University of Idaho students have elected five new ASUI senators.
ASUI holds two elections every year, one for each semester. In the fall, only senator positions are available. In the spring, senator positions, the president position and the vice president position are available. Any UI student who meets the pre-requisites can run for a senator position.
Each senator represents two to three living groups on campus while simultaneously attending relevant fraternity, sorority or residence hall meetings each month. Through their work and their communication, they gather information about topics which concern the student body to write legislation. All ASUI bills use a yearly allocated budget from student fees. Resolutions are meant to represent the opinion of the student body as a whole.
This semester, Peyton Loffer, Tanner McClain, Madison Fitzgerald, Secilia Lopez and Zayne Hunter, were elected to the ASUI Senate.
Loffer is a first-year student in the College of Business and a member of Gamma Phi Beta. She does not have a lot of legislative experience prior to running for ASUI, but she is inspired to make a difference in mental health on campus.
“I think a lot of people around me have struggled with mental health, and I think this is the first step to change things around me and help people,” Loffer said.
Loffer plans on increasing student involvement and normalizing the topic of mental health. She plans on working to streamline the process of going to the Counseling and Testing Center to help achieve her platform.
“One of the first things I’m trying to plan is a Zoom dating event for Greek Life, residence halls and any sports teams that want to participate,” Loffer said. “Secondly, I want to make a week that we normalize talking about our mental health and how we are feeling.”
Loffer said she will consider continuing her service for multiple terms or pursuing other ASUI leadership positions.
McClain is a first-year student majoring in political science and is a pledge at Beta Theta Pi. He was the president and founder of Young American’s for Freedom and hopes to use his experience to give back to the Moscow community.
“My two main platforms are student involvement on campus and academics,” McClain said. “I want to get more students involved by creating incentives and creating an app on Engage UIdaho called ‘My Club Finder,’ an app that students can use to find things that they are interested in. For academics, my main focus is promoting academic coaching and advising students to have more sessions and talk to their academic advisors more often.”
McClain said he foresees himself continuing with multiple terms in senate or pursuing other leadership positions.
Fitzgerald is a first-year student majoring in political science, international studies and history. She is also a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. She was the secretary of her high school’s student council and the president of her high school’s Distributive Education Clubs of America and Business Professionals of America chapters. Fitzgerald started and participated in several other leadership positions throughout high school as well.
Fitzgerald’s focus as a senator will be the mental health of students on campus, she said. She has struggled with anxiety her whole life and wants to encourage others to get better and not let mental health struggles define them.
“I plan on implementing to all freshman a class, similar to the Alcohol 101 classes, that teaches you how to be an ally to those who struggle with mental health and where to seek help,” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald said she may continue her career in ASUI Senate for a few terms before applying to be on the president’s cabinet.
Lopez is a second-year student majoring in biology with an emphasis in pre-med. She holds the networking chair position in Alpha’s Executive Board, a Latino-based organization which promotes professional and networking skills, and was the president of her high school’s student council.
Lopez ran on three main platforms: diversity and inclusion, civic engagement and student involvement.
“My focus really is diversity because I am a minority,” Lopez said. “I really know what it’s like to be underrepresented, and I know ASUI isn’t necessarily diverse, so I want to put my input on things that not a lot of people are aware of. I also want to create dedicated space for multicultural students because I know, right now, the diversity center is a small classroom when there’s over 1,000 diverse students. I want to push on that by fundraising and making a grant.”
Her other platforms encourage promoting events and opportunities for students to engage with the Moscow community and fellow students through service events and clubs.
Lopez said she would love to run for ASUI Senate again or become the diversity chair of the president’s cabinet.
Hunter is a third-year student majoring in marketing with a minor in advertising. Hunter was his high school class’s vice president and president as well as his high school’s Associated Student Body secretary and president.
Hunter ran on a couple of platforms, but said he is most focused on fixing issues with the parking issue.
“I’ve had a lot of people say that parking is a huge issue,” Hunter said. “The parking pass prices and the different rules, I’ve heard people get multiple parking tickets in the span of a couple hours. I want to make sure that we’re not getting multiple tickets in one day and lowering the parking prices.”.
He is also looking to improve mental health, especially during “this difficult and lonely time we’re in right now.”
Hunter said he really enjoys working for the students and would want to continue to run for future positions.
“I want for every student to be heard, no matter what their problem is or what their ideas are,” Hunter said.
Carter Kolpitcke can be reached at [email protected].