Introducing Trevor

Hello my new blog readers!

Welcome to the Northern Iowan’s NISG elections blog. I want to make my first post an introduction of myself and the new project Adam Haselhuhn and I have undertaken.

I’m Trevor Boeckmann, a senior Economics major. I first became involved with NISG as a freshman in a Senate Committee spot. I ran to become the Senator of the College of Business that spring and won. The following year, I teamed up with Anthony Palomo to run for Student Body President. I lost that election to Adam and left NISG to form and run a handful of student organizations. Last month, I ran a write-in campaign to become an off-campus Senator and won. Now I’ve set my sights on reforming Senate and bringing coverage to this year’s NISG election before I leave UNI.

Outside of NISG, I’m the President of the UNI Freethinkers and Inquirers, the outgoing President of One Iowa of UNI, and this spring I’ll be starting a new student organization dedicated to free expression on campus. I’m also involved with the Pre-Law Club and an op-ed writer for the Northern Iowan.

When I became involved with NISG my sophomore year, the group was at a crossroads. After years of relatively little fighting, a new generation of students were swept into power and Senate was gridlocked. While some of the issues we bickered over were petty, many were proxy battles for what a student government should be. How much accountability did we owe to students? How involved should we become with student groups? How should we handle student money? The debates were fascinating — yet few students ever realized they were happening.

These discussions spilled over to the Presidential race that year, but became mired in rule breaking and court cases. The Northern Iowan tried to cover everything, but they didn’t possess the background knowledge to see what was really happening. They gave overviews that left students uninterested and rarely asked tough questions about platforms and the future of UNI. They were out-of-touch with what was really happening in these races.

After an uncontested race last year, it became obvious this year would be a real race. I decided I wanted to change things. I pitched the idea of having a blog to the Northern Iowan. My idea was to give the behind the scenes look. I know what candidates are looking for, because I was one. They’re building up Facebook friend lists right now; they want the biggest Facebook group by the end of the race; they’re agonizing over platforms and deciding how big they want to go on promotions.

So, here’s my promise to you for this election. I will do everything I can to give you news before you could get it anywhere else. I’ll show you what the candidates are watching so you can watch them, too. I’ll look up voting histories to let you know where candidates have stood. I’ll call out candidates for unrealistic platforms and tell you how policies will affect student groups. After all, a well-educated student body is the only way to assure well-educated votes.