Daniel Aminbakhsh is running for one of five student senator-at-large positions, with a platform centered on improving transparency, increasing community outreach and advocating for affordability.
A third-year pharmacology student, Aminbakhsh is new to Senate, but said he has held leadership roles in various organizations. Aminbakhsh cited being part of Model UN and becoming a treasurer for a Model UN conference in Canada. He also served as a prefect in high school, where he was involved in event planning and community engagement.
“This goes back to community outreach. [I] want to make sure that people are feeling connected, that they're feeling heard as well, and that their interests are actually seen,” he said.
Aminbakhsh said he is concerned with how many students are unaware of policies made within Senate that impact them. “I plan to do that by increasing a lot of the communication of the Senate, because right now there isn't much the broader student body isn't as aware of what goes down in the Senate,” he said.
“I think that's a shame, because there's a lot of things that go down that could really apply to people and decisions that I think people would be a lot more interested in had they known what was going on.”
To address this, he plans to share Senate updates through social media and posters — however this is not necessarily a new idea as some student senators already do this like Kareem Hassib and Solomon Yi-Kieran.
Aminbakhsh also raised concern about affordability and availability of student housing, citing rising rent costs off-campus as a growing concern. “This is a huge priority for me,” he said. As a senator, Aminbakhsh wants to advocate for more student housing developments rather than commercial developments, which he believes could help address affordability challenges.
While senators can advocate for affordability, like by pushing for more open educational resources to reduce textbook costs, advocating for housing would be outside Aminbakhsh role as a senator.
Aminbakhsh acknowledged being one senator among many, the challenge he will face is working with people who may disagree with him. “You have to respect everyone's position, and I think that's a very important thing, because people want to be heard at the end of the day. People don't want to be ignored,” he said. “I think having a lot of community understanding will definitely help address people that may have disagreements with some of my positions.”
Aminbakhsh’s motivation for running is shaped by personal experience. He said in his first year, he became a caretaker and remembers advisors, professors and policies around accommodations being essential. “The policies surrounding what happens for when someone goes through a personal incident just like I did were incredibly helpful,” he said.
“I realized that these positions, these policies, are there for a reason. They were there because of people that were motivated to help protect the students in general. And I'm incredibly grateful.”
This article is part of our 2025 AMS Elections coverage. Follow us at @UbysseyNews on X (formerly Twitter) and follow our election coverage starting March 3.
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