After weeks of campaigning, student outreach campaigns, dozens of flashy posters and a heated executive debate, the spring 2026 Student Government elections ended April 8 with New Wave UTD winning the executive race.
Led by neuroscience junior David Baker and computer science senior Farhan Iqbal, New Wave UTD ran on a 22-point platform focused broadly on protecting student rights, improving student wellness, collaborating with student organizations and demanding accountability from university administrators. President-elect Baker and vice president-elect Iqbal will assume office May 1.
In total, 755 students — equivalent to 2.5% of the student body — voted in the election. Baker received 65.4% of the vote in his race and Iqbal received 61.5% of the vote in his, respectively 1.6% and 1.5% of the overall student body. Iqbal and Baker both got over twice as many votes as the respective candidates from the opposing ticket, Ho/Pe.
In an interview with The Retrograde following the release of the results, Baker and Iqbal expressed excitement about their win and said they will focus on continuing existing SG initiatives and tackling ongoing campus controversies.
“I’m excited to start doing work,” Iqbal said.
When discussing their immediate priorities after taking office, Baker said his team is looking at two key areas. Baker said he wants SG to create a student leader committee focused on collaborating with student athletes, Greek life and various community councils and organizations. The second item Baker wants to address immediately is the recent suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine at UTD, which as of March 31 operates as SJP Dallas.
“We are already investigating what happened to try to figure out the process and everything else that happened with the suspension,” Baker said. “Our hope is to figure out and get a finalized idea of what specifically happened during that whole process and hopefully overturn whatever the system was that caused that in the first place.”
Iqbal said he wants to focus on working with graduating senate leaders before their institutional knowledge leaves the university.
“My goal is to ensure all the knowledge [graduating students] have is retained by SG and all the leadership experience and project planning experience is able to be carried onward to future student leaders,” Iqbal said.
Baker said that while students are the core of New Wave UTD’s base, he also wants to work with faculty and staff to ensure events are as successful as possible and real change can happen on important issues. Baker said that while there was some confusion regarding faculty governance in the wake of the Academic Senate’s removal — and then the removal of its replacement, the Interim Faculty Advisory Committee — SG would be ready to work with whatever faculty governance group came next. Baker said that SG also hoped to work with faculty in the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
“Moving forward, I definitely think having a very strong connection with AAUP is how we reach a lot of the faculty, especially now that they don’t have a governing body,” Baker said.
Baker said SG will continue collaborating with university administration, but enforce firm boundaries on key issues affecting students.
“In some regards, we can be very unyielding when it comes to talking about expression or speech or other lines in the sand that the administration is trying to draw,” Baker said. “There are many issues we just physically do not want to or can’t compromise on. But if we want to make systemic change, we definitely need some level of buy-in from the administration.”
Healthcare studies sophomore and Ho/Pe ticket presidential candidate Thaden Ho said that while they may not have won this election, they plan on continuing their advocacy for students.
“We’ll be working behind the scenes for Artist Alley, free speech on campus and to hold this new administration accountable if, and when, they bend the knee to UTD’s unfair rules,” Ho said.
Baker said he wants to offer students, regardless of how or whether they voted, a message before his new term began.
“No matter how you voted or your opinions on campus, we want to hear your problems,” Baker said. “We want to hear your issues. We really want to make large systemic changes on campus. If you have concerns or anything that you would want SG to look into or investigate, we strongly encourage you to reach out, because this is what SG is here for. We’re here to help advocate. We’re here to make change, and we want to make sure that every student feels represented and heard.”