Editor,
As a proud advertiser of the Daily Lobo, I was disheartened to hear that the ASUNM Senate wants to, once again, cut back on funding to one of UNM's finest creations - its daily newspaper.
The Daily Lobo is synonymous with success on one obvious level: It is a respected training ground for young journalists and media workers in preparation for the real world.
More importantly to me however, is the fact that the Daily Lobo is an indispensable and universally-read medium that accurately reflects the pulse of the college community.
The paper is eagerly read by every faculty and staff member I know.
As an advertiser, I know that much of the success of my department can be directly attributed to the two very modestly-priced advertisements I run in the paper every week.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
But consider also that the Daily Lobo, through its reviews and advertising helps:
l Fill every seat for performances in the Experimental Theatre, Rodey Theatre, Keller Hall and Popejoy Hall.
l Promote the extraordinary films presented by the Film Society.
l Happily promotes UNM sporting and cultural events.
l And helps student organizations gain membership and gives free publicity for their various activities.
In short, pulling funds from the Daily Lobo will not only hurt the newspaper and its staff, which works under the most austere conditions as it is, but it will also severely hurt any UNM organization that ever hopes to organize, promote and successfully pull off a special event.
I strongly encourage the ASUNM Senate to reconsider its position on this extremely important issue.
And maybe it's time for students, faculty and staff to weigh in on this issue and share their opinions, one way or the other, as well.
We cannot treat the Daily Lobo as if it were just any other student organization. The business of putting out a newspaper is like no other venture that the University undertakes and it is by far one of its nobler missions.
I think Heywood Hale Broun said it best, "I wouldn't weep about a shoe factory or a branch-line railroad shutting down ... but newspapers are different."
Charles Reuben
School of Engineering
Copy Center staff
