Trisha Bhima (senior) was announced as the winner of the Spring 2025 Associated Students of Occidental College (ASOC) Presidential election, April 28, making her the ASOC President of the current 2025-2026 academic year.
According to Bhima, the role of ASOC President is to act as the head of the executive committee of ASOC and focus on ensuring the branches of ASOC, such as the Diversity and Equity Board (DEB) and Sustainability Fund, are operating smoothly and can reach their own goals. Bhima said the ASOC President works closely with college administrators.
Before entering the role of ASOC President, Bhima said she served for a year and a half as DEB Treasurer, where she helped her DEB co-workers tackle student concerns. For example, in response to the “peeping Tom” issue in which strangers looked into on-campus dorm rooms, Bhima said DEB created listening sessions for students to voice their concerns or propose solutions.
“Being on DEB really helped me understand that there are students that are asking for certain things on campus that we just don’t have, and that was the role of everyone on DEB, including myself, to fulfill those needs,” Bhima said. “When I decided to run for president, I wanted to mainly do it because I felt that I could make a difference in advocating for students.”
Bhima said in the second half of her sophomore year, she transitioned to becoming the ASOC Vice President of Marketing. According to Bhima, she created this position to bridge the gap between student organizations and administration through outreach. Bhima said advocating for and actualizing the new position showed her the importance of relying on the relationships she had built.
“My biggest goal [as ASOC President] is to amplify student voices and to advocate for the goals that the student body has already outlined,” Bhima said. “[I do this by] talking to organizing groups on campus, [talking] to activist groups on campus, [building] my relationships with administration so that they trust that we’re all on the same page about making this campus the best place that it can be.”
Vice President of Marketing Anna Challberg (junior) said she had a wonderful experience collaborating with Bhima last year.
“I’ve seen her grow and develop as president into a leader who is able to really take command of situations and lead the whole four branches of ASOC and the executive committee in a really successful way,” Challberg said.
Assistant Dean of Students and ASOC Executive Committee advisor Marcus Rodriguez said Bhima keeps lines of communication open and makes sure student perspectives are included during the decision-making processes.
“She designed the recent Open Forum to amplify student voices, setting clear goals, inviting broad participation and documenting takeaways so they could inform follow-up conversations with senior administrators,” Rodriguez said. “She’s consistent about turning feedback into actionable next steps and keeping students updated on progress.”
Bhima said that as President, she wants to support the grassroots efforts of student organizations, like the Disability Student Union’s (DSU) effort to create an accessibility shuttle. Bhima said DSU had been advocating for the shuttle the past two years and she hopes to use her position as ASOC President to help them meet their goal.
“This last month, I’ve maybe spent every working day knocking on someone’s door in senior administration saying, ‘Hey, are we gonna get a shuttle? What’s up with this? What’s going on?’” Bhima said.
Bhima said ASOC announced the purchase of an accessible shuttle during the Open Forum with President Stritikus, Sept. 12. Now, according to Bhima, she is focused on figuring out the logistics of who will operate the shuttle and when it will run.
“I feel like we’re halfway there, especially because of the work of DSU and supporting groups,” Bhima said. “We’ve been able to get to this point where a shuttle has been purchased, and now it’s just the other half of ‘How can we make sure that we’re operating this as a shuttle on campus?’”
Bhima said being student-centered is integral to the Occidental community and she hopes to uphold that culture during her term as ASOC President.
“I love Oxy, and I think that Occidental College is such a student-driven institution,” Bhima said. “Coming into my role as ASOC president, I really want to preserve that legacy of students driving change on campus and students creating community.”
Contact Allyson Chan at achan2@oxy.edu
