In what is becoming a semi-annual ritual, the student government Finance Committee began the process Wednesday of raising the ASUNM fee paid by students from $14 to $20.
The bill, which passed unanimously, would increase the amount of funding available to student groups by about $200,000. At the same time, it would decrease the amount allocated to the Student Publications Board from 12 percent to 8 percent. The board publishes the Daily Lobo, Conceptions Southwest and Best Student Essays.
Like a similar bill passed by the finance committee Oct. 10, the percentage change would not lower the amount of student fees paid to the board - about $47,000 per year - because of the overall increase in student government income, supporters say.
During the past two years, Associated Students of UNM have repeatedly tried to garner student approval for a fee increase in response to ever-increasing budget requests from student groups that the Finance Committee is unable to cover. The $14 fee has not increased since the mid-1970s.
During last semester's student election, voters rejected Constitutional Amendment Four, which would have increased the student fees to $20, but would have lowered the publication board allocation to 6 percent. The bill was originally introduced in committee with a publications board reduction to 8 percent, but that allocation was lowered during a subsequent Senate meeting.
"Reduction of student publications is the only thing holding this bill back," Vice President Steve Aguilar said.
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Sen. Tim Serna, who rejoins the Senate to replace former Sen. Grant Nichols, agreed.
"Last semester we should have left student publications alone - hindsight is always 20/20," he said.
During the spring elections last year, students rejected a different bill that would not have raised student fees, but would have eliminated $38,000 of student government funding to the Daily Lobo.
Before the meeting, ASUNM President Andrea Cook and Lobby Director Sara Schreiber urged the committee to reject the bill, arguing that asking the students for more money contradicts the student government's current effort to minimize tuition increases imposed by the Legislature this year.
"We're talking out both sides of our mouths," Cook said. "I love student groups, they do a lot for us - I'd love to say, 'Give us more money.' But are we willing to put our name on the line when we say no to the tuition credit but we want your money on the other side of the spectrum?"
Sen. Evan Kist disagreed.
"The amount of the tuition increase would completely overshadow the $6 increase - it's not a big deal," he said.
The bill will go before the full Senate Jan. 23. and to a student vote in April. It was pushed through early, Aguilar said, because the proposed increase needs to be included as 'pending' in the budget submitted by the Board of Regents to the Legislature later this month.
Nichols, who tendered a surprising resignation during an orientation session for new senators Saturday, was conspicuously absent from the meeting. He was about to serve his fourth term in the Senate and was a Finance Committee stalwart. Nichols was a long-time advocate of increasing the amount of money available to student groups, whether by lowering the publication board's share or increasing student fees. He said he left to pursue other leadership opportunities with his fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta.
