Martha Smith, who is a junior majoring in political science and economics, is one of three candidates running for ASUI president this semester. Smith has held prior positions in ASUI, including adjutant, pro tempore, director of legislative affairs, and senator. She runs with vice presidential candidate Emma Johnston.
Smith is from Kooskia, Idaho, a small town in Idaho County. According to Smith, she has always been drawn to politics and coming to solutions that work for larger groups of people who are not ideologically similar.
“My hometown is really small, and we traditionally lack funding quite a bit, and what that usually results in is people not going to college, not pursuing things outside of Kooskia and stuff,” Smith said.
Smith credits her time at McCall Outdoor Science School as an elementary student to realizing higher education was worthwhile and attainable for her.
“I am a first-generation college student, but both of my parents are circus clowns, so they technically have BFAs, Bachelor’s in Funny Arts,” Smith said. “They went to clown college instead of regular college, which exposed me to a lot of different identities and people and cultures and everything. But it didn’t make going to college super easy. UI helped me imagine that higher education was attainable for me.”
A large part of why Smith wants to be ASUI president is to bring people together. Smith has been the president of her sorority Gamma Phi Beta, president of the Pre-Law Society, manager of the University Avenue Agency, been on the student conduct board with the Dean of Student’s Office, and held other positions.
“I have put myself into a position where my living group isn’t the only thing that I have been involved in, and ASUI isn’t the only thing I have been involved in,” Smith said. “I put myself in a position to understand a lot of parts of campus that I think the student body president should have—kind of a bird’s eye view of a lot of different parts.”
Martha and Emma’s campaign has three campaign pillars including amplify, communicate, and enhance.
Smith hopes to amplify student voices by providing resources for automatic residency paperwork for students living on campus to vote in local elections, while also helping off-campus student living areas vote on campus. Smith also wants to utilize the ASUI website to better receive student feedback and promote events students want to see.
Smith wants to communicate with the Vandal family by posting ASUI meeting minutes promptly and creating a new ASUI Academic Council to hear from representatives from all the colleges to have academic-focused conversations.
Smith wants to enhance the student experience by improving everyday student life. To do this, Smith wants to introduce using Vandal cards to attend sports events at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome and ICCU Arena instead of using QR codes like students currently do. She also wants to work with campus security to implement better active shooter protocols on campus including guides for specific buildings and classrooms.
Smith credits her role as her sorority’s president helped improve her leadership skills on an interpersonal level.
“I am really of the opinion that anytime you are in any leadership position, it is not about you. It’s about the people around you and empowering the people around you.” Smith said.
Smith says her background as a first-generation college student and a first-generation sorority puts her in a position to relate to a lot of students from diverse financial backgrounds.
“I really believe that I am a candidate who is in this authentically and I think that I have the tools from the last three years and the understanding of how this university works to be really successful as ASUI president.”
More information about Martha Smith and Emma Johnston’s campaign can be found on their Instagram @marthaemmaforasui
Georgia Swanson can be reached at [email protected]