The Daily Nexus endorses unopposed third-year history and global studies double major Enri Lala for Internal Vice President.

Overall Lala’s senate expertise and passion for A.S. makes him the ideal candidate for IVP. Sherine John / Daily Nexus

The Internal Vice President (IVP) chairs the weekly senate meetings of Associated Students (A.S.) and represents the organization in all internal affairs.

The Nexus believes that Lala’s prioritization of key campus issues, experience within the Association and commitment to making fundamental changes to the legislative branch of A.S. puts him in a prime position to serve the student body and manage the Senate.

As IVP, Lala said he will have two major focuses: projects and internal reform. The former will include work on housing, constructing bike paths near the Interactive Learning Pavilion (ILP) and streamlining Registered Campus Organization (RCO) funding.

The Nexus believes that Lala’s experience working with the Blum Center and his RCO Youth Bridge Housing connects him with key Isla Vista issues such as the housing crisis. Furthermore, during his time in the Senate, Lala authored legislation requesting that UC Santa Barbara administration complete the San Benito and Ocean Road Housing projects and present a timeline to the public. The Nexus believes increasing transparency in regards to housing is a key issue and hopes Lala will utilize his role, if appointed, to push this further.

“Frankly, there [have] to be no executives who have specialized in housing in recent years that I know, not one. And there has been a woeful absence, even at the Senate level as well,” Lala said.

When asked to provide specificity on how he will meet these goals during his term, Lala said he will set a “concrete” agenda, yet failed to elaborate on methods to put pressure on administration.

“So what I’m doing is I’m setting out a very concrete agenda, and I’ll be briefing everyone in my office about what we’re trying to accomplish … In those face-to-face meetings with administration, [it] will be very clear what we expect from them and the timelines and clarity that has to be put forth. For example, the Ocean Road project is very far from that,” Lala said.

The Nexus commends Lala’s efforts in addressing and compiling the housing issues students face. However, questions regarding the feasibility of his goals still remain.

In terms of internal reform, the Nexus is confident that Lala’s time in the Senate has put him in a position to understand what the Association needs. Lala said he aims to fill the office staff over summer to assist him with his ambitious goals for the year and to help manage the Senate, committees and administrative work the IVP is responsible for.

“We have a situation in [the] Senate currently, and this has been the case, somewhat in recent years, or especially this year, in which it’s a small subset of senators who are doing most legislation, most of the discussion,” Lala said. “That’s going to change.”

The Nexus also believes Lala’s prioritization of accountability for elected officials with as much influence as the Senate is key to being able to manage them. This demonstrates an understanding of the flaws of the Association’s legislative branch and is a step in the right direction to revamp a historically dysfunctional institution.

Lala said he will hold check-in meetings with senators multiple times each quarter, either with his staff or himself directly. He will also ensure they do work for their specific constituency, present at least one piece of legislation per quarter and are working on at least one project at any given time.

This year, the Nexus has observed a failure to uphold legal code duties from a large group of inactive senators. The Nexus believes this, coupled with a pattern of Robert’s Rules of Order — a manual of parliamentary procedure — violations during senate meetings, suggests Lala’s dedication to enforcing productivity will lead to an effective tenure.

“So if you call a senator out at random beginning, let’s say fall quarter, I think [that] is a reasonable timeline. If the IVP were to ask you, ‘What project are you working on?,’ concretely to your committee or individually, you should have a very clear thing that you’re responding to me with,” Lala said.

Last quarter, Lala was an integral part of campaigning for a special election, which aimed to make significant constitutional changes that would have impacted the spring quarter general election. Ballot measures included updates that would have affected the number of senate seats, executive powers and election dates. In terms of the IVP position, the amendments would have shifted the IVP from “presiding officer” to “president of the Senate,” meaning they would not be legally mandated to chair every senate meeting.

This sentiment has been shared over the last two years as IVPs Açúcar Pinto and Sohum Kalia both championed a self-run senate chaired by senators themselves. Lala said that, if the amendments pass this election, he will chair every other senate meeting

“A lot of the work that the IVP and senate leadership has to do is rather menial, is things like organizing Zooms or the Meeting Owls to connect, and things of that nature which actively take away from the time that you could be using to accomplish the projects that I was mentioning before,” Lala said.

The Nexus is concerned about this unprecedented shift in one of the fundamental roles of the IVP. Additionally, there remains concern over the implications of the lack of an impartial presiding officer being present at every senate meeting. The Nexus hopes that Lala is able to remain connected to the Senate and student body in light of his potential absence from weekly meetings.

For the winter special election, the Nexus recognizes Lala’s efforts as he was one of the only senators who avidly advertised the ballot measures through videos on the senate Instagram. Despite his efforts, the election was considered invalid on Feb. 28 with 492 votes, or a 2.2% voter turnout, falling far below the necessary 20%. The Nexus was disappointed in the disparity between time spent debating amendment language during senate meetings versus efforts to make the election relevant and accessible to the student body.

Lala wants to increase outreach by regularly posting updates on the senate Instagram regarding senator projects and legislation.

“Senators who have passed some kind of important thing or important project will be invited and expected to make reels which reach out to a lot more people than some slides just listing out legislation, which might mean a lot to us, but it’s completely incomprehensible to someone just just reading the motion,” Lala said.

He also expressed interest in having a more physical presence on campus, through tabling “as much as possible” and organizing a “coffee with the president” type of event where he could engage with students directly. The Nexus believes Lala will successfully assert his presence on campus, considering his previous efforts of campus outreach.

“I’m really serious about the heightened student engagement part,” Lala said. “The communication will be heightened on all fronts. I’ll speak to students through Instagram channels. There’ll be those emails sent out more constantly. And I’m also highly serious about getting the Association up and being out there tabling as much as possible, because that’s not only a part of the function that we should be doing, it’s also the most enjoyable part.”

As IVP, Lala promised to increase public forum engagement by inviting students through a campus-wide email. The Nexus hopes that Lala is able to find more effective ways of communication to connect with his constituents and keep them engaged and informed about his office’s activities. 

Furthermore, Lala did not elaborate on specific ways he would handle emotional discussions in the Senate, which leaves the Nexus apprehensive of his ability to handle sensitive topics, such as the international political discourse seen in student government over the last few years.

“I think my skill set for this was built through the Ethics Bowl experience that I mentioned in that, even with close friends, you can get heated about certain arguments and they were up to these debates. But I think what really helps is remaining cognizant that the other person is dealing with the issue at hand, and not you specifically,” Lala said.

After immigrating to the U.S. from Albania at age 11, Lala saw firsthand what “institutional dysfunction” can look like.

“I sort of intuitively understand when things go wrong, because I’ve witnessed them at such a young age,” Lala said. “And as a consequence of that, I will work with my staff to build on a concrete agenda of how we’re reaching out to our RCOs, especially to cultural groups, and bring them into conversation by fall quarter.”

The Nexus believes an IVP must be heavily in tune with the needs of A.S. Boards, Committees and Units (BCUs) and student organizations. Outside of A.S., Lala was president of Ethics Bowl, giving him an RCO perspective. While Lala placed an emphasis on communication across campus groups, the Nexus believes he could have expanded more on this point and demonstrated more current connections with RCOs — particularly those which have come to the Senate. This is especially considering a past division between BCUs and the Senate, which has been heavily discussed at meetings this year.

“I’m going to submit legislation to turn [my plan] into what’s called the state of the Association, in which executives will show up in the form of a panel [and] explain what projects they have going on. Senate leadership to show up as well. And all BCUs will be encouraged to attend, and not only hear what’s going on, because there’s that miscommunication there, but also have the ability to have feedback from BCUs,” Lala said.

Overall, Lala’s expertise and passion for A.S. makes him the ideal candidate for IVP.

A version of this article appeared on p. 8 of  the Apr. 24, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.