The ASUW election season has officially begun. Current ASUW senators and UW students are vying for their spot in the student government. At their “Meet the Candidates” event, present candidates had the opportunity to answer the following questions;
“What are your policy priorities?” and “What issues on campus are you passionate about solving?”
Here are their answers.
Please note those with the title “Senator” are current members of ASUW. Not all candidates were present, their information may be found on ASUW’s website.
Senator Peri Hennigar has been with ASUW since the start of the 2023 spring semester. Hennigar expressed a commitment to making ASUW more transparent and more known across campus.
“There’s not a lot of people who can tell you what ASUW actually does. I know, most people I talked to on campus are like, ‘We have a student government?’ So it’s really building up that [awareness] as well as making students more aware of how they can talk to their senators and get change done.”
Clayton Keasling
“I will use my voice for those who cannot or fear using their own” is Keasling’s promise to the UW student body if elected.
“I think that we need to have more transparency in just about every way possible with administration,” he said.
“I think students need to know where their money is going. I don’t think you should be paying mandatory fees and not knowing where it’s going.”
Senator Padon Knull is a native of Canada excited to bring his fresh perspective to the UW campus. From parking to energy, to community building, food options, and more efficient academic practices, Knull’s many concrete ideas will, he hopes, build a better university.
“Approachability is one of the big things that hampers ASUW. Transparency and accessibility is a really big thing– to the point where if I were elected, I’d be willing to come out and sit in the Union every single day with a big old sign asking what can we do better for you?” he said.
First-Year Senator Michelle Lake is also working with Multicultural Affairs. She wants to promote greater inclusivity on campus.
“I just want to represent those who are underrepresented. I see firsthand how the university tends to neglect them, and I want to say you guys still have a home here at the University of Wyoming.”
If elected, she hopes to foster a culture of greater and more effective communication between ASUW, upper administration, greek life, and affiliate programs.
Artemis Langford is running on a platform of accessibility, accountability, and community.
In addressing the community on campus, Langford said, “We need to ensure that graduate students, undergrads, and employees, have better working conditions and higher wages.”
Langford added her desire to hold upper administration accountable for their decisions that directly impact the student body, making the point that these decisions are often made in rooms where students are rarely present.
First-Year Senator Aiden Mcguire is committed to increasing student body knowledge about the activities of ASUW. Mcgurie also expressed his strong feeling about allyship on campus.
“I am a straight white cis man. I don’t fit into the demographics that often I have to be actively defending their voice or their position on campus, but I absolutely support and advocate alongside those demographics. I think that what we need to do, is we need to build the ability for people who don’t necessarily fit into a demographic that needs support at that moment, are still able to actively and openly support it.
“I think that what we need to do is work to expand to reach people who can provide them with more power to defend that voice.”
First Year Senator Paula Medina
First-Year Senator Paula Medina wants to generate greater financial stability for students. She is also interested in creating easier avenues for nontraditional students.
Paula sees this need for easier access in complicated procedures extending to ASUW. Further, she would like to implement a recycling program at UW apartments off-campus.
Ven Meester is running a $0 anti-government campaign. His priorities include lower housing and dining costs, parking improvement, and better student representation. His goal is to address real issues with real solutions, including parking and energy efficiency.
Meester would also see a retrofitting of dorm lighting to help the campus be more energy efficient and save students the large amount that goes towards what he sees as outdated lighting. Meester’s slogan is “Tired of politicians? Vote for a cowboy.”
Senator Ashlynne Meiklejohn described her running platform as having a dual focus; transparency and accessibility. Meiklejohn is committed to creating a more accessible campus for students of all abilities, especially promoting inclusivity for those with visible and non-visible disabilities.
“Creating more accessibility for what ASUW does, creating the kind of branding and packaging of that [is a goal]. So that the general student body can know what we’re doing without having to spend a ton of time going through all our documents,” she said.
First Year Senator Carter Worchester’s campaign is focused on ASUW finances and student representation in the areas of the Student Organization Funding Board and energy usage across campus.
“If we could cut down on spending by even a few $1,000, that money goes back into the university, it goes back into our people. We don’t need to waste as much energy! We’re being more sustainable, we’re killing 15 birds with one stone by just cutting down on our energy and being more critical about where that’s being spent,” he said.
President and VP Candidates
Chief of Legislative Affairs Saber Smith and Jessica Petri are running for ASUW president and vice president respectively. Their slogan is “ASUW sucks, let’s fix it.”
Smith emphasized their commitment to student feedback. This pair would see ASUW become more direct voices for the student body they represent through greater outreach and communication.
Smith also highlights perceived issues with ASUW spending, saying
“We spend on things like moss walls, interior redesign, interior swag, a lot of things for Senators like retreats that don’t actually get impacted by the students. And we want to change that. We want to put that towards funding board, scholarships, and special projects such as sexual assault prevention.”
Jessica Petri added, “We want to honestly just be genuine candidates and talk with people. We want to stop spending ASUW money on ASUW.”
Director of Student Outreach Kameron Murfitt and Senator Isaac Almejo-Ponce say they would like to build a better tomorrow if elected to the positions of president and vice president. They are running a triple-“a” platform focusing on awareness, accessibility, and academics.
Presidential candidate Murfitt expressed his desire to increase ADA accessibility along with mental health resources for students. He would also continue the work of the current 110th administration in trying to raise student wages to a livable amount.
“We’d like to work with the sustainability coalition to try and reduce the number of plastics that we use and increase the amount of composting that we do so that we can try and keep our university as environmentally friendly as possible,” said Murfitt.
VP candidate Tanner Ewalt said of his running mate Rihannon McLean “If you want somebody to speak truth to power, no matter how awkward a room is, no matter how tense the situation is, no matter the personal cost of her reputation, that person is Rihannon McLean.”
Ewalt and Mclean spoke about their years of experience as ASUW senators and want to work as advocates for the community to be the best representatives they can. Ewalt said,
“If we win, every two weeks, we will table in the Union as president and vice president, there for students, regularly scheduled. That way, they can come to talk to us, give us complaints, tell us about things we don’t know about– screaming, yelling, or whatever they want to do. That’s their right. We serve them, not the other way around.”
