At UNM, candidates traditionally run for ASUNM as part of a slate, but one candidate this year broke tradition by running independently.
Spenser Owens, who is running for a Senate seat, said he chose to run separate from the other slates, Impact and Students for Students, to bring more diversity to the table.
“I am running independently because I want to break the slates up, and bring fresh, new ideas to the Senate independent from others who would be running with me,” Owens said.
Students have historically run for positions in ASUNM on slates, groups made up of students with a particular platform and common ideas, which allows candidates to pool resources.
Owens has dubbed his campaign “Integrity” and said his goal if elected is to improve conservation and sustainability. As a commuter student, Owens said he wants to push issues that would help students who do not live on campus, especially those who use the school’s shuttles.
He’d like to do this by equipping the shuttles with GPS devices that would allow students to use a phone application to determine where the buses are so they can plan their trip better.
While running as an independent is unusual, Owens isn’t the first student to go it alone in an election. In fall 2009, Connor Lites ran independently for senator and lost. Last spring, Lites planned to run again as an independent candidate, but backed out before the election. Lites said the slate system complicates the legislative process.
“I think it just makes it harder for a lot of people to get their foot in the door and it makes it harder for people who may not get along with other people in ASUNM to stay and be honest,” he said.
Although Lites did not succeed as an independent candidate, he became involved with ASUNM as a senior associate justice on Student Court. Lites said his experience as chief justice revealed inconsistencies with rules governing slate formation.
The ASUNM Constitution is based on the U.S. Constitution. It handles groups in the same manner — political parties are not officially recognized in either document.
According to the ASUNM Law book, groups of students running together are not officially recognized. However, no law exists prohibiting slates. Lites said this situation creates an inconsistency within ASUNM.
“Why let people group together if you do not want to recognize them as a group?” Lites said. “There should just be a campaign regulation barring any groups from forming and running.”
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Like Lites, Owens thinks something needs to be done about slates.
“In my opinion, students should run on their own individual merits and should manage their own financial affairs and campaigning,” Owens said. “That allows the maximum amount of connections to be formed between candidate and constituency and the maximum amount of accountability.”
Both Owens and Lites feel the existence of slates leaves a lot of people out and makes the system corrupt. Lites in particular said while he admires many of the students running this term, he thinks that students should run independently.
Despite the fact that Owens is competing against members of her slate for a senate seat, Students for Students presidential candidate Caroline Muraida said she is impressed by Owens’ independent bid.
“Running in this election and taking an interest in being involved on campus specifically through ASUNM and an interest in participating in the election process in a non-traditional way requires a certain amount of conviction, and I applaud his efforts and I encourage him to learn from this experience,” she said.
Presidential candidate for Impact Ashkii Hatathlie declined to comment on Owens’ candidacy.
