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GPSA presidential candidates Sharif Gias and Priscila Poliana debated for the final time this weekend before the April 1-4 elections.
Both candidates retreaded old ground regarding campus safety and student/administration relations, but also discussed new approaches to UNM campus relations and diversity.
Campus relations
Friday’s debate, held at the Domenici Auditorium on north campus, began with both candidates discussing the relationship between the north and main campuses. Poliana focused her concerns on the Student Health & Counseling Center (SHAC), and said she wanted to hear input from medical students about possible new directions for SHAC.
“I need the help because the nursing students, the pharmacy students, the medical students, they are the ones that know what’s going on better than I do because I don’t have the skills that they do, so I need their input,” she said.
Gias said that if elected, he would push for a community project between different departments throughout the University. He said students from north and main campuses have skills that can complement one another.
“We need to create a community project. Don’t forget, we graduate students have the best ideas. It’s not time for us to sit and think about what GPSA will do — we are graduate students, I need your ideas,” he said.
Campus safety
Both candidates agreed Friday that the University’s safety was a primary concern. Gias said that as president of GPSA, he would work alongside the University to create a website and forum where students could voice their safety worries. Gias proposed having a shuttle that runs past 10 p.m., which is when all shuttle buses currently stop running. He said this would help bolster security for students studying on campus late at night. Gias said this idea came to him after one late-night study session on campus.
“I was walking and I was concerned someone was following me — sometimes I don’t feel safe when I walk at night so had there been one shuttle, it would help,” he said.
Poliana said she is focused on safety options students already have, specifically the campus security escort service.
“I know there is a demand for the escort service, I want to make sure this works,” she said. “We need to make sure if we’re offering this, we need to make sure UNM cops are getting there timely.”
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She then said she was not implying UNMPD is late, but she was saying if we have this program, we have to make sure it is working well and proficiently at all times.
Students and administrators
During Saturday’s debate, both candidates agreed the lines of communication between students and administrators need to be clearer so both groups’ needs can be heard and acted upon.
“I feel frustration when I talk to students regarding the changes they want to see,” Poliana said.
Poliana said she had met with Graduate Resource Center Executive Director Lawrence Roybal to discuss how the GRC can better serve students. Additionally, she said she would talk to administration and faculty to learn how to effectively petition for student concerns.
Gias said students and administrators “exist on different planes” and that each must understand the needs of the other and be willing to compromise and make exceptions to get things done.
“When do you make an exception? When you are convinced by the logic,” Gias said.
Gias said he would encourage faculty and administrators to become actively involved with GPSA and graduate student events to encourage familiarity between the groups and break down barriers.
“Without knowing the person sitting on the other side of the table, we cannot do anything,” Gias said.
Diversity classes core-curriculum requirement
Both candidates felt differently about the proposed requirement that undergraduates take a three-credit diversity course as part of the core curriculum. Such a class could consist of learning about non-Western cultures and would draw from pre-existing course offerings. The requirement has not yet been approved by the Board of Regents, and the date at which it will be up for consideration is undetermined.
The UNM Curriculum Committee and Provost Diversity Council created the plan last November. ASUNM simultaneously passed a resolution in support of it.
“I think that changing the core curriculum is a revolutionary act that needs to happen,” Poliana said.
Poliana said that if elected, she would begin to work with ASUNM to advocate to the UNM administration for this change.
Gias said he would like to see whether the student body thinks there is a lack of diversity in the undergraduate core curriculum before making the course a requirement. To this end, he said he would like to conduct a student survey to collect data on their sentiments.
“Proposing a change isn’t good enough, you need to get the students involved,” Gias said. “I’m a numbers guy, and the numbers don’t lie.”
