Arwa Hammad received a resounding endorsement following her speech at “Cal State LA Day at City Hall.”

“I’m telling you, she’s going to be a leader in city government,” said Capri Maddox, executive director of the City of Los Angeles’ Civil and Human Rights and Equity Department. “Get used to her being here. She is going to law school, and we are looking forward to having her as a leader here in City Hall.”

Hammad has proven herself to be a poised and thoughtful representative of Cal State LA and its student body as the Associated Students Inc. (ASI) president for the 2025-26 academic year. In the first few days of the fall 2025 semester, she provided a pair of stirring speeches that caught the attention of civic leaders, educators, students, and anyone else within earshot.

“Today, I’m here to reaffirm that Cal State LA is LA’s university,” Hammad said during the City Hall event on Aug. 22, 2025. “We are an engine of transformation, equity, and progress. … At Cal State LA, your age or background or where you come from doesn’t make you different or set you apart. In fact, diversity is our strength. Our student population is as diverse as the city deserves and truly reflects the changing face of California in the 21st century.”

Days earlier, she gave a similarly captivating address during the university’s combined Convocation and Investiture of Berenecea Johnson Eanes as Cal State LA’s ninth president.

At 18, Hammad is one of the youngest students to serve as ASI president, and her list of accomplishments—while already long—continues to grow.

The Pomona resident, who is double majoring in political science and philosophy, first joined ASI as a sophomore. She previously served as the College of Arts and Letters Representative, Vice President for Administration, and Vice President for External Affairs and Advancement.

“What has made me successful with all the positions I’ve taken on was having a good team. You can’t do anything on your own,” she said. “The first time I led a committee was when I was VP of Administration. I learned a lot about leadership and how to build a strong team. The biggest success a leader can have is to make sure their team members are leaders themselves.”

Her favorite role prior to being voted ASI president was VP for External Affairs.

“It directly complemented what I liked in terms of policy work, legal affairs, and political affairs,” Hammad said. “The California State Student Association plenary meetings allowed me to meet representatives from outside of Cal State LA. I learned about what other CSUs were doing differently and how we can bring that back to Cal State LA.”

Hammad has also conducted independent research on jurisprudential ethics and philosophy as a Mellon Mays Fellow; assisted caseworkers and constituents at a congressional intern for Congresswoman Judy Chu; and served as a JumpStart Research Assistant in the University of Southern California’s competitive 10-week research fellowship.

She was also a James R. Galbraith Public Policy Fellow through the university’s Pat Brown Institute (PBI), which led to an internship with the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom for the 2024-25 school year.

“Arwa is an exceptional emerging leader with both capability and heart,” said PBI Program Director Randi Aho. “As a Galbraith Public Policy Fellow with the Pat Brown Institute, she brought curiosity, drive, and a rare ability to take on demanding responsibilities and follow through with thoughtfulness and impact. I have no doubt she’ll continue to lead with purpose and integrity.”

As ASI president, Hammad wants student government to be more transparent and inclusive toward the student body it serves. To that end, she and her officers are looking to provide clearer and more descriptive meeting minutes; broadcast meetings via Zoom with improved technology; establish a monthly report system by student representatives that would be available through social media, email blasts, and the ASI website; and set up “Eagle Pods” to form a stronger connection between ASI and student clubs.

She also hopes to encourage increased student engagement by offering “office hours on the go.”

“I want to make sure we student government is reaching out to students, instead of relying on students to come solely to us,” Hammad said. “The student reps and I will go to different hot spots on campus and ask students how they’re doing. They can speak to us about any issues or concerns.”

Hammad was born in Egypt, but at the age of three months she and her mother Doaa Nabil moved to the United States to join her father Mohamed at the University of Mississippi, where Mohamed was completing his Master of Science in Pharmacology. The family, which would later grow to include Arwa’s three younger siblings, lived in North Carolina, Northern California, and Saudi Arabia before settling in Southern California a decade ago.

Hammad enrolled at Cal State LA at the age of 14 through the Early Entrance Program (EEP), which allows gifted students between the ages of 11 and 15 to matriculate at the university.

She described her 14-year-old self as awkward and unfocused, the complete opposite of the confident leader she has become today.

In her first year, Hammad wavered on her major—from biology to natural science, sociology to math. But things came into focus her sophomore year after Ryan Yoo, a fellow EEP student majoring in political science, suggested Hammad audit a political science class taught by Professor Michael McLendon.

While her interest in political science was new, her affinity for philosophy had been in existence since she was a curious child seeking answers to complicated questions.

“I always annoyed my dad with ethical hypotheticals,” she said. “I would ask, ‘If you were in this situation, what would you do? What’s the right decision?’ But it didn’t click with me that that was philosophy.”

At about the same time she decided on her double major, Yoo also pointed Hammad toward ASI. She had served as student body president as an eighth grader at Ynez Elementary School in Monterey Park and had also been involved in student government in her lone year at Garey High School in Pomona.

“ASI really resonated with me,” she said. “The mission was solid—being for the students and by the students, and the focus on advocacy is what really drew me in. My first year, I was pretty depressed because of the [COVID-19] quarantine and because I didn’t know what to major in. I was lost, but finding student government and figuring out my majors gave me direction.”

That direction now also includes the pursuit of a graduate degree in public policy and eventually a Juris Doctor. Hammad is interested in constitutional law.

“Considering the political climate nowadays, I think it’s more important now than ever,” she said. “So, definitely constitutional law, or somewhere where I can work in the government sector and institute change. That’s the dream.”

If Hammad does indeed end up at City Hall or any other governmental institution, she can point to Cal State LA as her training ground. 

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California State University, Los Angeles is the premier comprehensive public university in the heart of Los Angeles. Cal State LA is ranked number one in the United States for the upward mobility of its students. Cal State LA is dedicated to engagement, service, and the public good, offering nationally recognized programs in science, the arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education, and the humanities. Founded in 1947, the University serves more than 22,000 students and has more than 270,000 distinguished alumni.