Mariam Hassan and Kikachi “Kiki” Akpakwu are not only ASUO’s newest presidential duo, but they are also good friends outside of their work together. When they met, they bonded over having similar views for how their ideal student government would be run.
Hassan, the newly elected 2024-2025 president for the Associated Students of the University of Oregon, did not have any prior experience in student government, nor a plan to run for president, until she met Akpakwu.
“I was super, super lucky to have Kiki by my side and have her willing to run with me and just kind of have our ideas come to light,” Hassan said. “That was just super exciting.”
Hassan and Akpakwu campaigned with the OurUO slate. The campaign prioritized food accessibility, parking, representing cultures and creating a student-led festival. OurUO aims to “seek something better.”
Hassan was born in Egypt and raised in Portland, Ore. A psychology major with double minors in Arabic and legal studies, Hassan has held several leadership positions throughout high school and college.
In high school, Hassan helped run her school’s affinity club and captained the mock trial team. At UO, she is the captain of the mock trial B team and an events coordinator for the Muslim Student Association.
One of Hassan’s top priorities as president is to look at the current budget process now that she has the resources to fully understand it. She wants to implement positive change by increasing the communication between the finance committee chairs and student organization leaders. She hopes to update the system so cultural organizations will be better supported.
“I’m really excited to fully dive deep into that process and see what we realistically can change,” Hassan said. “To make sure that the money that’s being distributed to [cultural organizations on campus] is equitable, not equal.”
She aims to make transportation more accessible to students as well as collaborating with city officials to provide students with earlier warnings to prevent students from having to pay high parking ticket fees.
Hassan and Apakwu both believe in creating a strong foundation with their executive cabinet. She believes in order to best accomplish her goals of updating the budget system and working with transportation services she must first have a solid team behind her.
Hassan wants to be not just someone who holds a position of power but someone who students feel comfortable talking to about change they wish to see.
Although Hassan has not previously been a part of ASUO, she is excited to bring a fresh vision and new ideas to the organization. While she was running, Hassan did not always know how everything worked in the electoral process, such as what she could and could not do, but said that Akpakwu — an ASUO senator — was there to guide and support her.
“I had Kiki there with me to really help explain to me what is achievable and what isn’t achievable,” Hassan said. “Honestly, it was a saving grace.”
Akpakwu is from Torrance, Calif., and is a neuroscience major with minors in computer science and chemistry. Akpakwu has held Seat 13, arts and science undergrad, on the ASUO senate this year.
Akpakwu was her freshman student body president during high school. At UO, she was a Get Explicit facilitator, which is a program aimed to educate first-year students about sexual assault on campus and resources. She also was the assistant director of leadership for the Residence Hall Association.
“I also hope that people can be open-minded to change,” Akpakwu said, “and to somebody that they haven’t seen before.”
Originally, Akpakwu was approached with the idea of running for president by a friend this past summer, which she dismissed instantly. It was not until she and Hassan began talking that she considered the vice president position.
“We talked about what we enjoy and what we want to see in government and we even talked about maybe running together for the first time that I saw this vision that I could actually do,” Akpakwu said. “I feel like Mariam was like the missing piece for all of that.”
Akpakwu is looking forward to changing how ASUO connects with campus and generally switching things up. She expects there will be a shift in the culture of ASUO once she and Hassan begin their time in office. Akpakwu wants to add more positions to the executive board who advocate for the needs of housing and labor on campus.
Akpakwu highlights the importance of supporting the newly elected officials and making sure they feel adequately trained and prepared for their new role.
“There is this standstill of inaction, because a lot of people don’t really feel like they know what to do with their position,” said Akpakwu.
Hassan and Apakwu faced controversy in the closing weeks of the election after revelations that they met at a conference sponsored by a right-wing organization called the Campus Victory Project, an affiliate of Turning Point USA. The organization has targeted and recruited potential and current student leaders at many universities around the U.S., including UO.
Hassan and Akpukwu claimed they were unaware of the convention’s ties. Accusations about OurUO’s funding were not substantiated by the Elections Board.
Initially, the election had gone into a run-off between the OurUO slate of Hassan and Akpakwu and the UO Student Power slate of Max Jensen and Maxwell Gullickson. Jensen and Gullickson dropped out of the runoff election shortly after it was announced, resulting in a win by default for Hassan and Akpakwu.
“I think that when we found that we won, we’re just like, oh my gosh, it was all worth it,” Akpakwu said. “We believe so firmly and truly in what we’re doing here.”

Gallery • 2 Photos

Portrait of ASUO President Mariam Hassan. (Spencer So/EMG)