ASNAU candidates concerned with lack of voter turnout
Robert Otsubo - March 6th, 2008As ASNAU elections approach on March 11, candidates are busily campaigning for their respective offices.
Officially there are five candidates for ASNAU President, one for Vice President of Academic Affairs, two for Vice President of Student Affairs and four running for senate seats.
In order to run for office a student must have a 2.5 GPA, complete three semesters at NAU and collect 250 student signatures along with ID numbers. Office terms run from April to April in accordance with the ASNAU constitution.
Tom Wahl, the current ASNAU president, said this year was great for ASNAU.
“We accomplished a lot,” Wahl said. “Obviously not everything I wanted was achieved, but that is just the nature of these things.”
During his term, Wahl worked with numerous plans and issues, each concerning the well-being of the student body at NAU.
“Each president should have a plan, a list for his term,” Wahl said. “I have been working toward lowering the cost of textbooks for students and also on tuition fee issues.”
Wahl is also responsible for the successful SnowJack Express, a free shuttle for students from campus to Snowbowl.
“I came here as a freshman and was like ‘why isn’t there a shuttle to Snowbowl?’” Wahl said.
While Wahl is proud of the shuttle, ultimately he said he would like it to be a bus.
“But it is a program that needs to be developed.” Wahl said. “The main problem is the predictability of snow.”
In the past, student voting turnout ranged from 1,000-1,500 students out of the approximately 15,000 students at the Mountain Campus.
Presidential candidate Brad Busse said that is not a good representation of the entire student body.
“I would like to see more students voting for their future officers,” Busse said.
Candidates agreed being involved on campus, be it by running for office, joining organizations or voting during elections, is a vital part of the college experience.
“I’m not saying you can not have a good time without getting involved, but for me it greatly added to my college experience,” said presidential candidate Dereck Omo.
Omo added the elections would be pointless without student participation.
“I think there is a lot of apathy toward voting and being involved in general,” Wahl said. “A lot of students want to just go to class, and that is fair, but getting involved around campus is enjoyable and completely worthwhile.”
On March 5, Cline will be hosting a debate at 6:00 pm. Candidates are already busy on the campaign trail.
College of Education Senate seat candidate Megan Fredrick said if elected her main goals for this year will be to better establish newer organizations within the department of education.
“I would try to bolster the numbers,” Fredrick said. “Also, a teachers conference will be held at NAU in April, and it would be great to have ASNAU assist with that.”
When asked what hopes he has for the future of ASNAU, Wahl said he would like everyone to just have fun and enjoy the experience.
“I would like to see everyone working toward a common goal, working for the students,” Wahl said.
Wahl, who is a senior this year, will not be returning next year for a re-election. In spite of numerous meetings with the Arizona Board of Regents, long hours and large responsibilities, Wahl said he enjoyed the experience.
“I don’t have weekends. My days are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., but I would definitely do it all over again,” Wahl said. “It was a great way to learn people skills; how to manage and lead people. I don’t know where else you could learn better skills for life.”
To vote on March 10, visit ASNAU’s Web site at http://home.nau.edu/asnau/ and click the “Vote” link.