The ASUO Senate President manages the entire legislative branch of ASUO. This year, second-year student Isaiah Boyd was elected to the position. Boyd’s passion for politics has been the main drive behind juggling both the senate presidency as well as his appointed senate chair.

Each cabinet member of the ASUO senate must always take responsibility for their chair as well as whatever position they are appointed (i.e. President, Vice President, Treasurer, etc.). 

Boyd is not only the senate president: He also assumes his 3rd senate chair, a seat that gives him a position on the Program’s Finance Committee. According to the ASUO voter guide, his senate seat is a two-year position.

“I haven’t checked the history books, but I think I am the youngest senate body president to date,” Boyd said. “I definitely got some pushback from more senior individuals who said I couldn’t do this.”

Despite his peers’ skepticism, Boyd’s drive urges him to continue his work within ASUO. He bears the responsibility because of the nature of his goals. 

For Boyd, the love of politics and policy started when he was young. Living on the lines between Long Beach and Orange County, Boyd would often take the puzzle section from his grandpa’s newspaper.

“Afterwards he read the paper, he would ask me random questions about politics,” Boyd said. “I think that stimulated me early on.”

Boyd says that from a young age knew he wanted to make a difference and help people in need. His first aspiration was to be a judge. This way, he believed, he could serve justice to the guilty and protect the innocent.

The moment the opportunity presented itself, Boyd jumped on the opportunity to work in any form of student government. For him, it started in middle school.

After enrolling in Los Alamitos High School, Boyd turned his attention to track and field for his freshman and sophomore years. He made his return to student government in his junior year where he headed the finance committee funding student groups on campus. 

In his last year of high school, Boyd was appointed chief of staff within the executive branch of his high school student government.

“My RA knew Montse Mendez, the previous ASUO Senate President, and they hadn’t filled the first-year representative spot yet,” Boyd said about his first year in ASUO. “I went and talked to Mendez, and immediately knew that ASUO was something I wanted to do.”

Boyd started as the first-year representative two months into his fall term. The senate didn’t give a grace period for learning. For Boyd, it was a rush that he enjoyed.

“His first year here, he was super active as the first-year representative,” Becky Girvan, the director of ASUO said. “It didn’t surprise me that Isaiah became the senate president.”

Boyd believed he worked hard enough to earn the position of senate president in his second year at the University of Oregon. He intends to continue his work until he reaches his ultimate goal.

Boyd’s endgame? The Oval Office.