Senior Kurt Nilson, who is running for vice president of ASUNM on the Vision slate, said if he is elected, his main goal will be to hold the student government more accountable to the students it represents.
"We want to represent students above and beyond what we've set up as our goals," Nilson said. "If there's an issue, I'll do my best to see that something gets done about it. This needs to be more about students and less about what we want."
Nilson is a business major in his first year at UNM after transferring from Truman State University in Missouri. Since moving back to his native Albuquerque, he said his most significant accomplishment has been helping to get Pi Kappa Phi - a new fraternity on campus - chartered.
As president of the fledgling fraternity, Nilson said he has learned organizational skills that would make him a good vice president for the Associated Students of UNM.
"The vice president deals with senators and needs to have structural qualities," he said. "I've been a fraternity president - I think I've got that."
Nilson added that his outside perspective will benefit ASUNM.
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"I've seen the way it is in other places and I think I could bring in some fresh ideas," he said.
Important issues currently affecting UNM students, Nilson said, include the war in Iraq. Locally, parking and student seating at The Pit for Lobo basketball games are pressing matters, he said.
Part of the Vision slate's agenda is to bring back the student section at The Pit.
"Since coming back, I've been wondering why students were getting stuck up in the mezzanine level," Nilson said. There's really been no presence on the floor like at other schools."
Nilson said his greatest concern for UNM is a lack of community spirit around campus. He added that student involvement could remedy the splintered feel of the University.
"It's such a commuter campus," he said. "People come and they leave. If students got more involved, we would have a much more dynamic environment."
The low voter turnout for last fall's ASUNM elections, Nilson said, can also be attributed to a lack of involvement and a lack of understanding about what student government does.
"A lot of students think, 'there's no real benefit for us [from ASUNM],' Nilson said. "That can be fixed if we get them involved in our day-to-day operations."
Nilson said he is running for vice president to benefit students - a goal that can be accomplished by pushing members of the student government and getting them motivated.
The Vision slate, Nilson said, was appealing because "it's a good group of people with good goals and solid leadership skills."
Nilson correctly named ASUNM, the Black Student Union and the Kiva Hall Association as student organizations. He could not name Chris Garcia as president, Brian Foster as provost or a single regent.
