ASLMU Forward: D'Anthony Yates and Isla Del Carlo take the reins

The day of the ASLMU election, March 27, ASLMU Executive Vice President-elect Isla Del Carlo, international relations and sociology double major, recalls pacing in circles around campus before the results were announced.

Del Carlo and her campaign partner — ASLMU President-Elect D'Anthony Yates, biology major — held hands throughout the announcement event. When their names were read, the two hugged each other, and Del Carlo said nothing else was on her mind for the next couple of hours.

"We really put a lot into this and we really wanted it to happen, and we’re really thankful for the opportunity,” said Yates.

Yates and Del Carlo’s plan to run for ASLMU office had been in the works since September 2024, the pair explained, but their friendship grew as they worked in the LMU tour guide program together the summer prior. Yates recalled proposing the idea to Del Carlo, emphasizing the relationship the two have developed with the LMU community.

In the week since their announcement, Yates and Del Carlo began preparations before their official inauguration on April 11. They ran their campaign on three pillars — “empower,” “expand” and “evolve” — with the help of campaign manager Marley Stark-Moniz, a sociology major. Both Yates and Del Carlo emphasized the importance of Stark-Moniz’s role in developing their campaign.

"I think the campaign was a huge success—we won, of course! I wouldn’t change a thing about how we ran it," said Stark Moniz in an email to the Loyolan. "If anything, I just wish the Elections Committee gave candidates more time to prepare and order campaign materials within the budget. Custom merch takes time! But overall, it was an incredible experience, and I’m proud of what we accomplished."

This upcoming summer will be a pivotal time for the future president and executive vice president, laying the groundwork for what will come with the 2025-26 school year. One focus of their campaign has been reconsidering ASLMU fund allocation and budgeting — something Yates and Del Carlo plan on tackling in the coming months.

“Traditionally, the summer is spent between the two of us making sure that we are able to sit down with the budget and reallocate that and see where we can make cuts,” said Del Carlo. “We set up a lot during our campaign that [Student Activity Fee Allocation Board] is something that we definitely want to make sure has more funding, but obviously, until we sit down with the budget itself … we can’t exactly name where exactly things are being moved around.”

Expanding support for academic and mental health resources was also a focus for Yates and Del Carlo’s campaign. Yates highlighted that growing up surrounded by a family who openly discussed their mental well-being helped him to realize the conversation’s importance. On the academic side, both want to reconsider how students can find assistance for classes.

“I feel like we need to put more emphasis on actual study groups and make sure that professors have office hours that really work with student schedules,” said Yates. “Sometimes, it’s impossible to attend those different office hours, so maybe prerecorded sessions that are required by professors where they can actually push these out so students can rewatch that as well.”

Another facet of Yates and Del Carlo’s plan was to continue and boost support for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and systems on campus. DEI’s place on college campuses has become a hotly contested topic in the past several months, and Del Carlo explained that her work experiences influenced her position in this regard.

“Transitioning into this position at LMU in the midst of the political transition in the United States is interesting and exciting … working in the DEI office and working in LGBT Student Services, I’ve seen a lot of the direct impacts from … some of the executive orders and things like that,” said Del Carlo. “ASLMU kind of has a more unique position where we as students can pass DEI initiatives and … because it’s within ASLMU and not within the University as a whole, there’s a lot more leeway there.”

Del Carlo also brought up the significance of bringing issues such as reproductive health care and the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) list to the ASLMU Senate for deliberation. The senate voted to abstain funds from companies on the BDS list that support Israel’s occupation of Palestine in April 2024. The decision was soon after vetoed by then-ASLMU President Drew Hartz (‘24) and the veto was later upheld in another senate vote.

Yates and Del Carlo will replace current president and political science major, Luke Antaky, and executive vice president and English major, Charlie Green, in their respective roles. Yates discussed the process for bringing together their team and the kind of people the two want by their side.

“We’re looking for a team that’s not going to directly say yes but bring new ideas to the table and sometimes disagree with us as well because we can’t think of every possible thing,” said Yates.

Yates asserted that, as part of the efforts to increase transparency between ASLMU and the student body, the Instagram account they used to campaign will remain active and open to messages during their tenure.