GPSA presidential candidates B. Lee Drake and Lissa Knudsen sparred during debates last week, so the Daily Lobo decided to sit down one-on-one with the candidates to talk about their platforms. GPSA elections are being held online through Thursday.
Daily Lobo: What things happening around UNM motivated you to run for GPSA?
B. Lee Drake: I think there's been a huge crisis of confidence . basically where everybody is pitted against each other, which is exactly the opposite of what we need to be, and that is providing a unified front to the administration in the face of the economic crisis.
DL: How do you think you could reconcile with the administration?
BLD: First and foremost, I think before we go to the administration, we have to go to the undergraduates, go to the faculty, go to staff and figure out what things we all agree are shared principles, and then work in that direction together. I don't think you'll find much disagreement among undergraduates, graduates, staff or faculty that tuition needs to stay low.. We're seeing the cost of education at UNM skyrocket while the quality remains the same, and furthermore, that doesn't even account for the hiring freeze which is bringing everything further down.. Secondly, if we are unified, we can provide a united front to the administration but also to the
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Legislature up in Santa Fe. We can - undergraduate and graduate alike - go with faculty and staff, argue and say, "This is what we need. How can you help us get there?"
DL: What's the first thing you'd do if you became GPSA president?
BLD: I would sit down with a lot of key graduate student leaders and ask them, "How do we approach the financial crisis?" and, "How do we provide a solid plan of what we want to do?" so that we're not guessing off the cuff as things go on, but we have a solid, strategic plan on how to
approach that year.
DL: Some have said that you're too easy-going and too focused on building bridges.
BLD: A go-it-alone strategy doesn't work. We have to build bridges and communicate before we can move forward, if only to know where we stand. That's why I think these criticisms are misplaced. I think one of the problems we've had in GPSA in the past is we get crippled by this kind of infighting. It causes a lot of GPSA members to leave and become disengaged, and it leaves only a small group of people who generally tend to fight again. I think we need to focus on unifying GPSA and making everyone feel comfortable with their disagreements to communicate openly with each other. Then we can build a broader coalition with faculty, staff and undergraduates. We have to build this broader network if we're going to be able to do what we want to do. In order to be the change that we want to be, we have to have lots of partners in going forward.
~Pat Lohmann
Check tomorrow for a Q&A with Drake's opponent, Lissa Knudsen.
