Students heard her platform during the campaigns, but with little more than two weeks until Rhonda Wilson takes office, many do not really know who their new president-elect is or what issues she will be tackling as of May 1.

Wilson will be the first African-American and the fifth female ever to serve as the president of the Associated Students.

Before beginning her college career as an accounting and finance junior, Wilson attended high school at Dobson High in Mesa, where she lived since the fifth grade.

She was born in Trinidad and Tobago, an island community in the Caribbean Sea.

For the past year Wilson has served as ASUA Minority Action Council Director. She is a former Undergraduate Senator, Ombudsperson, research assistant for the Arizona Student Association Directors, and registered student lobbyist at the state Capitol.

"Right now I'm just shadowing Ben (Driggs, who is the current ASUA president), I'm transitioning and learning about budget procedure," Wilson said in an interview with the Daily Wildcat on Monday.

Wildcat: It's been almost two weeks since the elections commission announced you as the new ASUA president, now that some of the initial emotion has worn off, what are you feeling?

Wilson: I just had no idea the president had so much to deal with. It is exciting but it's a lot.

WC: What issues has the current ASUA president encouraged you to continue working on once you take over?

W: The continuation of teacher evaluations, the student union, and the struggle with the regents and the legislature about tuition and specifically the work-study program. He also advised me to take the minimum number of credits I can to remain a full-time student.

WC: The budget can be an intimidating document, what ideas do you have for next year's budget?

W: I'm going to try to be as efficient as possible with spending. I'd like to give a lot of money to club funding. There was a proposal this year to decrease stipends (money paid to elected and appointed officials in ASUA), which frees up more mo ney for programming.

WC: Spring Fling has been one of ASUA's biggest programs and services for 22 years, how do you feel about the event?

W: It's more than just a fundraiser for students, it invites students from all areas of campus, faculty and people in the community. Students who work on its staff get a lot of practical experience for jobs. It's a fun, creative way to raise money , and to promote more school spirit in the school and the community.

WC: It's your job to appoint new officials in ASUA, do you know who you want to serve in these appointed positions?

W: I want someone with new ideas, experience is good, but you don't have to have worked in that area for the past year to know everything you need to know. I want people who are hardworking and confident. I have been encouraging people within ASUA as well as inside the Residence Hall Association, Interfraternity Council, and the resource centers. I passed out applications every day last week.

WC: You appoint the elections commissioner. What are changes you would like to see within this commission, after hearing suggestions from Jennifer Haber, this year's commissioner?

W: I'd like to make the elections code a lot more clear, sometimes there are too many ambiguities and people interpret it differently. The code was written a long time ago, and it has been revised, but it needs to be changed with the times. I do t hink we need an appeal process, it's a kind of check in the system to make sure things are going correctly.

WC: One of the areas Haber suggested should be revised within the election process is the primaries. She said because of the low number of people who run during the elections, primary elections are a waste of money. How do you feel about this?

W: I'd like to see enough people run so we need the primaries, but we can't always have that. I'd like to see something in the code to allow the commission to decide if there are enough people running to warrant a primary or if there should just b e a general election. One idea is having a run-off election if one of the candidates does not receive 50 percent of the vote, like they do at the other two Arizona state universities.

WC: What are your feelings on the struggle between ASUA and the Graduate and Professional Student Council?

W: I think it will be a compromise, I do think there will be some sort of split, but I hope we will be able to work together, it's obvious we can't work together the way we are now. I'm afraid if there is a complete break some people on both sides will not want to work together at all. The neat thing is we just had elections; we have new people. We have different needs and focuses, but we have a lot in common. We are all students, regardless if we're undergraduate or graduate. I'm really anxious f or something to happen, we need to figure out what kind of modifications to make. Right now I can't really do anything because I don't know what ASUA is gonna be.

WC: One of the regents has proposed a tuition indexing plan, what do you think of this idea?

W: I think it's terrible, it would pretty much eliminate student input in the tuition process and tuition would keep raising at higher levels. We do need to come up with some way to set tuition so students can plan ahead.

WC: One of the biggest problems facing ASUA is student apathy. One area where students seem most apathetic is in voting, what do you plan to do to help this problem?

W: The Arizona Students' Association committed to a program known as S.A.V.E.-Students Are Voting Everywhere. ASA is trying to make it easier for any student on campus to be able to vote on campus. There is a polling site at Gallagher Theater. The y are trying to come up with a form to make it easier for students to get an absentee ballot. A lot of students don't vote because they're not registered, some of those that are registered don't vote because they're not informed. Once students are registe red to vote, we could create a database to send information to students in order to inform them about candidates, especially which candidates are pro-education.

WC: The university is in the process of deciding if it should renovate the current Student Union or if they should build a new one altogether. What is your feeling on this issue?

W: Right now I say they should start all over and build a new one. I know it would take a long time and it would inconvenience students, but in the long run I think it's the best choice. I think it should be one of the number one priorities of the administration. The administration is committed to the Student Union, but it doesn't seem like their top priority. They seem more concerned with the Integrated Instructional Facility Building for freshman, but that doesn't affect everybody like the Union . It should be a central area for everybody, some place for students to hang out.

WC: What plans do you have to increase communication between students and UA President Manuel Pacheco?

W: I'd like to see him be more accessible to students. A lot of students don't know who he is or feel in touch with him. The president at Northern Arizona University holds office hours and I think that would be a neat thing for Pacheco to do.

WC: As the first African American to serve as president, what do you hope to do for minority students as well as the entire student population?

W: For a long time minority students haven't had a voice in student government. I'd like to see more things done with the administration. I want to see more minority students involved in ASUA, students in general need to get involved, but the perc entage of minority students who are involved is much lower. I hope I can bring a different perspective.

WC: Undergraduate Senator Jonathan Bierner suggested changing the name of the Minority Action Council to the Ethnic Minority Action Council because he feels it only serves ethnic minorities. How do you feel about this issue?

W: Jonathan and I have been talking, and I feel there should be some part of ASUA to coordinate programs that bring students of all minorities, not just cultural minorities, together. Jonathan wants to see MAC head that up. There should be an over all awareness of the diverse nature of the student-body on this campus.

WC: What message do you want to give to students as their student-body president?

W: ASUA's not that scary of a place. We need a lot more people to get involved, the more people who get involved the more students we can reach. If students have problems they should come up and tell us.