UWM Student Association Election 2021, Presidential Candidate Shares Her Plans

UW-Milwaukee’s Student Association has only one presidential candidate on the ballot this year. Lone candidate, Amillia “Mia” Heredia said she will hold UWM accountable for using phrases like “most diverse,” plan events to fundraise for segregated fees and advocate for nontraditional students.

The Independent Elections Commission usually holds a formal debate among the several presidential candidates, but with only one candidate this year, it was called “A Conversation with the Candidate.” The event was still conducted as a formal debate even with the lone candidate, with timed responses and pre-determined questions. It was held on Facebook Live via the Student Association Facebook page on Tuesday, March 9.

The mission of the Student Association is to “enrich the student experience at UWM through representation, advocacy and funding of services and activities to improve student life,” according to anthropology graduate student Sayema Khatun, who mediated the debate.

Student Association presidential candidate Heredia, who grew up on the South Side of Milwaukee, is a first-generation student and is currently enrolled in the Criminal Justice Accelerated Master’s program. She’ll be completing the bachelor’s degree part of the program this spring. She advocated throughout the meeting for using the presidential position to elevate the voices to students who do not have the same platform that she would have as president.

“If elected, I really want to use my term to focus on keeping our university accountable when we use phrases such as ‘most diverse’ or ‘most inclusive,’” Heredia said at the debate. “UW-Milwaukee has a lot of potential and I think we lose out on reaching that potential when we’re not utilizing student experience, student comments, concerns and feedback.”

Current Student Association President Emma Mae Weber said they endorse Heredia for president of the Student Association for 2021 to 2022.

“I am very confident in Mia’s ability to lead our student body,” said Weber. “She has been a trailblazer in student government and pushed for change where others were too scared to. She leads with compassion and a vision for a better campus.”

Heredia said her perspective as someone who is attending the university along with Chancellor Mark Mone’s perspective as someone who is running the university are both important to making decisions on the behalf of students.

“Our perspective as students is just as valuable as his perspective as administration and working together, we are going to come up with the best solutions,” Heredia said. 

With UWM planning to return to campus in the fall, Heredia said she will advocate for continued flexibility for students in classes and opportunities as the university shifts back to in-person instruction. She wants to make sure UWM is meeting students “where they are at” as the university moves forward.

“The pandemic has hardships on everybody, and I think it speaks volumes that we were so flexible during this pandemic,” Heredia said. “Pre-COVID we weren’t offering the same opportunities for folks.”

She said that keeping flexibility for students going forward would make attending university easier, more obtainable and an overall better experience for students.  

“At the end of the day it’s us [students] who are pursuing education, it’s us who are paying to be here,” she said.

In regard to UWM’s segregated fee pool declining due to a decrease in attendance, Heredia said she wants to fundraise and hold events to raise money for UWM. She said as both a student herself and a presidential candidate, she does not support raising segregated fees, but she does want to ensure that the programs and services funded by segregated fees do not go away.

“I think that we should lean on our beautiful city of Milwaukee, as well as the talented students who go to UW-Milwaukee and hold events,” she said.

Heredia also plans to advocate for non-traditional students, she said. Because she is not a nontraditional student herself, she said she does not want to speak for the needs of nontraditional students. Instead, she wants to create programs tailored to nontraditional students to support them and “give them their own space” to adjust to college.

“Coming into a year of unknowns, I know Mia is right for the job,” Weber said.  

The Independent Elections Commission hosted a Town Hall on Tuesday, March 16 at 5 p.m. on the Student Association Facebook page. Students can view recordings of both the debate and the Town Hall anytime on the Facebook page.

Voting for the Student Association Election will be open April 6 through April 8, and students will receive an email in their UWM email with the virtual ballot.