Election season for the Associated Students of the University of Nevada, Reno has returned for 2024. This year, two presidential and vice presidential candidate teams are running — Fayza Salah and Isabella Valdivieso, and Dawson Deal and Liesel Kemmelmeier.
General election debates will take place on March 12, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Joe Crowley Student Union’s theater. The general election will occur from March 13 to 14.
Read more about Fayza Salah and Isabella Valdivieso’s campaign below:
Fayza Salah, Presidential Candidate
Fayza Salah is a third-year neuroscience major and an honors college student. She has been in ASUN since her freshman year. Currently, she serves as the speaker of the senate, but she was a legislation intern and College of Science senator in her previous years.
The name of Salah and Valdivieso’s campaign is “YOURNevada”, which is supposed to represent their dedication to cultivating a campus community that embraces diversity and inclusivity.
“At the heart of it all, we [Salah and Valdivieso] believe in fostering connections that resonate with each student’s individual needs,” said Salah. “We’re making sure that the experiences of each student is truly theirs, so we’re really aligned with ASUN’s vision.”
Salah says she feels confident in her ability to lead and is equipped to succeed.
“I understand ASUN operations in and out,” said Salah. “I think I’m very much centered around community and building a better campus environment. When I came to UNR, I came with the intent to leave an impact.”
Isabella Valdivieso, Vice Presidential Candidate
Isabella Valdivieso is a third-year student studying both political science and Spanish literature and culture. Valdivieso has been part of ASUN since her freshman year.
Valdivieso started as an intern in the legislative affairs department of ASUN and later became the assistant director of government affairs, and she is now the director of executive affairs for ASUN.
Valdivieso is running for vice president of ASUN with her running mate Fayza Salah, who is running for president.
She explained her plan to connect with students to understand what they’re looking for and use the student voices to shape their goals, which included interviewing students and asking them questions about if they do or do not feel a sense of community.
“We think there is a lack of identity found for all UNR students to kind of unite under,” said Valdivieso. “There’s lots of different kinds of identity and lots of different communities on campus, which is awesome, but we want to make sure we can have an overarching one for everyone.”
Valdivieso says she feels confident to step into the role as vice president, especially with the number of ways she has worked with ASUN in the past.
YOURNevada Campaign Pillars
The main pillars of the YOURNevada campaign are: impact and intentions; advocacy through compassion and community; breaking the status quo. Additionally, Salah and Valdivieso emphasized the importance of campus safety and how it became a priority within their campaign.
“We’re committed to implementing proactive measures, such as continuous active shooter workshops, to evaluating communication strategies and maybe finding ways to better streamline communication to students,” said Salah.
As for creating a diverse and inclusive space, both women are tying their own identities as women of color into their vision for the student community.
“We want to create a safe space for all backgrounds and identities,” said Salah. “We’re committed to fostering an environment where all students feel like they belong, and that they’re supported and represented.”
Lastly, Salah and Valdivieso want to make class materials such as textbooks more affordable to students.
“We plan to try and get professors to shift towards open educational resources and affordable textbook options,” said Salah.
When talking about the goals of her and Salah’s campaign, Valdivieso says that their goals are always growing and changing and are not necessarily set in stone.
“We really do feel like it needs to be a focus on YOURNevada and making sure that when we use the word empower and we use the word impact, it’s used in a sense that it’s a positive thing,” said Valdivieso.
Valdivieso pointed out that when looking to make change, it’s important to consider factors such as whether or not they reached out to students, if they were included in decisions and if their resources were met.
Fayza Salah can be reached at fa*********@********nr.edu or on Instagram @your.nevada. Isabella Valdivieso can be reached at is***********@********nr.edu or on Instagram @your.nevada.
Nick Stewart can be reached at **@***********nr.edu or on X @nickk_stewart.
Correction 10:57 a.m. There will be no primary presidential debates or elections.
