Diversity, leadership experience and fresh faces set Lobos Unidos apart from the competition in the ASUNM election, said Mike Westervelt, the vice presidential candidate on the slate.
PIRG will host a debate between presidential and vice presidential candidates from the Lobos Unidos and Rise slates in the SUB today. Former GPSA president Joseph Garcia will moderate the debate, and senatorial candidates from the slates will also be available for a meet-and-greet with students.
On April 15, UNM undergraduates will decide which members, if any, of Lobos Unidos will hold ASUNM student government positions.
The slate includes presidential candidate Brian Moore, Westervelt and senatorial candidates Chris Wright, Sean Mallory, Brandon Call, Alicia Barry, Adriana Romero, Zoila Alvarez, Alexandra Pelayo, Joseph Colbert, Mercy Berman and Marina Weisert.
Westervelt said Lobos Unidos will bring new ideas to ASUNM that other slates cannot offer.
"A group like Rise, who has 17 combined semesters of ASUNM experience, is not going to provide the amount of change this University might need," Westervelt said. "They are going to continue to play what they have seen in the past."
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If elected, Lobos Unidos members will tackle problems with advisement, an issue that is important to students, Wright said.
"As a student athlete, there are obviously some privileges," he said. "Student athletes have a team adviser, so an athletic adviser has three teams of 20 to 30 people each. In the University College, the numbers are as high as one adviser per 1,000 students."
Wright said he has already begun working on the problem.
"One of the things I've done is met with the head of athletic advisement and discussed with him what things they have changed and what athletic advisement has that could be applied to the general population," he said.
Westervelt said students are concerned about rising tuition and fees, and he said he will look for ways to combat the problem.
"Tuition is going to rise. That is something that we can't stop in these troubled economic times," he said. "But what we can do is try to make a compromise between administration and students to the best of our ability. I think there are definitely some answers that we haven't looked at yet."
Jay Reidy, a political science major campaigning for Lobos Unidos, said he supports the slate because its members will form the best connection between ASUNM and students.
"A general disconnect has formed between undergraduates and their student government, and in these difficult economic times, that's the biggest problem that none of the other slates are addressing," he said. "Lobos Unidos is the slate that will go to the students, not make the students come to them."
Sophomore Rachel Fredell said Lobos Unidos is not the best slate to vote for.
"While I like some of the members of Lobos Unidos and some of their ideas, I think Liber has more concrete plans," she said. "Especially after reading (Liber's Facebook page), I really liked what they had to say about stealing music and protecting student's privacy rights on the Internet."
Westervelt and other members of the slate said they will continue to serve students even if they are not elected. They can apply for other appointments within ASUNM and maintain leadership positions in other organizations around campus.
"I'm the Interfraternity Council president, and if I'm not elected, I would be able to dedicate more time to the Greek community," Westervelt said. "I plan on working with those students who are elected to the best of my ability."
ASUNM presidential debate
Today, Noon
SUB Atrium
Senatorial meet-and-greet
5 p.m.
SUB Atrium
