by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
The president of UNM is supposed to define the mission of the institution and gather resources for achieving the University's goals.
Students have a chance to meet the finalists in the presidential search to ask questions and learn more about candidates.
About 70 students attended the Jan. 30 meeting with candidate Daniel L¢pez, and about 30 students met with candidate Meredith Hay on Thursday.
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ASUNM President Brittany Jaeger said she would like to see more students at the meetings.
"It's more than I expected, but less than I would like," she said. "Students complain all the time that tuition's going up or fees are going up, but then hardly anybody's interested in who the next president's going to be."
Candidate Herman Lujan will meet with students today from 5 to 5:30 p.m. in the SUB Lobo Room.
Student Jennifer Kirks said she didn't know UNM was looking for a president.
"I had never heard that there were meetings," she said. "I don't see why a student should be participating in this. I don't think it really has a direct effect on us."
About 100 staff and about 100 faculty attended the meetings with L¢pez.
About 100 staff and about 80 faculty met with Hay.
Student Jake Vargas said he was aware UNM is searching for a president but has not attended any meetings.
"It's just not one of my priorities," he said. "I live off campus, so I just come here for my classes and athletics. I don't really go to any meetings or things like that."
Each of the student meetings is half an hour. The meetings with staff are one hour. The meetings with faculty are one hour and 15 minutes.
Vargas said the schedule is not fair.
"There are more students than staff or faculty," he said. "I know the staff and faculty will probably be here longer, but it seems like the students should get equal time."
L¢pez and Hay stayed past their scheduled time to speak with students.
Jaeger agreed that the schedule is unfair, but she said it is understandable.
"I think students should get longer," she said. "But on the other hand, if only 20 people are going to show up and ask six questions, I guess there doesn't need to be more time."
Vargas said he trusts other people to pick a good president.
"I think whoever wins will be good," he said. "I think it's important for students to care about it and be involved with it. I know it sounds hypocritical, but I do think students should be there."
Although the Board of Regents is responsible for choosing the president, everyone who goes to one of the meetings can fill out a card saying what they thought of the candidate. The regents will take the opinions from the cards into consideration while they make their decision.
Jaeger said she is not sure why more students don't attend the meetings.
An e-mail was sent to all students with the schedule of presidential visits, and the Daily Lobo published a letter with a schedule of the meetings.
"It's not that people don't know this is happening," she said.
Being busy shouldn't stop students from participating, Jaeger said.
"I've missed two classes already to meet with the people who might be the next president of UNM," she said. "I'm sure that if you went to any professor and told them that you wanted to miss class so you could go meet the presidential finalists, they would completely understand. If not, send your questions to me, and I'll ask them."
