UA President-Elect Alice Hall ’26 and VP-Elect Mariam Abdelbarr ‘27 discuss goals and plans
Hall: “It will be an honor to serve the best students in the world”
Alice Hall ’26 and Mariam Abdelbarr ’27 will serve as the Undergraduate Association (UA) President and Vice President for the 2025-26 school year. Hall and Abdelbarr, whose platform can be found in an email from Diego Temkin ’26, UA Election Commission Chair, received 1,088 out of 1,359 votes in an uncontested election. The Tech interviewed both students via email. Their responses have been edited lightly for clarity.
TT: Why did you run for UA?
Hall: The UA isn’t on everyone’s radar. A year and a half ago, I was only vaguely aware of it. However, my roommate suggested that I apply to join UA Education via dormspam. Ever since then, I have grown more and more passionate about all the ways that we can focus our energy to improve the lives of students.
The UA is designed to have something for every undergrad, and if there is an initiative or idea students are passionate about being involved with or starting, that is something we want to fund.
The best way to increase visibility is with face-to-face conversation. I received the dormspam email, but I didn’t read it until my roommate bumped it. I want to be President because I couldn’t be more excited to attend as many meetings as possible across campus to make sure I serve people best and they know how to take advantage of what the UA has to offer them.
Abdelbarr: Over the course my freshman year, I became aware of the ways that the student body wanted to interface with the administration. I saw the many avenues that were taken to achieve this end, as well as some of the gaps that could be addressed. I think this was definitely my main pull factor: helping to serve as a liaison between the interests of the student body and the higher ups of our institution.
It is really important to me that I help to communicate the interests of the student body to make MIT feel more systematically connected. Throughout the campaign preparation and process, I also grew more aware of the ways that the UA could become more transparent and efficient in many facets, including the ways we represent student voices.
TT: Why did you decide to run together?
Hall: I decided to run with Mariam because of how well our values aligned on what is most important. We both are committed to putting students first with a “for the people” mindset. Regarding less values-based topics, I respect Mariam’s opinions and enjoy working with her, knowing we share a common goal. I was seeking a sophomore to broaden our perspective and to keep younger classes engaged as we look to the future.
Abdelbarr: Alice is clearly very passionate about the UA and making lasting improvements to increase engagement and impact. Her determination has definitely made me want to be a part of the work that she will do. I think that we share overarching goals, but also bring different perspectives and experiences to help bring about these goals.
TT: What do you see as the primary challenges facing the UA for the upcoming school year?
Hall: External forces such as federal funding cuts have caused financial changes across the Institute. Although we can’t predict the future, we are preparing for the impact these factors may have on the UA. Changes seem to be rapid and unprecedented; however, we are fully confident in the systems we have in place. For example, the previous UA administration kept spending low and money never posed an issue to the tasks they wanted to accomplish. Although circumstances are different, working with similar financial officers and appropriate adjustments this coming year will ensure we follow in their fiscal footsteps.
TT: Do you have any compliments or criticisms for the current UA administration?
Hall: We deeply admire the previous administration’s values and everything they have been able to accomplish in their term. Our administration is committed to continuity and building systems and procedures that can endure far past our term. Thus, to start this tradition, we have looked to the previous administration to learn valuable lessons in areas that went smoothly and take their advice on initiatives that can be further built upon. For example, we love their participatory budgeting initiative and look forward to improving its structure.
TT: What initiatives do you hope to bring to the UA? Could you expand upon the specifics of your transparency platform?
Hall: The main lack of UA visibility isn’t because the UA is hiding things, it’s that we are all busy and can’t read every email we receive. Of course we will still send emails, but I envision them being less formal and more like a “TL;DR” because we are peers. Of course, everyone will have access to all the fleshed-out goodness, but the goal is to make emails efficient and digestible so more people can read them.
We will be chatting with more students to finalize the specifics of our feedback system. We want to make sure we find the sweet spot between valuing your time and gathering useful information. Most UA meetings are already open-door. My hope is to make that more clear and welcoming. Again, face-to-face conversations are the best way for students to express their concerns and for us to connect with them. That’s why I plan to join the meetings of as many clubs and with as many club leaders as I can to make sure we are all on the same page about how we can work together.
TT: In light of recent federal funding cuts, how will you guarantee funding for student life and research?
Abdelbarr: In the same vein as the issues we foresee the UA facing this coming year, we definitely understand that funding for student life and research may be more strained. Unfortunately, we cannot claim to guarantee funding if it is outside of our direct domain. That being said, we do not plan on diminishing our initiative of guaranteeing advocacy for creating a dining hall and more dependable UROP funding. We think that it is extremely important that the student body’s priorities are reflected in the way that available funding is allocated, so we will relentlessly advocate for these changes with the administration.
TT: What experience do you have that you feel might be relevant to your new positions?
Hall: I have experience as Co-Chair of the UA Committee on Education, which is a group we have been able to grow by four times in membership this year. This experience allowed me to observe the UA operations and gave me insight into how we interact with the greater student body, as well as how we can improve processes such as our communication and student engagement. I also think my time in the Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program (GEL) has provided me with a lot of insight into how I can grow as a leader and given me the tools to do so. For example, I hope to implement some of the peer evaluation processes we used there within the officer team to ensure we are all able to grow.
Abdelbarr: Although I have not had direct experience within the UA, I think that other experiences I have had with student and institutional organizations have lent me some insight into what I can and would like to bring to my position. For instance, my experience organizing with clubs has shown me the obstacles facing expedient and accessible funding. Other experiences that I have had that are less directly related to the UA, such as being a Burchard Scholar or Debate Fellow, have allowed me to explore and lead conversations around pressing societal issues, which I think will be an important asset.
TT: What highlights or challenges did you face during the campaign process?
Abdelbarr: A major highlight of our campaign process was the opportunity to connect with students and club leaders about their concerns on campus and how to best cater our platform to the student body’s benefit. It was great to be able to focus our campaign time on our peers by encouraging everyone to vote to increase engagement and fielding any questions people may have had.
Hall: It will be an honor to serve the best students in the world. We will do so with humility and welcome any and all feedback along the way.