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16-hour meeting held over $10 student fee hike by Pat Lohmann Daily Lobo
The Student Fee Review Board has recommended raising student fees by a little over $10 a year for full-time students. After more than 16 hours holed up in a basement classroom in George Pearl Hall this weekend, the Board emphasized fiscal responsibility when considering requests totaling more than $11 million in hopes of minimizing, and even eliminating, a student fee increase. Every program requesting student fees asked for increased funding over last year — a total requested increase of $1.5 million — and four groups asked for almost $200,000 in new money. When all was said and done, though, at 11:32 p.m. Saturday night, SFRB members were comparing the recommended increase to one or two cups of coffee at Starbuck’s. “We’ve done all of these awesome things for two Starbuck’s,” said Lissa Knudsen, GPSA president and SFRB chair. “It depends on if you get a caramel macchiato.” President David Schmidly and the Board of Regents still have to approve and, possibly, change the SFRB’s recommendations, but the proposed changes bring student fees to $457.38 a year per full-time student. Many of the recurring funding programs with additional funding sources — like Popejoy Hall and University libraries — asked for more student fee revenue because of income losses or increased expenses in other areas.
For example, University libraries are coping with an increase in the cost of E-Journals, so they requested almost $200,000 more from student fees over last year. “Why are we the orphanage for all the programs that need funding?” Knudsen asked at one point during the deliberations. Despite the increased need, the SFRB made an informal commitment to holding many of the programs to 2008-09 funding levels, often ignoring requests for increases for 2009-10. Representatives from New Mexico Public Interest Research Group sat through all of the SFRB’s deliberation to encourage the Board to give them about $85,000 of student fees — roughly 4 dollars a student — to hire full-time lobbyists. Jake Wellman, ASUNM attorney general and SFRB member, said he hoped funding NMPIRG would open the door for other student groups. However, members on the Board said they were concerned about paying a national organization with student money. So, the SFRB eventually awarded NMPIRG $49,362 to pay for the lobbyists. Students supporting a Queer Resource Center also attended the deliberations. Since the QRC would rely on student fees for the entirety of their start-up funding, the SFRB funded them in full — more than $83,000, or $4.01 per full-time student. The SFRB will meet again on Feb. 19 to discuss SFRB policy amendments and recommendations for each program allocated fees. Also, the SFRB approved
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Student Fee Review Board deliberations, by the numbers: Percentage of graduate and
$10.10 $457.38 $1,492,400 $84,465
Proposed student fee increase
Total student fees for full-time student per semester Recommended allocation to Athletics Department, roughly $2.32 less per full-time student than last year’s allocation Recommended allocation of non-recurring money to Queer Resource Center
by Hunter Riley Daily Lobo
Sustainable agriculture student Travis McKenzie wasn’t swayed when people told him he should go to NMSU to study agriculture. McKenzie said he has been trying to organize a community garden on campus for the past four years. Inspired by Alex Borowski’s garden in the Hokona residence halls, McKenzie said he wants to help Borowski and other students bring a community garden to campus. “I think the dorms are a really great place to start,” he said. “Alex took the initiative to make the dorms sustainable.” Borowski, a freshman, planted a garden in the courtyard of Hokona Hall late last semester. However, the representatives from the Physical Plant Department informed Borowski last week that he had to remove the garden just as sprouts were emerging.
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 114
issue 93
22% 492:140:12 16.5 HOURS 113
professional students total student body make up
Ratio of ayes, nays and abstentions during SFRB deliberations, according to unofficial minutes Total time spent in SFRB deliberations this weekend Games of expert-level Minesweeper reporter and news editor Pat Lohmann played to pass the time. He won 23.
SFRB cuts fees from Athletics 2.2% by Pat Lohmann Daily Lobo
After contentious debate, the Student Fee Review Board decided to slightly cut Athletics funding. According to the unofficial SFRB worksheet, 2.2 percent of last year’s funding is being cut — more than $33,000, or $2.32 per full-time student. However, Athletics relies on about $1.5 million in student fees for just a little over 5 percent of its total budget. Also, because an enrollment increase is projected for next year, the amount of student fees going to Athletics could potentially increase, as more students equal more student fees. Before the deliberations, GPSA President and SFRB Chair Lissa Knudsen sent an e-mail addressed to “community leaders” cautioning the board against funding programs that didn’t directly relate to the University’s mission. “If we invest in programs which support education, we believe the state will see a return on our
investment,” she said in the e-mail. “I also believe that investing in programs which do not correlate with retention and graduation rates, in these economic times, would be fiscally irresponsible.” In a Jan. 29 special election, 86 percent of graduate and professional students voted to recommend that their student fees be diverted from Athletics. As a result, Knudsen suggested cutting the program as much as possible. “I believe that there are reasons that Athletics should be sent a message with regard to the way that they’ve been using the funding that they’ve been given,” she said. “We still do not have a clear understanding of where Student Fee Review Board money is going. We don’t have an itemized budget. We requested that, and I think the fact that they’re not complying with that request is grounds for probation.” The SFRB is only allowed, per their policy, to put a program on a 5 percent “probationary” cut. Knudsen cited the Sept. 20 Locksley/ Gerald altercation and perceived
Students ask for sustainable garden Since Borowski didn’t seek permission before planting his garden, PPD director Mary Vosevich said she was wary of the garden’s management. “We have concerns about the community garden just because of how it will be managed and what is being put in the garden — as far as are there any concerns about bacteria or diseases or something like that,” Vosevich said. “Our concern is not about having community gardens. We’re supportive of having community gardens, I think. It just can’t be ‘Put one here, put one there.” Vosevich said the physical plant wants to see a business plan for the community gardens and then they will be able to move forward with the idea. “The University is in the process of developing a master plan,” she said. “So how do these community gardens fit into the master plan as well? I think that’s certainly something that’s do-able. I think we need
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February 8, 2010
to put a plan together and that’s going to be something that all parties come to the table and orchestrate that.” Mckenzie said he tried to start on-campus gardens for the past four years, but there wasn’t enough force behind the project. “The reason why there hasn’t been success for gardens in the past — one is sustainability,” he said. “One of the problems was (not) having a constant support of watering, weeding … And there is liability. There are more complications and regulations of things that we have to oblige by, beyond the institution of UNM.” Mckenzie said he works with a program at Health Sciences Center called Everyone’s At the Table, which aims to help solve hunger in New Mexico. It is funded by the Program Office of Kellogg/Community Voices at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Ga.
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misuse of student funds as cause for probation. However, the four undergraduate SFRB representatives opposed the 5 percent cut. ASUNM President Monika Roberts said the benefits of Athletics have been overshadowed by recent events drawing bad publicity. “Athletics brings a lot to this University. … I fully support Athletics,” she said. “I know there are a lot of bad things going on in Athletics right now, and it seems like that’s what’s getting all the publicity, but if you look at what’s going on, there’s a lot of good things going on.” Roberts said the successes of the men’s basketball team — which are often sold out at home games — and Ski teams make the case to fully fund Athletics. Rather than cutting by 5 percent, then, Knudsen then suggested cutting 22 percent of that 5 percent to symbolize the portion of graduate students who didn’t want their fees funding Athletics. Graduate
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Inside the ring
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MMA fighter Lafayette Barela trains at FIT No Holds Barred Gym. Barela returned to the ring after the death of one his best friends. Check out the Multimedia section of DailyLobo.com for the video piece entitled “Heart.” Ryan Garcia / Daily Lobo
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