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Although ASUNM President Caroline Muraida hired 35 people this summer to fill student positions on various University boards and committees, 20 positions have yet to be filled, meaning the student voice is still silent on some aspects of the University.
Muraida said that throughout the summer, she held more than 100 hourlong interviews and that, as part of her presidential duties, she needs to continue to fill the empty board and committee positions.
“It’s a personal passion of mine to link people to resources,” she said. “And it’s the responsibility of this office, not just the executive branch but as an organization as a whole, to make sure that the student voice is heard.”
Some of the student positions that have yet to be filled include positions in Faculty Senate Committees, such the Athletic Council committee and the Scholarship committee, and Student Affairs Committees, such as the KUNM Radio Board and the Student Publications Board.
Article I Section 3 of the ASUNM Law Book contains language that explains executive duties. This section mandates that the president of ASUNM “will be responsible for making appointments to various positions throughout the government during their term.”
Muraida said one of her primary goals is to ensure that students fill the positions available so that the student voice is represented as much as possible on campus. She said student positions need to be filled before the student body can request additional student representation on campus.
“You can’t have a discussion about the future without having an understanding about the present,” she said. “Before we can say ‘this is what we want’ as far as extended representation, we need to really acknowledge where we are and utilize the opportunities we’ve already been given.”
Muraida said that although filling positions is one of her primary goals, she can’t say whether this was a primary goal of past ASUNM presidents. She said she has used experiences and hiring practices from past presidents to evaluate the issue and move forward with hiring.
During her term, former ASUNM President Jaymie Roybal never discussed with the Daily Lobo that filling student positions on University boards and committees was one of her goals.
Muraida’s hiring strategies include using staff and faculty Listservs, advertising in the Daily Lobo and through ASUNM social media sites, tabling and attending Greek life and residence halls.
The law book only mandates that “the President shall advertise for all available positions in the New Mexico Daily Lobo and in the ASUNM office.”
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Muraida said one of the major reasons students aren’t involved in campus boards and committees is that information about available positions is not easily accessible. She said students often assume they have to be affiliated with ASUNM in order to serve on a board or committee.
She began the process of filling the empty positions by organizing the information on the ASUNM website so that it is more accessible to students and clearly defines which positions are available and what each position entails.
“The way that I’m organizing it (on the ASUNM website) is a little more digestible for the University community,” she said. “People always say that the student voice isn’t heard throughout the University, well one of the first steps is finding out what we really do have structurally, before we say we need more.”
