The 2025-2026 elected Student Government legislators and executive branch convened for their first assembly on Tuesday, marking the official start of the newly elected executive alliance’s term.
Chief Justice Isaiah Mosley swore in Hudson Thomas and Thierry Chu as SG president and vice president, respectively, and addressed representatives and students gathered for the occasion.
“I can feel the energy is palpable in here,” said Thomas, a Plan II, government and history junior. “We’re going to do a lot of great work, and there’s a lot of stuff on the horizon, so get ready for a very busy but really awesome year. We’re going to change the game this year.”
Outside of the assembly, a group of six students led by Arshia Papari, the former SG advocacy policy director, gathered in protest. He organized the demonstration in response to the Office of the Dean of Students’ decision to overturn Thomas and Chu’s prior disqualification from the election.
“Last week, I resigned my position due to the fact that the University of Texas at Austin, through the Office of the Dean of Students, forced its way into our election system with student government and overruled a verdict of disqualification against a candidacy for executive office that had flagrantly violated campaign finance regulations and were dutifully and rightfully disqualified for those issues,” said Papari, a government and Plan II sophomore.
Papari attempted to prevent the meeting from occurring by sending a message to all 50 new representatives, urging them not to attend in an effort to break the quorum, which would have stopped the business of the legislative branch. He said although some representatives expressed support for the boycott, they needed 26 members to abstain in order to be successful. Because this didn’t happen, the assembly continued as planned.
In addition to the swearing-in of the executive alliance, the assembly saw the election and appointment of other leadership positions within SG.
SG representatives elected finance sophomore Anthony Nguyen as the speaker of the assembly and appointed business freshman Charles Weiner as the Rules & Procedures Chair.
Other appointments included public health junior Akshathh Mukkera as the Academic Affairs Chair; Plan II freshman Jeremiah Clarke as the Ethics & Oversight Chair; business sophomore Jace Jones as the Financial Affairs Chair; Nina Raich, a communication studies and political communications sophomore, as the Governmental Affairs Chair; and government sophomore Kendall Evans as the Student Affairs Chair.
Members of the newly appointed executive board members, selected by Thomas and Chu, are set to be sworn in at next week’s assembly.
