A student panel questioned ASUA Senate candidates about their plans to involve students in the campus community and make the governing body more visible during a forum on Thursday.
Senate candidate Emily Smith, a political science sophomore, said she would attend more events as a representative of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona. At these events, she said, she would simply introduce herself as a senator and ask students their thoughts and feelings about the events.
For Daniel Marks, a creative writing sophomore, the best way to increase ASUA visibility is to introduce freshmen to the organization at orientation. This would allow students to know what the organization is and what it does from the get-go, he said.
In addition to plans to make ASUA more visible, candidates were also asked about how involved they are in the campus community and how they plan to involve constituents.
Justin Evans, a political science sophomore, said he plans on getting Greek Life organizations, diversity centers and clubs more involved in ASUA. To do so, he said he would attend each organization’s meetings. Then he would ask club members if they would like to help ASUA in any way or if there is anything ASUA can do to better serve them.
He would tell the organizations, “Hey, we (ASUA) have the resources to help you out.” This will help get more organizations involved with the governing body, he said.
If elected as a senator, Joel Torres, a senior studying Spanish, said he plans on promoting Scholarship Universe, a service that allows students to search for specific scholarships at the university. Additionally, he said he wants to help students become more educated on how to apply for financial aid.
Vinson Liu, a pre-physiology freshman, said one of his plans as senator would be to help promote online advising. The adviser-to-student ratio on campus is quite low, he said, and he hopes that by promoting services like degree checks and trackers, students will have a better understanding of what they need to do to graduate and be successful. These services provide a personalized four-year graduation plan for students and will help them academically, he added.
