by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
Bryan Evans, a candidate for vice president on the Progressive Action Coalition slate, said he wants big changes in ASUNM.
"I want to see more gender and racial and group representation within student government, and I think there's disproportional representation by fraternities," he said. "When they figure out how to spend our student fees, they're going to choose events that will favor those groups."
For example, Evans said a human foosball table set up in November by ASUNM Lobo Spirit probably did not matter to most of the student body.
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Polling for ASUNM elections will be held across campus today, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
There are 32 candidates for Senate, three presidential candidates and three vice presidential candidates.
Debbie Morris, director of the Student Activities Office and adviser to ASUNM, said it is important for students to vote.
"These are their student representatives," she said. "Students should always participate in government, whether it's student, state or federal."
ASUNM is the undergraduate student government. The president serves as the student representative to the UNM regents, president's office and state Legislature.
Every undergraduate student at UNM pays a $20 fee to ASUNM each semester. The money goes to fund things like the Southwest Film Center, Student Special Events, which organizes concerts and other shows for students, and student groups.
Brittany Jaeger, incumbent presidential candidate for the Boom slate, said her experience will help her if she is re-elected.
"I have a year of experience. I think in this position it takes so long to get to know all these administrators and know where to go to ask questions," she said. "The way that this University works, I think that continuity is something that would really benefit students."
Seven of her slate's 12 members, including vice presidential candidate Andrea Roussel, have been senators in ASUNM.
A slate is a group of students with similar ideas who run for office together.
Jaeger said eight members of ASUNM, or about 36 percent, are part of the Greek system.
About 3 percent of the undergraduate population at UNM are part of the Greek system, said Michelle Castro, Greek life coordinator.
Jaeger, who is not a member of the Greek system, said that is not a problem.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with being Greek," she said. "It's a community on our campus, and it's a community that gets out and speaks their voice a lot."
Craig Burgess, presidential candidate on the Voice slate, said he wants to bring new ideas to student government.
"I'm new blood going in, so I have different ideas going into the presidency if I were elected," he said. "I just kind of bring a new perspective to the University."
He said some of his slate's goals include making a centralized location for bike storage on campus to reduce theft, improving traffic flow at South Lot and starting an event to "get freshmen excited about being a Lobo."
Boom's goals include selling more Fair Trade goods on campus, creating wireless Internet access across UNM and installing lights on Johnson Field.
PAC's goals include making campus printers more reliable, creating more diversity in student government and selling more Fair Trade goods on campus.
In addition to the slates, there are five candidates running for ASUNM independently, but none running for presidential or vice presidential slots.
