ASUNM held its latest full senate meeting last Wednesday, and discussed several pieces of legislation including a new bill to amend the senate's standing rules and the latest round of appropriations.
A duo of senators resign
Over the past month two Associated Students of UNM senators, James Walker and Nicole Perry, have resigned their seats, the timeliness of which doesn’t concern ASUNM officials.
“They were unrelated, but just happened to be around the same time,” said ASUNM Vice President Alex Cervantes.
Walker and Perry were both part of the DRIVE for ASUNM slate from the spring elections.
ASUNM President Jenna Hagengruber said that the process of picking their replacements essentially comes down to the candidate with the next highest number of votes from that election.
“But we have to make sure they’re still eligible, so we have to go back and make sure that they paid their fee, did they turn in their (candidacy) paperwork,” Hagengruber said.
Walker’s replacement, sophomore biology major Eric Musick, was introduced at last week’s senate meeting.
“I felt blessed to receive this opportunity,” Musick said. “I hope to make ASUNM an organization that seems more open to the students, as well as make the students feel that they have a voice that can be heard.”
Change to policy promotes clarification in discussion
An amendment to ASUNM’s standing rules passed the senate unanimously, allowing senators to direct speaking time to members of the gallery when concrete information is needed.
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Sen. Gabe Gallegos introduced the bill, which, for the most part, reverts ASUNM policy to its form before it was changed over the summer, except for one important provision.
“It has to be a technical question, in that it can’t be just asking, “well, how do you feel about this?’” he said. "It has to be a technical and non-debatable question."
Initially, some on the senate were against the change, including Sen. Brad Sedillo, who said the amendment would just bring back problems the senate had before.
Others believed particular changes to the previous policy would enable the senate to vote confidently on legislation.
“I think, to be able to make these informed decisions, we need to have the ability to ask questions,” Sen. Delia Brennan said.
Additionally, every question or point of information directed at someone in the gallery must first be approved by the individual presiding over the meeting: either Vice President Alex Cervantes or committee chairs.
Once changes were made to make the bill more straightforward as far as what senators can direct time to gallery members for, the bill passed the senate.
“I just think it’s a good way of doing business, and I’m glad we put it back in our rules,” Gallegos said.
Appropriations
24F - Passes
$2,081 to Bubble Soccer to help fund the purchase of equipment.
25F - Passes
$101 to Jitterbugs Anonymous to help fund attendance to a local dance event.
26F - Passes
$292 to the American Association of Public Health Dentistry to help fund a visit to a dental school, as well as the hosting of multiple speakers.
27F - Passes
$668 to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers to help fund travel to a national conference in Salt Lake City.
28F - Passes
$2,827 to the Lobo Horn Club to help fund the organization of classes this year, as well as traveling to California for performances.
29F - Passes
$3,560 to Mock Trial to help fund travel to competitions in multiple states.
30F - Passes
$701 to Men’s Lacrosse to help fund travel to Denver for a tournament.
31F – Passes
$3,710 to the Hispanic Engineering and Science Organization to help fund travel to a symposium in Las Vegas.
32F – Passes
$1,691 to Navigators to help fund travel to a conference in Colorado.
34F - Passes
$1,242 to Deviate to help fund travel to a conference in Colorado.
David Lynch is the news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @RealDavidLynch.
