ASU graduate students Tyler Bowyer and Kaitlin Thompson, the two student representatives to the Arizona Board of Regents, broke tradition by endorsing a presidential ticket in ASU's Tempe Undergraduate Student Government elections.
Bowyer and Thompson voiced their support for the Jordan Davis ticket in the Tempe Undergraduate Student Government presidential race Thursday.
Student regents rarely, if ever, get involved in USG elections.
The student regents, who serve staggered, two-year terms, receive full voting privileges in their second year. They are chosen from a specific university each year, but the student regents represent all students from the universities.
Bowyer said the student regents have two reasons for getting involved this year. The first is the role the USG president plays in selection of student regents and the second is to get students more involved, both in campus affairs and ABOR.
The Board of the Associated Students of Arizona and the campus student government must approve student candidates before they are forwarded to the governor for appointment.
Bowyer said ASU is up for student regent next year, and it will be important to have a president who can lead this process.
“We’re walking into a new era. ... We’ve got to have a leader that can speak out for the students,” Bowyer said.
The regents agreed the next USG president needs to be someone who has a good relationship with ABOR.
“We’ve got to have a student body president who will be involved with the Board of Regents,” Bowyer said. “We’ve got to have someone who will continue that relationship. When student body presidents don’t have a relationship with ABOR, the students lose.”
Bowyer and Thompson said the Davis ticket is the most qualified to work with ABOR on behalf of the students.
Davis is running against Kyle Matson and Natasha Yenina for the Tempe USG presidency.
Thompson said she hopes a student body president with strong ties to ABOR will help get the students involved with the board, which takes student input into account when making their policies.
“We want to see that student involvement and this is a step we could take,” she said.
The student regents are in a unique position because their appointed, rather than elected, leadership positions put a slight separation between themselves and the student body at large, Thompson said.
She said they have a responsibility to endorse good candidates for student elections, so that students have all the information when they vote.
USG presidents who are involved with the board and the students help the student regents get a better idea of campus needs as well, the regents said.
“Working with (USG presidents) just gives us such a valuable insight that is really unique and really important,” Thompson said. “It was just too important to remain silent.”
USG President Mark Naufel, who announced his endorsement of the Davis ticket March 25, echoed the student regents on the importance of working with ABOR as student body president.
“That’s really the most important part of the job,” Naufel said.
He said the USG president has to be an advocate with the board because it makes the major decisions that affect Arizona university students.
Naufel said part of his administration’s effectiveness was because of its relationships with ABOR.
“People need to focus more on how they’re going to build relationships, and how they’re going to get things done,” he said.
Reach the reporter at ammedeir@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @amy_medeiros
