By james art Each year, ASUCI and AGS general elections are held in the spring for undergraduates and graduate students to vote for their student government leaders. In the 2023-2024 academic year, voter turnout was 4.2%—the lowest in UCI election history.
While the lack of participation can be attributed to a number of factors, it reveals a problem that has been a common complaint among students for years – there is no sense of community in the UCI student body.
There is no doubt that a strong student community is essential for any university. The next generation of leaders and intellectuals must thrive in their learning environments before they reach that point. So why aren’t Anteaters participating in student government and acting as a community like we should be?
One of the reasons for the lack of community is the UCI infrastructure itself. As the housing crisis continues, both within UCI and the greater Irvine area, more homes continue to be built.
Due to the sprawling layout of the UCI campus and the scattered nature of the surrounding apartments and homes, it is difficult to justify commuting to school for non-campus events such as simply hanging out with friends. As UCI continues to build more and more housing, everything remains spread out and nothing is close enough to easily walk between. For example, it takes about 24 minutes to walk from Camino Del Sol to UTC’s Dartmouth Court Apartments.
This is probably down to the fact that UCI is a commuter campus where many students come to their classes only to study rather than make friends, often leaving as soon as the session ends. This phenomenon is perpetuated by poor options for commuters to live comfortably on campus – especially commuters without cars have no choice but to carry everything they need for school for the entire day.
Many college campuses have party scenes where students can mingle and get to know each other. UCI is known not to be a party school, and when parties do occur around campus, they are often intimate apartment gatherings rather than open-invitation events. Even then, it is difficult to organize parties when quiet hours are strictly observed. Irvine has a reputation for being a quiet and safe town, and while it’s important for students to have that environment, the zero tolerance for anything fun going on at night is outrageous.
The only gathering places on campus designated for community building are The Anthill Pub & Grille, University Town Center (UTC), and Aldrich Park. Still, one pub can’t take on the social life of an entire university, and a shopping mall that feels more geared toward Irvine families than UCI students isn’t enough either. As for the park, although it is sometimes populated by clubs or groups of friends having picnics, it is mainly occupied by people lying on the grass with their headphones or students taking a shortcut to class. As for every other place on campus? They are all learning spaces. Even the cafeterias are full of students studying or doing school.
There should be more spaces dedicated to community building at UCI. Third Places – spaces that are designed for social and community life – are essential to building a strong student community and help students escape from being constantly in study mode. Solving this problem comes down to improving infrastructure. UCI needs to break away from Irvine’s sprawling suburban plan, which opposes third place. A place like UTC had so much potential as a thriving community space with pubs, night markets, museum buildings, gardens and much more if it hadn’t been turned into a miniature Irvine Spectre.
More student housing should also be created at UCI. Having dense housing developments that are accessible to each other can help us connect more and foster a stronger community through proximity. Access to each other should be easier and should not require a 30 minute walk to get to a party in another student community. Students do not need housing that replicates Irvine’s gated neighborhoods and especially should not resemble the suburbs in any way.
There is still hope for creating a sociable and attractive community of anteaters. Last year’s general election for ASUCI and AGS saw a 2.87% increase in voters compared to spring 2023. While it was a small increase, it’s a sign that it’s possible to build community—even if it means starting from the bottom. To see significant improvements, it will take a concerted effort on the part of the university as well to ensure they put their students first and use our money for resources and spaces that benefit us.
Editor’s Note: Editorials should not be construed as reflecting the opinion, thoughts, or beliefs of an individual editor, staff member, or affiliate of New University.