Among the three slates campaigning in the upcoming ASUNM election is Liber, whose platform rests on making student government representative of student needs.
The candidates on the Liber slate are juniors Patricia Neddeau, Jessica Nixon, Ruben Pacheco, Sara Saba, Kristen Weil, and sophomore Ben Sugg. All of the candidates are running for senatorial positions.
Pacheco said that fiscal responsibility is the most important issue for ASUNM to address.
"We are opposed to the proposed recreational facility because it will impose unnecessary burdens on the student body," Pacheco said in an e-mail to the Daily Lobo.
Neddeau said extraneous expenses are detrimental to the University and the students.
"Student fees only go up, and when student fees and tuition go up, the enrollment in the University goes down, and it's just a vicious cycle," she said in an e-mail. "We need to steer clear of unnecessary and unsustainable expenses that will only increase student fees and tuition and put the University in debt."
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Nixon said it is also important for the student body to know what is going on with ASUNM.
"Student government should be accessible to the average student so that policies are representative of students' needs," she said in an e-mail.
Neddeau said Liber plans to improve the student government's accessibility online.
"We would like to look into ways of posting ASUNM's legislations online before they have been decided upon, so that students have instant access to what is going on within the student government," she said. "Maybe move toward an online voting system for bigger issues, and possibly have a blog. Just really publicizing ASUNM so that people can easily get a hold of them and tell them how they feel."
Neddeau said Liber's candidates are a diverse group that represents varying student concerns.
"We are just a group of students who wanted to get involved," she said. "Not being associated with any of the bigger groups on campus, we felt like we needed a slate to get anywhere in the race.. We are definitely the underdogs in this battle."
Nixon said Liber candidates will pressure ASUNM about transparency and accessibility even if they aren't elected.
"It is the best way for the student Senate to achieve their goal of improved student outreach," she said.
Several of Liber's other concerns include student privacy, the preservation of free student bus passes, and sustainability.
For more information, see Liber's page on Facebook.com
