Vice President (2024-25)
About
Ali Allam is a senior at the University of Michigan pursuing a dual-degree in Political Science and Information Analysis. In 2024, he was elected Vice President of the LSA Student Government with 2,091 votes in a record-breaking election, marking one of the highest turnouts in the history of U-M’s largest college. In his tenure, Ali managed a $150,000 budget, oversaw 12 committees, and authored multiple rapid-response statements addressing high-profile campus issues. Most notably, he spearheaded a cross-campus collaboration involving seven student governments and 27 academic departments to host The Arc of Activism, a Black History Month event featuring Angela Davis and Ta-Nehisi Coates, moderated by Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Dr. Angela Dillard. Drawing an audience of over 1,000, the event created a rare space for intergenerational dialogue on bridging social capital across faith and race divides, while also engaging pressing questions of activism, academic freedom, and justice in a time of censorship and shrinking civic space.
Beyond student government, Ali serves as co-chair of the Muslim Coalition, an umbrella of more than 30 Muslim-adjacent student organizations working to combat anti-Muslim bigotry and secure accommodations for Muslim students. Under his leadership, the Coalition has secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funding for Ramadan Iftars and capacity-building, initiated reviews of courses flagged by students for Islamophobic tropes, and pushed for full accessibility of halal dining options. The Coalition’s work has focused not only on immediate needs, but also on building long-term institutional power for Muslim student life at Michigan, and beyond.
Ali’s path in organizing began in high school, where he successfully campaigned for his school district to recognize Eid as an official holiday and provide a day off, becoming only the fourth school district in the state to do so. He later gained experience in state politics by providing data-driven consulting services to four state and local political candidates, deepening his commitment to linking grassroots organizing with institutional reform.
Academically and professionally, Ali’s work focuses on health policy and equity. His research spans Medicaid dependency, healthcare outcomes in historically redlined communities, and the effects of economic austerity on U.S. healthcare policy. His projects combine datasets from sources such as CDC PLACES and the U.S. Census to analyze disparities in access to primary care and impacts of ACA Medicaid expansion, forming the basis of his senior thesis. He most recently served as a Civic Tech Fellow with Inroads Advisory, where he supported the firm’s expansion of analytical policy implementation services across state and local governments.
Across his roles, he is driven by a commitment to equity in healthcare access and to empowering communities to challenge systemic barriers—whether through data, policy, or organizing.
