by Heather R. Gabel
ASUNM Vice President
To begin, I would like to take this opportunity to ask for your opinion as students of the University of New Mexico.
It has been proposed to the Student Fee Review Board that there be a $25 increase in Student Fee's next year. This $25 would be earmarked for the Student Health Center for Mental Health Services. The board would like to know how the students feel about this increase. Your comments can be sent to Tim Reed at timmy891@yahoo.com, and he will forward them on to the other members of the board. This decision will impact every student and the board would like to hear the thoughts of the students that it will effect.
Now, as for the ASUNM Senate, we have already been back to school for a couple of weeks and are in full swing. The ASUNM spring budget process is well on its way and those groups who requested funding will need to attend their mandatory budget hearings in late February or early March. Your hearing dates and times will be posted at the ASUNM office, in the Student Services Center, Rm. 262, by noon, on Wednesday, Feb. 19.
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In accordance with the ASUNM Lawbook, the senate must create a list of its top-three issues or concerns that they wish to address. We take these issues and use them to format goals for the senate. We then place each senator on an ad hoc committee that corresponds to a specific goal. The ad hoc committee's job is to make sure that the goal set in place is reached by the end of the semester. The Recycling Committee will ensure that the ASUNM Senate will have a recycling program for the Student Union Building when it opens. The Outreach Committee will ensure that the ASUNM Senate will sponsor a high school leadership conference this spring. The Safety Promotion Committee will ensure that the ASUNM Senate will increase awareness and prevention of sexual assault on campus through increased campus security, comment boxes, distribution of pamphlets and by sponsoring a workshop.
The Recycling Committee is being chaired by Sen. Garcia and includes Sens. Brigman, Crosby, Heidbrink, Padilla, Sims and Vega. The Outreach Committee is being chaired by Sen. Maple and includes Sens. Burgess, Cook, French, Gragg, Salas and Stevenson. The Safety Promotion Committee is being chaired by Sen. Sevilla and includes Sens. Chavez, Cisneros, Conrad, Giron-Carpenter and Torres.
If you have any suggestions for these committees or would like to be involved, please feel free to contact the appropriate senators at the ASUNM office. You may leave a message by calling 277-5528, or stop by in person because we would love for you to be involved!
Another duty of ASUNM senators is to be the liaison to various chartered student organizations. They are assigned these organizations through the vice president's office and are expected to keep the organizations informed about ASUNM events as well as keeping the ASUNM Senate informed about events being sponsored by their organizations. If you are the president of an undergraduate chartered student organization, you should have heard from your senate representative at some point in the last couple weeks. If you have not, it may be because the information in the Student Activities Office is not up to date. You can check to verify that the Student Activities Office has your current contact information by visiting their Web site at www.unm.edu/~sac then click on "Student Club Information." The Web site has the same information that the senators have been using to contact you.
If the information is wrong, you will not be receiving important information. You can update this information by going into the Student Activities Office (Student Services Center Rm 280), picking up a "UNM Student Organization Charter Form," checking the "Officer/address change" line and completing the appropriate areas of the form. If the information is correct on the Web site but you have not been hearing from your senator, please contact the ASUNM office and let us know. We will be happy to tell you who your corresponding senator is and ensure that they are able to contact you from that point forward. If you would like to know who your ASUNM senator is, you can find out online by visiting www.unm.edu/~asunm. Click on the senate page, then the student organization assignments link. This lists senators, their standing committees, executive agencies, ad hoc committees and their student organization assignments.
It is the beginning of another great semester and we would love for you to join us at our next committee meeting Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 6 p.m. (locations are posted on the ASUNM office door) or the full senate meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 19, at 6 p.m., in the Kiva Auditorium.