The 69th Senate of the Associated Students of New Mexico State University convened on Feb. 19 for the third session of the spring 2026 semester. Senators and ASNMSU leadership focused on raising their spending, encouraging newer senators to adapt to their roles, and discussing how to build a livelier Aggie community.
The session opened with ASNMSU President Wyatt Ziehe giving his State of the Association speech. As the country sees a growing drop in student enrollment and incoming student populations, Ziehe said the university and association must continue to adapt to new conditions. Ziehe also remarked about the increase in voter turnout in the ASNMSU’s last elections, congratulating the association for improving its outreach to the community.
Additionally, Ziehe talked about how much student engagement at NMSU has recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“Five years out from the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m happy to report that the Association has made a full comeback,” Ziehe said. “We have demonstrated two years of growth to pre-pandemic levels in terms of event attendance, public participation, and student following. We are up 48% with student engagement from this time last year and are hoping to continue this growth into the spring. Meanwhile, our participation services went up 400% over last year.”
However, even as students have returned to campus after the pandemic, online learning continues to become more prevalent in NMSU’s classes. As such, Ziehe said the biggest priority of this administration was to make Main Campus as inviting as possible to bring Aggies back home.
“Since the pandemic, we have seen significant increases in commuter and hybrid students. Meaning, although we have seen steady attendance growth, the number of students lingering around campus has declined,” Ziehe said. “What sets us apart as a university and as an association is our campus community. Think about it; the average UNM or UTEP student lives off campus, commutes to class every day, and spends half of their free time off campus. Our students traditionally spend more time engaging with clubs and events on campus. However, with the increase in alternative learning, the way we traditionally engage with our students needs to evolve.”
On top of community building on campus, the 69th Senate’s leadership continues to prioritize increased spending. As of the beginning of the spring 2026 semester, the ASNMSU has over $200,000 left in its expense account. One issue that prevents the Senate from spending is bills being filed incorrectly. Vice President Kolby Graham Taylor urged senators, especially newly elected ones, to learn how to properly author bills.
“Write your bills and do it right,” Taylor said. “We have $281,230 we can spend. You have to get it done. I need us to get this done because I don’t think you guys want to be the senate that didn’t spend enough, and I don’t want to be the Vice President of that Senate, or else we are going to see some major decreases in what we’re allowed to spend, and that means students get less money.”
For the Feb. 19 session, the Senate was recommended to spend a minimum of $56,246.
Most bills presented and passed on the floor that evening concerned paying the expenses of student activities. Sen. Hernandez and Sen. Ortega proposed Bill 340 to fund NMSU’s Esports Invitational, which will bring players of all ages across the region to one of the biggest esport events in the Southwest. Bill 282, meanwhile, secures traveling expenses for Aggies in the Molecular Biology and Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Graduate Student Organization headed to San Diego. These bills, among others like them, passed.
Bill 319, proposed by Sen. Joukhadar, provided funding for 16 students in NMSU’s American Marketing Association to compete in the 2026 International Collegiate Conference in Chicago. The association’s president, Noah Torres, spoke about why this event is a vital experience for NMSU’s marketing students.
“We won at the ICC two years ago; we were in the Top Small Chapter because we are among the best in the nation, including Puerto Rico,” Torres said. “This year we are going back, and we are eligible to compete again in competitions like the Top Small Chapter. I’m excited and happy to have everyone here with me be in various competitions that involve marketing strategy and simulation. These all benefit us in the real world, especially marketers. It’s also probably the biggest networking opportunity for us. So, being able to attend a conference with professionals that are in the same line of work as us is a true accomplishment.”
Bill 319 was unanimously passed.
Although the senate did not reach their $56,246 spending goal that night, the bills passed totaled to around $37,000 in expenditures. Senators were congratulated for getting closer to their recommended spending as they were dismissed.
