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Undergraduate student government senate elections are on Wednesday. There are 10 open seats on the ASUNM Senate. Meet some of the candidates:
RISE slate
RISE, the sole slate running in this semester’s ASUNM Senate elections comprises five senators running for re-election and five new senate candidates.
ASUNM Sen. Malika Ladha, a member of RISE who is running for re-election, said her slate represents a huge part of UNM’s student voice.
“Together we represent over 50 different student organizations,” she said. “And lots of us are part of tons of organizations here on campus.”
Ladha said her slate will focus mostly on improving the quality of academics at UNM, especially among freshmen. She said UNM has sought to improve education quality in the past through programs such as the UNM Success Through the Academic Year (S.T.A.Y.) Initiative, an academic coaching program, and the UNM Foundations of Excellence, an initiative by the provost’s office aimed at improving the freshman experience.
“We lose 25 percent of our freshmen by the third semester,” she said. “That’s really a concern that really needs to be looked at. These programs really seek to enhance and to explore to see how we can improve … the experience of a freshman student.”
Ladha, who is an academic coach for the S.T.A.Y. Initiative, said RISE aims to improve in the academic coaching program.
ASUNM Sen. Tyler Crawley, who is also running for re-election with the RISE slate, said he will lobby in the Legislature to remove tuition credits. He said that through tuition credits, the government taxes higher education institutions around the state based on their tuition rates. Because of UNM’s comparatively high tuition rates, it loses a large portion of its budget, Crawley said.
“We want to continue lobbying in the state Legislature for the elimination of the tuition credit,” Crawley said. “Because we have the highest tuition, we get hit hard in regards of the tuition credit. Students should not be taxed to balance the state budget.”
UNM’s tuition credit amounted to $3.86 million last school year.
Crawley said RISE also aims to provide more funding for on-campus organizations to help increase student participation in University organizations.
“We want to keep working to make sure that our student groups are funded the way they want to be funded,” he said. “We want to give them the tools they need to grow and succeed to help them reach a broader range of students.”
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Ladha said RISE is a group of hardworking candidates who persevered to get to their current positions in ASUNM. She said she was part of the Emerging Lobo Leaders program during her first semester at UNM, and since then has become actively involved with ASUNM.
“Personally, we started at the bottom of the ladder,” she said. “And we’ve been able to work our way upwards. We have that passion. We have what it takes.”
Ladha said students should vote for members of RISE because of the amount of experience and knowledge of the senate’s protocol that incumbent candidates already have.
“UNM is in a state of transformation. We are moving fast, and we are moving quickly,” she said. “Having five incumbents, we have a different experience and we have a different input that we can provide.”
Other candidates in the RISE slate are incumbents Joe Stevens, Brandon Meyers and Holly Marquez, and new candidates Wesley Martinez, Taylor Bui, Earl Shank, Rachel Williams and Grace Liu. These eight remaining candidates were unavailable for comment.
Adrian Avila
Independent candidate Adrian Avila said he’s a first-generation college student and who’s been working since he was 14. He said these experiences means he understands the struggles students may face to become successful.
“I know my journey to UNM is a common occurrence for many students,” he said. “We all struggled to get here and therefore the school should make every effort to support us through and post graduation, for if the students succeed then the University succeeds.”
Avila said that because he was raised by a single parent, he shares the economic burden many students experience. He said ASUNM has the duty to encourage and help students financially during their college experience.
Avila, who is triple majoring in statistics, history and psychology, said the biggest problem at UNM right now is a lack of connection between the various campuses and organizations within the University. He said ASUNM should bridge the gap between these communities through community events and shared funding.
“Imagine if ASUNM urged student organizations to sponsor events … offered financial support,” he said. “Any disconnect that could exist would rapidly diminish, and our school spirit would be relit as bright at the U on Hodgin Hall is going to be this weekend.”
If elected, Avila said that he will focus on promoting intellectual research on campus and monitoring the main campus budget more tightly. He said he will provide further aid to student organizations and academic support to students to uphold UNM’s graduation rate.
Spenser Owens
ASUNM Senate candidate Spenser Owens ran in the senate elections last semester and lost, but he’s back in the game.
Owens said he wanted to run independently because the ASUNM Senate lacks a variety of perspectives due to the slate system.
“The way the elections are set up favors running as a group rather than as an individual, which is how it’s supposed to be,” he said. “They’re all homogenous. They all stand alike.”
Owens, who is studying political science, said that if elected, he will focus on increasing ASUNM’s transparency. He said senators only have two hours of office hours per week, and he aims to increase the time to four hours per week.
“Two of those hours should be held somewhere else other than the ASUNM office, like in Zimmerman Library or on the third floor of the SUB,” he said. “They should have more access to students.”
Owens said he has been involved with the campus community since his first semester at UNM in fall 2011, when he joined UNM’s Emerging Lobo Leaders Program. Owens is also the fundraising chairman of Phi Delta Theta, an on-campus fraternity, and is the secretary of Mock Trial Undergrads.
“I will bring diversity to the senate,” he said. “While I will work with members of the slate, I will not allow myself to be dominated by their ideas.”
Colt Balok
Independent candidate Colt Balok said his experience working for the state government makes him a quality candidate for the ASUNM Senate.
Balok, who worked for the New Mexico Senate’s Chief Clerk Office, said his time there helped him learn how government functions.
“I have been fortunate enough to make influential acquaintances,” he said. “This experience has given me vital insight into the workings of the state government and how to go about addressing certain issues as a politician.”
Balok said the biggest problem in higher education is the solvency of the Lottery Success Scholarship. He said that because the scholarship helps many UNM students to pay for college, he would fight to uphold it in the Legislature.
“I plan to negotiate toward a solution with the state Legislature in order to prevent the critical financial struggle that many UNM students would face without the Lottery Scholarship,” he said.
Balok is working on a Three-Two MBA degree in political science, business and law, which allows undergraduates to complete a bachelor’s degree in a field outside management and an MBA degree all in five years. He said he will fight in the Legislature to obtain more funding for UNM. He said he aims to use funds to start a 24-hour bus service and to solve parking issues around campus.
ASUNM Senate elections Wednesday
polling locations
9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
SUB
Zimmerman Library
Dane Smith Hall
Student Residence Center
Johnson Center
Casas Del Rio
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Centennial Engineering Library
University Advisement and Enrichment Center
Noon to 7 p.m.
Student Services Center
(south campus)
