I am writing in response to the letter written by members of the ASUNM Finance Committee published in Friday's newspaper. First, let me tell readers that I am an employee of the New Mexico Daily Lobo. I have worked with The Lobo since the middle of the spring semester and have been an advertising representative since the beginning of the summer.
I had been working at the newspaper for about three weeks last spring before the Senate decided to pass an amendment that was flawed and failed. The bill would have totally eliminated Student Publication's funding, which includes Conceptions Southwest, Best Student Essays and the Daily Lobo. I was part of a team that took great measures to inform the student community about all facts of the bill and not just the rhetoric that the writers of the amendment were spewing. I am happy to say that enough students realized how that bill would have damaged UNM as a whole, not just Student Publications, and voted "no" to the amendment.
Now, once again, we are faced with another bill that is unreasonable, irresponsible and insulting to members of the student body, whom ASUNM supposedly represent. I speak of the Senate as a whole, but please note that a couple of senators did vote against this bill and for that I applaud them.
Something that I often notice when walking around campus is just how much people seem to take the Daily Lobo for granted. Our record and awards prove that the New Mexico Daily Lobo newspaper is one of the better dailies in the state and perhaps one of the best college newspapers in the United States. Has anyone had the honor of reading the New Mexico State University newspaper? Feel lucky if you haven't.
I don't want to see something at our school be penalized for doing an excellent job. There is something more frustrating than this, however, and that is, it seems that the Senate, and Finance Committee in particular, never fail to surprise me with their lack of research concerning the bills that they introduce. They see numbers on paper and interpret them as they wish, without even consulting the newspaper.
The Lobo did not have a $12,000 surplus as the group's letter claims but actually finished with a $4,000 deficit and that calculation includes student fees that are now on the chopping block. Something tells me that if they had looked a little further into the issue, they would have been spared the embarrassment of being wrong -- again.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
To close things off, I want to inform the student body about some experiences that I have dealt with during the last couple of months as an advertising representative. We are students who are selling advertisements. We are not salespeople who happen to be going to school at the same time. What I mean is that while we try hard to generate enough revenue to support the Lobo without any help at all, we sometimes fall short, which is why student fee support is essential.
For example, this semester we faced an economic slump. The Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., have only compounded our financial obligation to produce a quality publication for the student body. The advertising department has suffered week after week from significantly lower advertising revenue, despite our best efforts. The Lobo advertising staff deals with clients who have had to "restructure" and "downsize" their companies due to the terrorist attacks. They "froze" all college newspaper advertising funds indefinitely. My point is that the need to use the "rainy day fund," which is a term the Senate often likes to use when referring to the newspaper's "surplus fund," has arrived. The advertising department is not generating enough income to cover the increased cost of production of UNM's quality publications -- the Daily Lobo, Best Student Essays and Conceptions Southwest.
I encourage all senators, students and staff to discuss what goes on behind the doors of the Senate and the Daily Lobo so that they don't make a decision solely based on inaccurate, exaggerated information. And above all, please get out and vote.
David B. Briones is an advertising representative for the New Mexico Daily Lobo. He is a junior majoring in computer science.
