Agrin Khatami, a first-year political science and international development student, is running for USAC Internal Vice President, or IVP, for the 2026-2027 term.
Khatami’s motivation for running stems from both her personal background as a first-generation Iranian immigrant woman and her experience working within student advocacy spaces at UCLA. She said she wants to “transform student advocacy from a series of slogans into a legacy of concrete action for our entire UCLA body.”
Khatami said her experience as a staffer in Administrative and Political Affairs within the current IVP office has given her hands-on familiarity with how the office operates.
“From authoring the sanctuary campus resolution passed last quarter, highlighting voices of student leaders in UCLA’s Amnesty International to pass a Firewall for Freedom resolution, and calling for institutional accountability on Professor Tramo’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, I’ve been on the front lines of UCLA student advocacy,” Khatami said.
Khatami’s platform is built around five main pillars: campus protection and immigrant student support, basic needs and economic accessibility, safety and survivor support, commuter equity and parking reform, and inclusive community and DEI reform.
As part of her safety platform, Khatami said she will host “quarterly Campus Safety town halls to create a direct feedback loop between students and campus safety leadership, requiring public data on reporting transparency and response times.”
Khatami said her focus on making USAC more connected to students’ daily lives distinguishes her platform from other candidates.
“My platforms aim to put a spotlight on the populations that USAC often overlooks or is fundamentally disconnected from,” Khatami said. “I am not running to participate in an echo chamber of vague government statements; my platform is built to deliver tangible relief directly to the everyday students who need it most.”
While some may view her status as a first-year student as a weakness, Khatami said that she sees it as a strength because it gives her a fresh perspective and more time to create long-term change at UCLA.
“I arrived at UCLA as a student who had to fight for every resource,” Khatami said. “I plan to spend every day making sure other students don’t have to.”
