Student Fee Increase
A bill that recommended raising the ASUNM student fee from $20 to $25 passed the ASUNM Senate Wednesday, and will go before a vote of the student body in the April elections.
Senate Bill 9, proposed by Sens. Brandyn Jordan, Tyler Crawley and Anthony Santistevan, originally called for a $7 dollar increase in the fee, from $20 to $27, but after an amendment proposed by Sen. Isaac Romero, the Senate quickly came to a 16-1-1 decision, passing the bill.
Crawley said the bill, although amended, will increase available funding for student organizations.
“We’re looking at about a $150,000 increase,” he said. “It would have been about $180,000 with $27 (per student).”
A portion of the bill that would have kept Student Publications’ budget the same despite the feel increase was amended following a presentation from Daily Lobo representatives.
During the meeting, representatives from the Daily Lobo, including Editor-in-Chief Chris Quintana and news editor Luke Holmen, argued against a section of the original bill which would have lowered, from 8.5 to 6.4, the percentage of the ASUNM student fee that Student Publications receives.
The percentage decrease would have been offset by the increase in the overall fee, and the dollar amount of funding for Student Publications would have remained the same. Student Publications was the only organization that ASUNM recommended receive a lower fee percentage.
During a presentation, Quintana said the student newspaper would not be the only student publication to benefit from the increase in funding that would result if the percentage was kept the same. Best Student Essays and Conceptions Southwest, which are also part of Student Publications, allow students to be published and get real-world experience, he said.
Holmen said many at the Daily Lobo work for less than the hourly minimum wage, and that the funding could possibly go towards hiring more reporters in an effort to improve campus coverage.
The last time the ASUNM fee was raised was in 2002, from $14 to $20. Numbers from previous years aren’t available, but ASUNM representatives believe before 2002 the last increase was during the ‘80s. The number of requesting student organizations has been on the rise in recent years. This year, 147 student groups are requesting $745,711 in funding. Last year, organizations only requested $719,798. ASUNM has only $583,050 to allocate.
Jordan said the fee increase would make UNM more competitive with comparable schools, such as the University of Utah. He said that school has a full-time enrollment of about 19,000 students and students there are charged about $23 each year.
“Just from that you can tell that we’re already behind,” he said.
Crawley said he is pleased with the outcome of Wednesday night’s meeting, and looks forward to hearing students’ opinions during the April elections.
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“I know it’s going to make a difference in student groups’ lives, and, hopefully, it will allow us not only to be able to fund the minimum amount, but to allow us to fund them to where they can grow and succeed,” he said. “As a Senate we’re ready to get behind this and bring it to the students in April.”
Universal Restrooms
Matt Rush, a representative from The Queer Voices Roundtable, said at the meeting that supporting a resolution to install universal or gender-neutral restrooms on main campus would make the University a more comfortable place for those who do not conform to a gender.
These restrooms would not have male or female signs on them, which means any student would be able to use the stalls.
Alma Rosa Silva Banuelos, program coordinator for the LGBTQ Resource Center, said funding options are still unclear.
“Depending on if we can do it, we may have to look at money from ASUNM, GPSA or maybe some I&G funding that can go into, but I don’t think there’s any clear idea for the funding,”
Student Health and Counseling Center
Beverly Kloeppel, director of Student Health and Counseling (SHAC), asked the Senate to consider supporting a multi-million dollar renovation of the building.
“There are privacy concerns, because there are a lot of areas where the patient care is crowded into a small square footage,” she said. “We actually need more square footage to serve the students appropriately.”
Kloeppel presented a feasibility study to the Senate which looked at different ways to achieve the square footage needed. The cost could fall between $8.5 million to $12 million, depending on which route SHAC chooses to take with the project. SHAC is still looking for funding sources for the project.
In other news:
In response to concerns from students and action from ASUNM at the Capitol, the State Legislature during its 2012 session allotted $100,000 to improve lighting around Zimmerman Library on main campus.
