Organization, and Bridge Rutgers, which she helped found.

Chen said she has had a passion for student government for a long time and wants to represent unheard voices and improve the Rutgers experience. She pledged her administration would center the voices of all kinds of Rutgers students, if elected.

“How have your past positions at RUSA prepared you for the presidency, and can you point to a few past projects that show your ability to affect change on campus?”

Afanador discussed her RUSA positions as DEI Director, SAS Senator, and a member of an ad-hoc committee to investigate a RUSA meeting that was cancelled last year by administration due to an overwhelming turnout of students to contest a controversial bill. She said her experiences have taught her how to work with administration in a productive way and understand both sides of University government. Afanador also mentioned how her committee helped pass a RUSA statement against discrimination.

Chen said she has been working with RUSA leaders before she even came to Rutgers, and has been getting things done on campus from as early as she could. She mentioned multiple successful projects, including improving the campus bus system, leading the Meal Swipes for Charity initiative, and adding more food options at Busch Dining Hall. She also discussed her work with other student governing councils, University administration, and New Brunswick city officials while serving on multiple committees.

“What efforts of the current RUSA executive branch would you like to continue next year? What do you want to improve upon?”

Afanador recognized the current Executive Board’s efforts to inform students about the student assembly and to make RUSA leaders more accessible to the student body. She also said she’d like to continue those efforts to make RUSA more transparent.

Chen noted that several Executive Board members are running alongside her, and that she would like to continue efforts to engage RUSA with political advocacy on the state and federal levels. Chen noted a few planned initiatives, including an “Advocacy Day” to help students get involved in politics and to find ways to improve University spending as administration announces budget cuts.

“Recently, there have been headlines about budget cuts hitting the School of Arts and Sciences, leading to a number of classes being cut. The Board of Governors will also soon be deciding on the tuition price for next year, which has increased significantly over the past few years. This leaves students hurt from both sides of the issue: their classes suffer from budget cuts, and their term bill rises year after year. As RUSA president, how will you serve those students and represent their needs when working with administration on these budgetary issues?”

Afanador said she and her campaign are particularly concerned with this issue, as the layoffs of lecturers will hurt faculty and students. She said that her administration would work with administration to avoid these cuts, but said it is important to recognize the perspectives of all sides and that increases in tuition may be necessary. Afandor said that if tuition increases to avoid these cuts, her administration would hold administration accountable to ensure that added money goes to the right places.

Chen said it would be her responsibility as RUSA president to make sure all University decisions are made in the interest of helping students. She continued that administration should be transparent with students on how these budget cuts will affect course availability and class sizes. Chen also gave facts and figures showing the importance of lecturers to academics and the University as a whole.

“Over the course of the academic year, the issue of academic free speech at Rutgers has come into question. Externally, The Trump administration has pressed multiple universities to reprimand student protestors and agree to pacts to follow federal guidelines in exchange for certain assurances. Internally, the Rutgers chapter of Turning Point USA made waves after their critiques of professors led to multiple classes moving online and professors fearing for their safety on campus. How do you think administration should be responding to these strains on free speech? And separately, how would you address that issue as president?”

Afandor said free speech is an important and fundamental right of all students and faculty. She continued that she has worked with student organizers before, as well as learned to work with people with different opinions through her work with Bridge Rutgers. She also noted RUSA’s anti-discrimination statement that she helped pass, which reaffirms RUSA’s responsibility to protect free speech.

Chen stressed the importance of free speech, and said RUSA has the ability and responsibility to advocate for the free speech of students. She continued that administration must respond to concerns of free speech, and that RUSA will continue to do what they can to address issues like the Turning Point USA controversie

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Questions for Alejandra Afanador

“As Latino Student Council Representative, you helped co-sponsor and pass a resolution asking administration to create immigration enforcement safe zones for undocumented students. While it will lead to some concrete things, like a protocol on how to handle ICE coming to campus, the university has yet to make any immigration enforcement safe zones. If elected, how can you help students put faith in RUSA to make meaningful change when policies like immigrant safe zones have been ignored by administration?”

Afanador said that, if elected, she would ensure that RUSA is held accountable from one year to the next to ensure promises are delivered. She also noted the limitations of RUSA’s jurisdiction and that administration gets final say on how issues like immigration safe zones are addressed. Afanador also noted how she is working to pass similar legislation in the SAS Senate, which she said will help bolster demands for a response from administration leaders.

“Rutgers administration recently closed the Office of University Equity and Inclusion to be replaced with the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity. They also removed DEI language from across their website, with Northjersey.com reporting that it was under pressure from the Trump administration. As current DEI chair of RUSA, what do you think of those decisions from the University, and how will you address that issue as RUSA president?”

Afanador said she is concerned about the removal of DEI language, but that she has been working with administration to monitor these changes since they were announced, including speaking with the now-former head of the Office of University Equity. She also noted that, if elected, she would still appoint a DEI Director for the student assembly and would not remove any DEI language from RUSA operations.

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Questions for Alina Chen

“We’d also like to ask you about your work on the constitutional ad-hoc committee, which, as you said, cleaned up a lot of the RUSA founding documents for efficiency and to match current practices, and have become the defining RUSA legislation of this semester. Needless to say, these are very internal changes and naturally not the most approachable RUSA legislation for the average undergraduate student to understand. Nevertheless, some of these bills were controversial when presented, such as the student organization funding guidelines and the referendum to change the RUSA constitution. With your experience on the ad-hoc committee, how will you as a RUSA leader and president communicate to students the importance of legislation like those that require deep RUSA experience to understand.”

Chen noted important issues that directly impact students that the constitutional ad-hoc committee addressed, including improving student representation. Chen noted that she did not work on the changes to student organization guidelines, and that she plans to work closely with the governing councils of professional schools, who opposed the changes, to make sure all voices are heard. Chen also said that a lot of misinformation circulated about how the constitutional changes in the referendum would affect students, and promised to inform students to avoid future misinformation on RUSA legislation.

Note: As Chen correctly clarifies, the bill to change the student organization funding guidelines was not written by the constitutional ad-hoc committee, and Chen did not work on the bill.

“The Basic Needs Center made waves last semester after the government shut down led to SNAP benefits being cut and a greater reliance on the Basic Needs Center. RUSA did it’s part to support the Basic Needs Center, the current RUSA President Christopher Godoy gave some of his presidential funding, and Basic Needs Center representatives spoke at one of the meetings. Can you speak more about your work with the Basic Needs Center? Also, now that the government shutdown is over, what are the next steps in continuing to support the Basic Needs Center now that it is no longer in such a big spotlight.”

Chen said supporting the Basic Needs Center was one of the reasons she decided to run for University Affairs chair, and she plans to keep that a priority if elected. She discussed her work with Meal Swipe for Charity, which donated to the Basic Needs Center last semester and will donate to the American Cancer Society this semester.

Elected students will serve in their positions for the 2026-2027 academic year.

Students can vote online on a form through getINOVLVED.

Voting will close Monday, March 30th at 11:59pm.

Noah Choi contributed to this story