David Conway is running for ASUNM president on the Wolfpack slate. The Daily Lobo sat down with him to talk about free tickets for athletic events, security and the difference between his opponent and himself.
Daily Lobo: Athletics isn’t a necessary part of the educational atmosphere of UNM, so if anything has to be on the chopping block, shouldn’t it be something that is nonessential like free student tickets?
David Conway: We have to be sure that we are still building a community at this University. That is an important and vital aspect of the college experience that is going to aid in academics.
DL: As a president, what concrete changes can you make to keep student tickets?
DC: …The Student Fee Review Board will be run by the ASUNM president next year. I will have to appoint representatives to the Student Fee Review Board from the undergraduate side. There is a lot of control in that recommendation that I can give the president of the University saying that we need to keep these free student tickets.
DL: On your mission statement on the Wolfpack Facebook page, there is no mention of security and safety of the campus.
DC: To be honest with you, security is unsaid. It is unsaid that security has to be improved on this campus. And I don’t think it is about lighting or making changes to the infrastructure, as far as paving certain areas or sectioning off parts off that people can’t hide in. It’s about making sure that student understand there is … a police escort that people can use that is on the back of your Lobo ID, expanding that service and making sure that we have more policemen going around.
DL: What is the main difference between what your administration would be and what Full Circle’s would be?
DC: I was actually reading the other slate’s (Daily Lobo) story on Monday and they talked a lot about us. We have the same amount of Greeks as they do. Those are the facts. And the majority of our slate has been in residents’ life in some capacity. Where I think the difference is, I think, there is leadership experience and experience from my standpoint, seeing all phases of ASUNM — being an employee of the legislative branch, being a senator winning outstanding senator, being nominated twice for that award, somebody who is now working on the executive side with a lot of the agencies, somebody who has worked for an administrator and understands that whole aspect. …
DL: The other presidential candidate also has experience as a senator.
DC: I’m talking about working about with the administration-wise. I think that is something that we differ upon. Obviously, I believe we had different roles for the ‘Student Voice for Student Fees’ movement.
Also, I think we have a lot of different goals with the residents’ halls goals. We want to continue to work with ACC (American Campus Communities) but we want to increase the roll of eco-reps, which is a program that residents’ hall students are putting on right now to help their neighbors build a better community with sustainability.
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