GPSA Presidential Election Profiles: Dathan Weems

GPSA presidential candidate Dathan Weems says student government has been the focal point of his education.

Weems grew up in Farmington, N.M., and was the student council president of his high school. He became student body president of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, where he majored in political science.

“It is important to me that I participate and contribute in any community that I’m in,” he said.

Weems worked for the United Way Fall Campaign in San Antonio and said that writing and delivering more than 300 speeches in three months was a life changing experience.

“The most incredible aspect of it was the diversity of the people that I spoke to,” he said.

He is now in his second year of law school at UNM and is the second vice president of the Student Bar Association. The ambiguity of law, Weems said, allows for a broad way of thinking.

“Law is a really good way to affect change,” he said.

Weems said the Graduate and Professional Student Association has become a strong, core organization, and he wants to make graduate students proud it. He said he would like to encourage students to share their concerns with him so he can become a better representative of their needs. Though he can’t do everything for everyone, Weems said he will make the best decisions based on what is best for the student body and UNM as a whole.

Weems said he would like to have more events, such as Saturday night’s “Fool’s Fest” GPSA party, to reach out to students on a social level. He said since graduate students are diverse, he would arrange diverse events to fit their interests.

He said he would like to streamline the GPSA bylaws because they handcuff individuals during the decision-making process. He said he would like to make them fit UNM and eliminate complications.

Weems is now on the Graduate Research Development Fund Committee. He said he would like to see GPSA funding requests move faster, though he is not sure how much faster they can go.

Weems said he is passionate skier and enjoys films. He said he had fun watching all of the 100 best movies by the American Film Institute. Weems said he carries a yo-yo with him because the motion of it is very relaxing.