Speakers come at high cost

Frequent visits to UNM by famous speakers and performers come with hefty price tags - and students often foot the bill, officials say.

Michael Moore, the liberal author and filmmaker who made an appearance on campus in October, made an estimated $35,000, a portion of which came from UNM student fees, said Kevin Stevenson, executive director of Student Special Events, the organization that brings many acts to UNM.

He said to offset the cost of the event, the group sold tickets, but still had to use about $1,000 of student fees.

Stevenson said Student Special Events did not profit from Moore's visit, or from any of the events it organizes every year.

"We're between a rock and a hard place," Stevenson said. "Good speakers won't come here for free, but we do try to keep the money we spend on them to a minimum."

He said ASUNM allocates Student Special Events about $18,000 per year coming from undergraduate student fees to cover the costs for such events.

According to University figures, every UNM undergraduate has to come up with about $360 in student fees every year to supplement ASUNM's budget and pay its student activity fees that are doled out to University departments as needs arise.

Graduate students pay more than $340 per year in student fees, a number that grows every year along with tuition rates.

All told, the University collects about $5.5 million yearly in student fees, said Debbie Morris, director of student activities at UNM.

Stevenson said Student Special Events is sometimes able to bargain with speakers to come down from their exorbitant costs and uses student fee money sparingly.

"In cases where we use a lot of student fees to fund an event, we make sure admission is free so students don't have to pay for the event twice," he said

Today's visit to campus by Hispanic comedian Freddy Soto is costing the University $2,500, Stevenson said. Student Special Events is co-sponsoring the event with El Centro de la Raza, UNM's Hispanic student organization. Still, the portion Student Special Events is paying is coming from student fees.

Many students question the worthiness of paying so much for speakers like Soto and Moore to visit campus.

"We all want famous people to come here, but they should want to come here for free to have UNM listen to them," said Michelle Davis, UNM junior. "I sure as hell don't think anyone is worth $35,000."

Popejoy Hall is also involved in bringing well-known acts to UNM and also uses student fees to finance the events.

Stevenson said Popejoy uses student fees to help offset the costs of keeping student tickets cheap for the events.

The money Popejoy loses by offering students reduced priced tickets is recouped through the use of student fees.

Popejoy Hall officials were unavailable for comment Tuesday.

"Bringing famous people to campus is not cheap, but is worth it because they bring exposure to UNM and serve as conversation starters for the community," said Jenny French, chairwoman of ASUNM's finance committee.

Stevenson said he feels Student Special Events using student fees to finance events on campus is warranted because the group tries to organize events the entire community can enjoy, compared to other organizations that tailor their events to specific audiences.

"Still, we're very conscious that this money is coming from students," he said. "We make sure they're getting their money's worth."