The Nexus compiled profiles of the 2024-25 Associated Students elected officials to reflect on their past year in office. As they look back on their campaign platforms, we asked our elected officials to tell us about their successes and shortfalls throughout their terms in office. The term in reviews for the other executives can be viewed at dailynexus.com and/or in our May 22, 2025, print edition.
2024-25 External Vice President for Local Affairs and fourth-year history of public policy and law major Owen Meyers completed his term for the 2024-2025 academic year, which focused on public interest and expanding University of California in Isla Vista and the Pardall Center.
Meyers focused on public interest and expanding University of California Isla Vista and the Pardall Center. Maddy Fangio / Daily Nexus
The External Vice President for Local Affairs (EVPLA) serves as a liaison between the Associated Students (A.S.) and county organizations such as Isla Vista Community Services District (IVCSD) and the Santa Barbara County (SBC) Board of Supervisors. They also represent the student body for issues concerning local affairs and address larger systemic issues within Isla Vista such as the housing crisis.
Meyers ran on points including expanding University of California in Isla Vista (UCIV), upgrading the Pardall Center to make it “more of an event space,” including a basic needs vending machine, hiring caseworkers to help students with housing-related issues, providing free concerts and expanding library services.
Meyers believes he “definitely accomplished” his goals for UCIV, a non-police affiliated organization of student representatives who oversee aid stations on Del Playa Drive and El Embarcadero Road on Friday and Saturday nights. He noted that it expanded from 13 representatives to the “mid-thirties” and added a station on El Embarcadero Road. He also cited that he further “formalized” the organization, through adding CPR training and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) certification training, as well as having a station during Deltopia, which UCIV wasn’t able to do in the past.
“I think it’s great to see that it’s expanded and that [it] will just continue to hit the 40 [representative] maximum,” Meyers said. “I’m just very happy with how UCIV went; I think I definitely ate my words and performed on that.”
He said he has confidence in UCIV chair and third-year religious studies major Samira Casillas, whom he hired.
“We worked together throughout this whole year, and I’m confident that she’ll be able to keep it going at a nice and steady pace,” Meyers said.
Meyers also believes he was successful in expanding the Pardall Center, a space located on 6550 Pardall Road in I.V. where students have access to computers and printers as well as a space to host group meetings. He noted numerous organizations that held events there in the past year, such as the Registered Campus Organization (RCO) Indus and the Boards, Committees and Units (BCU) Black Women’s Health Collaborative (BWHC).
“I think it’s been incredible to see how active Pardall [Center] has become. There are now numerous organizations that I’m aware of that use Pardall as an event space,” Meyers said. “I just love to see how it’s evolved in that way.”
Meyers said that while the job listings were posted for caseworkers to help students with housing-related issues, he was unable to get them hired throughout his term. He believes that the hiring freeze on the federal level will make it continuously difficult for these positions to be filled.
As for the basic needs vending machine, Meyers said that it will be set up in the Pardall Center before the end of his term.
“You may or may not believe me, but it will be set up by the end of this quarter. But you can trust me that it will be, because I will ensure it does, because I programmed the machine,” Meyers said.
The basic needs vending machine was spearheaded by Student Advocate General and third-year computer science major Alvin Wang, which will include a variety of goods including subsidized medical products such as Plan B and Narcan, hygiene products such as toothpaste and sunscreen, as well as black hair care products provided by BWHC. Meyers said there were issues obtaining supplies since “a lot of committees termed out,” which resulted in them having to make a new Memorandum of Understanding for the machine since new parties were involved.
Meyers says he “believes” that the machine will be ready for use by May 29 and will start in a pilot program where items are free, but eventually items will have to be subsidized.
While Meyers’ office did collaborate with Book Bank as part of the Pardall Center, he “can’t really say [he’s] done much for library service expansion.” He did note that he held free concerts, such as the Spring Fling and Winter Welcome events.
He also said that he held several events that distributed meal kits, which are meal tickets valid at vendors such as Freebirds, Hummus Republic and Maria’s Tacos. He also said he set up an “agreement” with A.S. Food Bank to table bimonthly at the Pardall Center to distribute free groceries. He also continued “screen-a-thons,” which are free monthly STI screenings held at the Pardall Center.
Meyers mentioned in his endorsement interview that he wanted to utilize informative town halls, which he conducted six of throughout the year, including ones that covered Deltopia and Halloween, as well as police accountability, cannabis and Know Your Rights town halls.
Meyers spoke on the current state of the Restorative Justice Program, which allows certain citations to be waived through classes and community service but was suspended during Deltopia as it is “against the ethos of restorative justice,” according to Community Resource Deputy for Isla Vista Foot Patrol (IVFP) Colby Carrell.
“I think it’s unfortunate because I was gonna work on getting that not suspended, however, it was suspended. I will say that I know already the sheriff says it’ll be suspended again, and that’s just going to be a consistent thing that always happens,” Meyers said.
He said he believes that the next EVPLA should get started “as soon as possible” to ensure it won’t be suspended for Deltopia 2026, as it’s a “very hard fight” and “it almost seems unrealistic to try to fight against it.”
“I think there’s definitely hope, but it would just need a very long and hard-fought campaign that lasts many months,” he said.
When it came to working with local law enforcement, Meyers said working with the UC Santa Barbara Police Department (UCPD) was “great,” considering they were receptive to his criticism and were “transparent” about disclosing information. However, he said that while cooperation with IVFP was “going well” at the beginning of the year, he felt they “ran into hurdles” when it came closer to Deltopia. This year had a record number of citations and an increase in arrests, and Meyers felt that he “didn’t agree with their enforcement approach.”
He said he was “very upset” that IVFP Commander Garrett TeSlaa said that the District Attorney’s Office would be handling restorative justice, which is not suspended, unlike the sheriff’s office program. Meyers said after talking with IVCSD President Spencer Brandt that he was informed that “this wasn’t going to happen” and the District Attorney’s Office wouldn’t “see these citations going through their office.”
“I was a bit upset, because it was stated at the [IV]CSD meeting that they would go through that channel, but I guess not,” Meyers said.
The biggest change Meyers saw within the EVPLA office during his term was the involvement of the Pardall Center in the community. While he said the previous EVPLA Osaze Osayande was an “amazing EVPLA,” he felt he was able to collaborate more with the A.S. Food Bank and Isla Vista Community Relations Committee (IVCRC) to make the Pardall Center more integral to I.V.
Meyers noted that developing working relationships with entities like A.S. Food Bank and IVCRC facilitated friendships.
“I felt definitely that my office had a stronger bond with a lot of different entities. I felt like, in a very corny way, a friendship was forming,” he said.
Looking back, Meyers wishes he could have established deeper relationships and collaborated more with SBC. He noted that he hadn’t started collaborating with them until “closer to winter,” which he blames on the learning curve of the EVPLA role.
“Just trying to make sure everything was set up kind of stalled me. So I think I wish I just took that curve better and I probably got more acclimated over the summer, because I did create a schedule, but I think I was still confused, and it showed in the fall of it,” he said.
As for EVPLA-elect and second-year political science major E.J. Raad, Meyers says he “seems like a great guy.” He said he “liked a lot of his ideas” and is “very happy to work with him.” He appreciated that Raad had worked with water issues in I.V. through distributing Brita water filters to residents, which he considered “EVPLA-minded.”
“[EVPLA-minded] is just identifying a need and finding a solution to that need in the way that you can conceivably do as an organization, like a student organization. For example, noticing the water problem, connecting with research on that, and then delivering Britas to everyone is exactly the EVPLA mind,” Meyers said.
He wishes he could have implemented the “rate my landlord” program that Raad plans to achieve.
“I think that’s a great idea, and I wish I had the foresight to start planning for that,” Meyers said.
Regarding concerns for passing the torch onto the next EVPLA, he cites the learning curve, especially considering Raad hasn’t worked in the EVPLA office. He also noted that with Executive Director of A.S. Marisela Márquez retiring, it’s “going to make it a lot more difficult for people to get the information that they need.”
“There are definitely still a lot of people in A.S. who could help, but [Márquez] has been incredibly helpful. And I think just going to the position, not being in the office, it can be a bit confusing about what you’re kind of supposed to do at the beginning. And so I just wish them the best when it comes to getting ahead of that curve and trying to learn what they can,” Meyers said. “And of course, I’ll always be a resource for them.”
After Meyers graduates, he will be working as a legal assistant for the San Diego Office of the Public Defender and plans on applying to law school later on. Meyers said that he ultimately aims to pursue a career as a public interest lawyer.
“I definitely want a public interest focus,” Meyers said. “Whether it be working for the government in some capacity, but just doing what I can to help the public, the community. And I think that’s the whole part of being an EVPLA was helping a community and identifying things, [or] ways to help that community. And I do want to do that for the rest of my life.”
A version of this article appeared on p. 8 of the May 22, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
