Following a lack of procedure-mandate communication from the Associated Students of UNM, the undergraduate student governing body will co-sponsor an event hosted by the Student Athlete Advisory Committee next week.
“I’m still disappointed that everyone had to spend extra time and energy sorting through the mess, but ultimately I’m happy that ASUNM wants to support the event,” said Aasha Marler, president of the SAAC, which speaks for the interests and concerns of the University’s student athletes.
The original appropriation submitted by the SAAC, 13F, requested $2,400 to help fund the hosting of speaker Corey Ciocchetti at WisePies Arena aka The Pit on Tuesday.
ASUNM passed it last week after halving the amount requested due to what at the time was thought to be a lack of communication from the SAAC.
However, late last week, ASUNM Vice President Alex Cervantes found out that the miscommunication was actually on the part of ASUNM, as the primary contact for the SAAC was not communicated to concerning their schedule presentation to the ASUNM Finance Committee, where appropriations must first pass before moving on to full senate.
Thus, appropriation 23F was created; essentially and informally, a co-request between ASUNM’s legislative branch and the SAAC, with each contributing $1,200.
“(It is a) way to not only help financially, (but) also reach out to the students it affects, and support their event in attendance as well,” Cervantes said.
The ASUNM senate unanimously passed the resolution, totaling $2,326, at an emergency meeting on Wednesday evening with a vote of 17-0-1, allowing the event to be fully funded.
The rest of the funds from appropriation 23F not going towards the SAAC’s event will be put towards materials that ASUNM will be providing to students as part of their Student Success Week event next week.
ASUNM representatives will be handing out bluebooks, pencils, calculators and food next week on campus at a time when midterms are beginning for many classes.
Marler said the whole fiasco could have been avoided had ASUNM’s finance committee followed through on their communication.
“I think there was really a disconnect that was not recognized right away,” she said. “Our organization really takes pride in what we do. It wasn’t a lack of effort [on our part]. It wasn’t something we tried to blow off or just throw to the side.”
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Nonetheless, Marler said ASUNM showed character in how they handled their mistake.
“I thought there was a lot of integrity on their part to want to do that,” she said, “and to recognize that after it had passed at half-cost.”
David Lynch is the news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @RealDavidLynch.
