A self-described outsider to the political process on campus, Nazminia and Liz Brown were elected president and vice president of ASUW in April, running on a campaign to open the political process to more students.
"No one knew that we have a $1 million budget or that the [ASUW] president sits on the Board of Trustees, as well as various committees that the [ASUW] vice president sits on," Nazminia says.
Nazminia hails from the Denver area, while Brown comes from Douglas, Wyoming. Nazminia has Iranian ancestry and speaks Farsi, while Brown describes herself as "very American," a native Wyomingite proud to attend UW. Brown was on freshman senate and represented the College of Arts and Sciences as a senator during the 2009-10 school year, while Nazminia stayed on the outside of ASUW and decided to run for president during the summer of 2009.
The two say their differences help give them a wide-ranging perspective on the campus political process.
"I think we were just really fortunate to run together on this idea of total campus representation," Brown says. "Together, I think we do represent that. We're exactly the opposite of each other. Throughout the campaign and since we've taken office, we've really tried to make sure all of our decisions represent everybody on campus."
In particular, Nazminia says he and Brown are particularly committed to helping out multicultural, non-traditional and international students. For executive of diversity outreach-one of six paid executives with ASUW-Nazminia hired a non-traditional student, believed to be the first in ASUW history.
"Sometimes campaign promises get broken at all levels, and the perception of ASUW was that campaign promises get broken there, too," he says. "That was one way to hopefully follow through on a promise and give back to the student body."
Cameron
Nazminia and Liz Brown
ASUW
President and Vice President
