The recently elected officials for the Associated Students of New Mexico State University have implemented some of their first changes in an effort to increase inclusivity in student government.  

ASNMSU President, Emerson Morrow and his team of elected officials have revised the mission statement the 2018-2019 school year.  

The new mission reads as follows: 

“ASNMSU is your student government. We are students serving through inclusive programs, engaging events, valuable services, and representing the student interest to improve the college experience for every Aggie.” 

 Morrow said he and his fellow officials, Vice President, Linda Cisneros and Chief of Staff Jan Bonestroo, created the new mission in preparation of the 2018-2019 school year.  

“Previously, there is nothing about representing the students’ interests but that’s a big part of what we do,” Morrow said.  

 Morrow said that with the introduction of the mission statement, he hopes students will realize there is a new administration and ASNMSU is on the “side of the student.” 

 ASNMSU officials have also implemented a vision statement: “An inclusive student government, an engaged student body, a better college experience.” 

“That’s it,” Morrow said. “Those three phrases and everything that I do in the office or out on campus or elsewhere is with those goals in mind.” 

Cisneros said the vision statement and mission took several months to write, and they began with a Google Document so they could start “spitballing ideas” back and forth with one another. She said they wanted something that would encapsulate the goals they set during their campaign. 

“We asked for input and we got a lot of great feedback,” Cisneros said. “I’m really happy with how it came out.” 

Morrow said he would like to make sure the student government is as reflective of the student body as possible, and hopes that within the school year, the organization reaches out to students they had not reached out to previously.  

The student body president said that ASNMSU has already accomplished some of their goals in creating an inclusive government, including hiring majors from every academic college and hiring graduate and undergraduate students.  

In order to build an engaged student body, Morrow said he has also secured Corbett Center Student Union as an early voting location, which he said is his biggest accomplishment so far.  

Morrow said he believes the student voice matters and voting is the best way to make people’s voices known. 

“Whether that’s in a student government election, whether you’re voting for homecoming king and queen or you’re voting for President of the United States,” Morrow said.  

Morrow said he would like to see students engaged in voting because he is representing over 12 thousand students, and he would like to be an effective voice for them.  

“We’re in charge of their student fees, and we want to make sure they have a say in that,” Morrow said. “But also that they’re weighing in on larger elections and issues because they affect us just as much as anything else.” 

Morrow said he is looking forward to the rest of the school year and helping make the lives of students better while keeping the new mission and vision statement in mind.  

Some of the projects Morrow said he has on his agenda include the recognition of Indigenous People’s Day, National Coming Out Day, revision transportation contracts, and to strengthen the Lottery Scholarship. 

Morrow said they have created a list of goals that will be accessible via the ASNMSU website. 

“We want people to hold us accountable and make sure that we are really working and doing the things that we said we were going to do.” Morrow said.