DAILY LOBO new mexico
Genetically monster-fied
friday
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March 23, 2012
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Students: Don’t make us pay Athletics’ debts by Svetlana Ozden sozden@unm.edu
UNM students and staff gathered on the Cornell Mall on Thursday to protest a proposed $77 student fee hike. About 100 people, including members of GPSA, ASUNM, the Student Fee Review Board and Graduate Employees Together attended the protest. Although a decision on the University budget has not yet been made, the Board of Regents will discuss the proposed increase at the budget summit meeting today. Members of GPSA, ASUNM and SFRB encourage all students to attend. The Student Fee Review Board submitted its fee allocation recommendations for the 20122013 school year in February. The potential $77 increase, proposed by the Board of Regents, would tack on an additional $50 per student for the Athletics Department and an additional $27 per student for Libraries to SFRB’s recommendations. SFRB 2012-2013 recommendations included an $81.75 allocation for Athletics, the same amount Athletics received this year, and a $33.45 allocation for Libraries, a $4.18 increase from what Libraries received this year. The proposed $50 increase for Athletics would be used in part as a loan to pay off the department’s $1.5 million debt, Regent Don Chalmers told the Daily Lobo earlier this week. GPSA Lobby Committee CoChair Travis McIntyre said the proposed increase will substantially affect graduate student retention rates. He said GPSA surveyed graduate students, and 20 percent of survey participants said they could not afford even a $50 increase in student fees. “The regents are saying they don’t want to see athletics programs
Zhibin Hong / Daily Lobo GPSA Representative Talal Saint Lot (left) and Black Student Union President D’Andre Curtis don homemade signs to protest the Board of Regents’ proposal to raise student fees and tuition. About 100 students, faculty and community members attended the protest, which was hosted by ASUNM and GPSA.
get cut, but would they rather have the Athletics Department get cut, or the graduate students get cut?” McIntyre said. GPSA presidential candidate Marisa Silva said paying off the debt of any department is not the responsibility of students. “The Board of Regents is asking us to hand over money to bail out the Athletics Department that
has been fiscally irresponsible,” she said. “That is not the students’ responsibility to just blindly hand over money.” GPSA President and SFRB Chair Katie Richardson said the protest was a chance for students to understand the full amount they might have to pay next year. “There is still an opportunity to make changes
in the University budget and make sure that it reflects student wishes,” Richardson said. “We already pay $81.75 per student to Athletics. The increase will put that number at $131.75 per student in Athletics’ fees alone.” GPSA and SFRB member Matthew Rush said
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Students neglect services their fees subsidize by Hannah Stangebye hstang@unm.edu
While students paid $486.49 in student fees this year to support oncampus services, many of them are underused.
Senior environmental science major and bicycle mechanic Wes Labor repairs a bike at UNM’s Outdoor & Bike Shop Thursday afternoon. The shop allows students to rent outdoor and recreational equipment and is subsidized by student fees.
The Outdoor and Bike Shop The Outdoor and Bike Shop, located near the east entrance to Johnson Gym, offers more than bike tune-ups, but employee Eric Peterson said most services are widely underused. “When we do a daily closeout at the end of the day, 70 percent of what was made that day was made due to bike-related things and very rarely anything else,” Peterson said. Students paid $29.42 in student fees this year to subsidize the cost of equipment rentals, according to Student Fee Review Board reports.
Jessikha Williams / Daily Lobo
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Daily Lobo volume 116
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Taking on TCU
Lakewood
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The nonprofit shop offers rentals including tents, snowboards and cross country skis, but the shop’s most unused rental service is the rock-climbing gear. Johnson Center has a rock climbing wall Peterson said is often out of use. “The University does have a climbing wall, but it isn’t exactly open to the public,” he said. “It is in like this little hidden dungeon and is always locked due to liability reasons. That is something UNM lacks in comparison to other large universities. We have the equipment, but no one ever uses it,” Student Health and Counseling Center This year students paid $191.83 in fees to the Student Health and Counseling Center, more than
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