ASUNM Vice President Hope Montoya (ballot #2) is launching a campaign for ASUNM President and joining her ticket, running for Vice President, is ASUNM President Pro-Tempore Owen Salinas (ballot #3).
Montoya said she has a three-pillar plan for their campaign: stronger for every Lobo, student life for every Lobo and a voice for every Lobo. She said stronger for every Lobo refers to expanding student support throughout campus, particularly around mental health, food insecurity and financial challenges.
“(The second pillar) student life for every Lobo is about building a campus that works for students by expanding academic opportunities, improving essential campus systems, strengthening student safety and transportation,” Montoya said.
Student life for every Lobo also includes advocacy for better student housing.
“Then our last pillar, a voice for every Lobo, is focused on making sure that students are heard, by strengthening support for student organizations, advocating for students in University decision making, and improving accountability and transparency within ASUNM itself,” Montoya said.
Two of the campaign's policy plans are “Getting Lobos Home” and “Lobo Print +.” The first is a continuation of an effort started under current ASUNM President Andrew Norton to partner with ride share apps Lyft and Uber to get discounts for UNM students to ensure student safety and discourage drunk driving. Lobo Print + seeks more accessible free printing for students that allows for printing more pages and in color.
Salinas said that he and Montoya’s ASUNM experience left the pair confident and energized to continue serving.
“We've had a taste of what it feels like to make sure students feel heard, make sure students have equitable support, equitable funding through all of what ASUNM can do. So we're not ready to slow down,” Salinas said.
As UNM prepares to undergo leadership changes, with President Garnett Stokes retiring and the search for a new president on-going, Montoya said she hopes to have an active role in welcoming and working with the new President. One of the campaign’s action plans is the creation of a Presidential Advisory Committee, she said.
“(The Presidential Advisory Committee) is a group of students that we hope will meet with the President, whether that's monthly or bi-monthly, depending on how busy their schedule is,” Montoya said. “It'll include the ASUNM president and vice president, but then it'll also include about another eight to 10 student leaders who are not in student government, who are leaders within, maybe the College of Engineering. Maybe representing the Daily Lobo, College of Nursing. Students from different areas of campus where they can have an hour-long meeting.”
Both Montoya and Salinas emphasized the importance of listening to student voices which are not explicitly a part of ASUNM.
“I think with our campaign, we're definitely trying to reintroduce and change a culture,” Salinas said. “Because the students, we expect them to trust us, so they need to have that kind of proof, that visibility, that transparency, all of these things that under our hopeful administration we're planning to implement. It starts now. We've seen how good we can do.”
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Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
