On Tuesday, the candidates for ASUNM president and vice president answered questions and debated issues at the Endorsement Forum.
The fate of the Lottery Scholarship and other avenues of funding for UNM was a major talking point, with all candidates pledging their support of the Lottery Scholarship and their commitment to keeping college affordable.
“The Lottery Scholarship would be a priority if elected president for me,” said presidential candidate Gabriel Gallegos. “I would work formally with lawmakers and University officials to make sure that a solvent solution for the Lottery Scholarship is made so that it can survive for generations to come and continue to allow New Mexico students to come here to our state universities.”
The candidates also spoke about how they plan to connect the student body to a new University president. A search committee made up of UNM administrators and faculty have spent the semester searching for the next University president, and are expected to announce one before the semester ends.
“I think the next University president needs to understand that UNM is a very unique and diverse community and that each of us represents all of us. Something I’m tired of campaigning on is safety here on campus. I think it’s ridiculous that I’ve ran three years, and we keep saying ‘safety, safety, safety’ and our campus still isn’t safe,” said presidential candidate Justin Cooper. “We’re gonna take measures to make sure that president understands.”
Safety was again brought up with a subsequent question about the biggest issues facing students on campus.
“I don’t think that there’s any reason for students, male or female, to feel unsafe walking across campus at night after classes,” said presidential candidate Elena Garcia. “It’s of the utmost importance that the students feel that this is their home here, and they’re not afraid to take a night class because they don’t want to walk back to their car alone at night.”
While presidential candidate Noah Brooks also pledged to work with the state legislature on safety — including providing more lighting on campus and fixing the blue emergency poles in order to curb sexual assault — he identified advisement as one of the most pressing issues.
“Every year I hear stories about students who have been set back years, a year or a semester from graduating on time, which costs them more money for them and which hurts the University ultimately with our four-year graduation rate,” Brooks said.
Lastly, the candidates were asked about what they would look for when making appointments for ASUNM committees, which are made up of senators.
The candidates cited experience, willingness to learn and good work ethic. Additionally, Brooks brought up a lack of diversity in committees as one of the issues to remedy.
“A lack of diversity is something that many of our boards and committees across campus actually do lack,” he said. “When appointing people to our boards and committees, especially the Student Fee Review Board, (running mate) Sally (Midani) and I will be reaching out to every resource center to make sure that they have students applying so that we can have the best students and the most diverse boards and committees possible.”
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For the second portion of the forum, the vice presidential candidates took the stage.
In response to a question about holding senators accountable to helping the student groups they are assigned to, Sydnie O’Connell — who is running with Gallegos — said that she has “valuable” experience as the current chair of the ASUNM Outreach and Appointments Committee, and plans to require both email and in-person contact with student groups.
Midani suggested an updated system for accountability within Senate.
“I think the best way to deal with that that is to have senators be responsible within their committees to report to whoever the chair is; talking to them about the progress that they’re making with student organizations and then bringing that to full Senate. Maybe introducing a new portion of the meeting where we can talk about student organizations and what they’re doing,” Midani said.
Additionally, Michael Landgraf — running with Cooper — suggested that the office hours during the first two weeks of senators’ terms be devoted to having scheduled, in-person meetings with leaders of student organizations.
The candidates got to weigh in on their focus issues for students and Landgraf again spoke about safety, suggesting an alternate escort service for students.
Jonathan Sanchez — Garcia’s running mate — emphasized the need to inform students on how ASUNM can serve them.
“A lot of people don’t know what ASUNM does, or what the vice president of ASUNM does,” he said. “So if we’re able to clearly tell the students — which we’re representing, which is our job — to get them to know what we’re doing and how we’re doing it and get their opinion, that’s what we want.”
In response to a question about leadership styles, Midani pointed to her experience as former chair of the Finance Committee as an asset.
“I had to make a lot of really tough calls in directing my committee, basically shepherding them to be able to make their decisions without presenting my bias,” she said. “That experience that I have, especially working on really touchy subjects like finance, can be a great asset to being vice president in the upcoming year.”
Student outreach was also a major talking point for the candidates.
“I think that’s the most important thing: to let people know what is going on on campus with their student fees and what we’re doing here. As for the vice president I think that being the leader of that senate and teaching them to do the right thing, to be able to outreach in those ways, and be really consistent and open and transparent is the biggest part of that,” Landgraf said.
O’Connell expressed similar sentiments.
“It’s not their job to come to us, it’s our job to go to them, and really hear their voices, their opinions on everything,” she said. “Our job isn’t just to write resolutions and pass out money, it’s to really be the voice of all those 20,000 students on campus.”
Early voting for ASUNM president and vice president is Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with formal Election Day scheduled for Wednesday.
Gabriella Rivera is a news reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter as @gabbychlamps.
