Aaliyah Raji, BS’25, seeks to make all voices heard as IU student body president

Aaliyah Raji knows that precedence matters. As the first Black woman to serve as Indiana University student body president in its 75-year history, she understands that leadership is inspirational. 

“When there’s no precedence of something being done before, some people think, ‘What makes me think I can do it?’” she said. “I used to believe that, too. Then, I realized I could defy those odds and be the first person to do it.” 

A junior at Kelley, Aaliyah was inspired to run for student government during her freshman year when she joined the First Year Internship Program. She met her first mentor and leadership instructor, Alison Miron, current director of Student Life at Kelley. “I would not be the leader I am today without her – she tells me what I need to hear; not what I want to hear,” Aaliyah said. She was also mentored by a previous IU Student Government (IUSG) president who taught her about issues at IU and told her a woman of color had not yet held the position. It stuck with her. 

In her sophomore year, Aaliyah co-directed the First Year Internship Program. Through intentional outreach to scholarships that serve minority students, like 21st Century Scholars and Hudson Holland Scholars, she and her team convened the most diverse class of interns the program has ever had.  

“It’s easy to claim to have DEI goals and not make tangible steps and efforts toward achieving them. A lot of organizations don’t go out and meet the people whom they want to represent. You can’t just set out a table and hope they come to you,” Aaliyah said. “You must have intention and purpose behind it.” 

Aaliyah was born in Nigeria, and her family moved to the United States when she was six months old. She grew up in Avon, Indiana, and knows what it’s like to not feel represented. Aaliyah and IUSG Vice President Marsha Koda—a Kelley senior—ran on the IGNITE campaign to burn down preexisting notions of IUSG and rebuild them to create a more inclusive, equitable, and collaborative campus through education and engagement. One of their goals is to expand the interfaith prayer space for students.  

“I have a passion for bettering IU and bettering the student experiences. Freshman year, I didn’t think something like this was possible, and now that I know it is, I want to advance the power this organization has to represent and advocate for its students,” Aaliyah said. “Marsha and I are only two people representing 47,000, but when we understand the issues facing students, we can be their voice.” 

Aaliyah is co-majoring in Finance and Law, Ethics, and Decision-Making (LEAD). She plans to either apply to law school or pursue a master’s degree in education to invest in future leaders. Aaliyah says her greatest achievements at IU have been getting into the Kelley School, connecting with excellent faculty who make her feel seen—including Kelley senior lecturers Rebecca Butters and Jamie Seitz—and, also, learning how to fail. 

“The Kelley School is hard. And nobody likes to admit they failed because we all want to seem like achievers. I have never been a C-student, but I’ve had a couple of those now, and I don’t beat myself up about it because I know I tried my best,” she said.  

“Despite our unwillingness to admit failure, doing so has made me more comfortable to admit I didn’t do as good as I wanted to, but I persevered. These experiences at Kelley and IUSG helped me earn transferrable skills like resilience and asking for help, which I can apply to real life.”