The UNM Athletics Department requested more than $1 million of student fees at the Student Fee Review Board hearing Saturday, but the Department could not outline how the money would be allocated.
The Board will vote to allocate the $1.5 million of student fees Feb. 5. Graduate and Professional Student Association President Lissa Knudsen, who sits on the Board, said the Athletics Department failed to detail where the student fees would be allocated.
“We specifically asked for a revenue and budget breakdown this year but Athletics did not provide us with that,” she said. “We would like to see specifically where the student fee funding is going so we know it is going to all those good things that we absolutely support and that it is not going to salaries.”
Athletics representative Rich Weig-Pickering said it was difficult to produce the student fee allocation in detail. He said this is because the roughly $1.5 million in student fees is lumped into the Department’s general budget and can’t be isolated.
However, Weig-Pickering said the Athletics Department could make use of student fees to pick up where their external revenue leaves off.
“We derive 80 percent of our revenue from ticket sales, sponsorships and fundraising,” he said. “We would be able to still function without them but your dollars provide us with critical mass. We put these dollars back to the athletes to better the program — it’s just more meat and potatoes.”
Katie Richardson-McDaniel, a GPSA member on the SFRB, said there was poor representation of UNM’s population in Athletics.
“One of the tests to see if you are compliant with Title Nine is to see if you are serving in proportion to the student population,” she said. “You have only six Native Americans in the Athletics program. We have 58 percent women on campus, yet we see that we have more men in Athletics and 2 percent graduate students. I’m concerned we are not receiving anything from the money that we are spending.”
Title Nine is a law enacted in 1972 that forbids gender discrimination in higher education.
John Brewer, marketing director for UNM Athletics Department, said the department is working to interact with more on-campus bodies.
“We have become more involved with different entities on campus including ASUNM, Lobo Spirit (and) Parking and Transportation,” he said. “We have made receiving student tickets more convenient in high traffic areas and free shuttling to athletic events.”
ASUNM representative Jake Wellman said he supports the Athletics Department because it drives school spirit.
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“I know personally the student tickets have been a huge part of my college experience, and I would like to show my support,” he said. “We recognize and appreciate your work in supporting students.”
Knudsen also said the low grade point average of football players (2.6) and basketball players (2.9) is unfortunate considering the level of student fee funding.
“Basketball and football have the lowest GPAs but seem to be receiving the largest amount of the total budget,” she said. “I would like to see those numbers go up.”
Henry Villegas, assistant Athletics director, said the numbers were good in relation to other athletic programs, considering the academic climate many players come from.
“There would be a lot of basketball coaches and football coaches that would be exited about having those GPAs,” he said. “Oftentimes the athletes are first-generation college students.”
Despite some misgivings about the program, ultimately the student fees, which break down to $73.36 per student, enhance the college experience for the UNM community, Brewer said.
“The connection between UNM Athletics and students is about passion,” he said. “When I say passion I am talking about the 25,000 students that attended Lobo events for free in the 2009 sports season.”
