The New Mexico Daily Lobo is held accountable to students daily and is being punished by the ASUNM Senate for being fiscally responsible.
How dare the newspaper save money so that in the event of economic crisis, the students will still have a newspaper? How dare the Daily Lobo cut back on expenses to make sure it has enough to function should ASUNM cut off student fee support?
Better to have the student government dictating what the newspaper does and allow it to run in the red rather than have a surplus.
Much has been made of the wealth of the Daily Lobo, but few have questioned the ivory tower the student government is living in. As a student, I want to know where my fees are going before anyone asks me to pay more for relatively little in return.
The ASUNM Finance Committee has allocated $335,106 so far this year in student fees through the spring and fall budget processes. Of that funding, a whopping $204,395, or 61 percent, went to 10 ASUNM agencies.
More than half of student fees fund:
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l ASUNM Crafts Studio at $8,078
l ASUNM Elections Committee at $8,452
l ASUNM Film Committee at $34,036
l ASUNM General Government at $47,632
l ASUNM Homecoming at $6,484
l ASUNM Lobby at $5,069
l ASUNM Non-Workstudy at $5,624
l ASUNM Senate at $23,198
l ASUNM Student Special Events at $65,407
l ASUNM Student Court at $397.
The newspaper has said relatively little as a variety of student government agencies have squandered the student fees they are entrusted with annually. I believe that ASUNM, as an institution, plays an integral role on campus. In practice, it is generous to say that student government leaders do little for students.
Take Student Special Events for example, which is now collecting nearly 20 percent of student fees. The agency once brought the likes of Led Zeppelin and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to The Pit. The group was once a national concert promoting force and students rarely uttered the now common complaint, "There's nothing to do at UNM."
Now we are treated to ghost speakers and Tiffany concerts, which are fine but do little to explain where that $65,407 really is going.
Just as senators asked the Daily Lobo not long ago to give up color on its front page and make sacrifices for students, I ask the Senate why it doesn't look to itself first. Why not forgo catering dinner at meetings so that you can truly cater to students.
Iliana Lim¢n
Editor in chief
