A UNM student organization may have been guilty of giving Albuquerque Journal readers the wrong impression Thursday.
The UNM chapter of the Planners Network, an organization trying to get students involved in "progressive governmental planning," published the address of the School of Architecture and Planning and one of its telephone numbers in an advertisement it sponsored urging readers to vote against the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County unification election.
The problem, UNM spokeswoman Susan McKinsey said, is the University is neutral in all political matters and readers of the ad may have misinterpreted it as an endorsement.
"This was in a sense a violation of our policies regarding political activism," she said. "We encourage it, but on people's own time and without University resources."
Roger Schluntz, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, which is the department the Planners Network is organized through, said he wasn't worried about the ad giving a false impression of the department or the University.
"Some student organizations have specific interests, but they do not necessarily represent the faculty or our school," he said. "We encourage thoughtful deliberation as a means for education. The problem in this case is this group didn't correctly state who it was speaking for."
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Schluntz prepared a written statement on behalf of the School of Architecture and Planning after the violation was aired on a local television station.
"As required by University policy, the department remains neutral on political issues," Schluntz said in the statement. "We regret any misunderstanding and will undertake measures to ensure our student organizations are fully aware of University policies and procedures."
The Albuquerque Journal's display advertising department did not return telephone calls Monday.
Members of the Planners Network said the ad, which poses several questions regarding the issue, was designed to make Albuquerque residents think about the impacts of the possible merger of the city and the county.
"We do not want to tell people how to think. We just want to give them the facts," said Javier Benavidez, a UNM graduate student and member of the organization. "We wanted to raise questions regarding the issue we don't feel the local government has fully answered."
Including the address of the architecture school and its phone number was an honest mistake, said Marjorie Childress, a UNM graduate student and member of the Planners Network.
"We honestly never even considered that what we were doing was wrong," she said.
Childress said the department and the University has been supportive of group members and their efforts to voice their opinions.
"I think they respect the fact that we're doing what we can to have our opinions heard," she said. "Next time we will just make sure to have all our ducks in a row before we do something like that."
