by Bryan Gibel
Daily Lobo
The Institute of Public Law, a division of the UNM law school, requested $60,000 Saturday to start a UNM chapter of NMPIRG.
The money would come from the Student Fee Review Board, which allocates money from student fees to UNM
departments.
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Katryn Fraher, co-director of NMPIRG's student chapter, said this is one of the last ways the group has to get student funding from the University.
"We tried to get funded by ASUNM last year but were denied because they said it would take away money from other student groups," she said.
NMPIRG is a nonprofit, nonpartisan consumer and environmental advocacy group.
It has been active at UNM for more than 30 years and has organized voter registration drives and a debate between the College Republicans and College Democrats last semester.
About 15 students attended the meeting between the Institute of Public Law and the review board, some of them holding a banner in support of opening a UNM chapter of the group.
The institute is trying to get funding through the board to start the chapter. The board does not give money to student groups. Twenty-four departments receive funding from the board.
About $1.25 million more has been requested than what is available.
Because the board draws its funding from student tuition and fees, it would increase student fees by $60.40 per student, per year if all requests were granted.
Because the national office funds the student chapter of NMPIRG, the students are allowed to focus on only national issues, Fraher said.
If the group became a student-funded organization, it could set its own budget and choose its own campaign issues.
The chapter would have a board of directors elected by UNM students.
Jamison Tessneer, campus organizer for NMPIRG, said the group needs autonomy in order to address issues specific to the UNM community.
Fraher said the student chapter wants to expand recycling at UNM and improve transportation services, neither of which can be addressed without funding from UNM students because they are not priorities of the national office.
ASUNM President Brittany Jaeger, chairwoman of the Student Fee Review Board, said she was concerned that NMPIRG became associated with the Institute of Public Law just to receive funding through the board.
Richard Bustamante, a senior attorney with the institute, said the union makes sense because the organizations have similar goals.
"The institute's mission is basically promoting the public's interest, educating the public and involving the public in matters of governance that impact us all," he said. "Funding UNMPIRG through the Institute of Public Law would be a wonderful marriage because it would greatly benefit the institute and the student body in general."
Jaeger said she was not sure the student chapter should be funded with department funding.
"While almost every proposal submitted has tremendous merit, the board cannot grant funding to every request
unless they raise student fees," she said. "I don't have a beef with PIRG, but maybe there's another pot (of funding) we can spend from."
Bustamante said there is plenty of money to go around.
"All they need to do is reduce a small amount of funding for UNM athletics, and they'll have enough for PIRG," he said.
Jaeger said the Student Fee Review Board will decide how to allocate its funding in the
next few weeks.
It will propose its budget to the UNM president and Board of Regents for approval.
The Board of Regents will declare its final decision at its budget summit on March 30.
