On Monday, Feb. 6, the Maine Campus interviewed student senator Cameron Nelson, who has recently announced his candidacy for University of Maine student body president.
Nelson is a third-year student and has been involved with student government for two semesters now, after transferring from the University of Southern Maine where he studied political science and business analytics. Since then, he has committed himself to student government here at UMaine.
Nelson has been politically inclined for several years, with experience dating back to seventh grade.
“I remember in seventh grade, the first political thing I ever saw was the Republican presidential debate, like the Republican primary,” Nelson said. “I don’t know why I was just so drawn to people on stage, just like grappling with the future of our country. So just like activism and politics has always had this pull on me that nothing else ever has.”
When asked why he is running for UMSG president, Senator Nelson articulated numerous reasons:
“Most importantly, I’m running for student body president because I feel like the 21st century has introduced a number of different types of challenges that will need a different type of never-before-seen leadership to help us walk through those challenges and conquer them,” Nelson said.
Nelson then detailed some of his goals if elected president, beginning with the Pine Tree Resolution.
“There’s a state-level bill of the main legislature called the Pine Tree Amendment that seeks to enshrine a right to a clean environment in the Maine Constitution.” Nelson explained. “We introduced a bill to take the text of that bill, which would be put into the Maine Constitution and put that into the University of Maine student Constitution. So students of the University of Maine would have the right to a clean and healthy environment, pure water, clean air and everything like that. So if we’re elected we would like to see the passage of that.”
That is just one of Senator Nelson’s campaign pillars.
“We also have a bill to amend the University of Maine Constitution to include gender non-conforming individuals in the list of classes protected from hate-crimes,” Nelson said.
Nelson outlined the remaining three pillars of his campaign.
“Our four pillars are committed to ending racial and social inequality on the basis of gender, sexuality, income and all other classes that might basically subject somebody to inequality; Increasing access to mental health resources and making sure that everybody has access to equal opportunity and pursuing their best selves; and our final pillar is a commitment to transparency and democracy for students,” Nelson stated.
After interviewing Nelson, it was abundantly clear that he takes his campaign very seriously and is incredibly passionate about student government. If you have any questions about Senator Nelson’s campaign or his goal, please contact him at cameron.nelson@maine.edu.
