by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
The candidates for Associated Students of UNM Senate spoke about their goals on Thursday in the SUB.
The most common theme among the 14 hopefuls for the Nov. 9 senator elections was helping students get more involved with student groups and student government.
Wellsley Loyd, one of the candidates, said she wants nontraditional students to enjoy their time at UNM.
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"I want them to feel excited and involved in community events," she said. "I just really want the student body represented on campus."
Adelicia Otero agreed.
"Sometimes they might feel like they're left out of the college experience," she said. "We need to look into helping them get more involved."
The fall election for ASUNM is only for senators - not president or vice president, who were elected in the spring election. Half of ASUNM senators are elected in the spring and half in the fall.
The election is still important, said Matt Gallegos, one of the candidates.
"The fall elections - I don't think people put a lot of focus on them, but they're still very important," he said. "New senators get elected, and those senators can change things."
Ten of the candidates are running on a slate named Raising Individual Student Expectations, or RISE. A slate is a group of candidates who share many of the same ideas. However, voters still have to vote for each candidate individually.
The other four candidates are running independently.
Storm Field, from the RISE slate, and Jeremy Foreman, an independent candidate, did not speak at the forum.
Matt Beck, from the RISE slate, said one of the goals of the slate is to monitor tuition at UNM and ensure it does not rise drastically.
Tuition was increased 9.9 percent this fall.
Members of the slate also want to work with legislators in Santa Fe to make sure the Lottery Success Scholarship remains as helpful to students as it is now, said Ilene Strain, one of the candidates.
The slate also wants to implement a student-run Web site, which would list student groups and upcoming activities, she said.
Gallegos said the Web site would be an alternative to Facebook.com, which was blocked on the UNM network.
"It would be a forum for students, more than anything else," he said.
ASUNM senators should also do a better job making students feel welcome to participate in student government, Gallegos said.
"I think that's one of the problems of the past," he said. "ASUNM has an image of being an elitist organization."
Mariana Molina, an independent candidate, said the problem is that students are not aware of what UNM has to offer.
"A lot of students don't know about the organizations," she said. "A lot of students don't know there is an ASUNM."
About 15 students watched the forum, but almost all of them were members of ASUNM.
The candidates each gave a two-minute prepared speech and were asked two questions picked at random. The candidates also took questions from the audience.
Five of the candidates are incumbents.
Gallegos said students who were not at the forums should make an effort to talk to the candidates about their views, so the students can make a good choice when voting.
