The Steering & Rules Committee had a lengthy conversation Wednesday night about the definition of “classroom component” in the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico’s Lawbook.
Last week, ASUNM passed a bill that will prohibit funding classroom components after launching an investigation into the UNM chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers, or SAE.
The new definition reads, “Activities within a chartered student organization that contributes to earning a class credit hour including assignments outlined in the syllabus or assigned by an instructor.”
The bill was passed unanimously and will be up for a vote in Full Senate next Wednesday. As conversation wrapped-up, Attorney General Emily Hartshorn said, “I’m sure we can find a loophole, but it's better then what we had.”
ASUNM President Becka Myers said the original definition, passed as a part of last week’s bill, was “targeted and specific” to the SAE investigation.
On Sept.19, Vice President Emily Wilks announced that ASUNM would investigate whether SAE was in violation of a 2016 ruling that defunded the Honors College magazine Scribendi.
Two weeks later, Project Manager of SAE, Gabriel Brown, announced that the student organization intended to withdraw their charter because their “respective missions are no longer in agreement.”
According to Dr. John Russell, the faculty advisor to SAE and instructor to the three classes in which some members design and build the car, money allocated by ASUNM was used to purchase parts necessary to compete against schools with better funding.
Another resolution that called for an addition to the UNM application process that would inform potential students that UNM offers in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants was also approved for a vote in Full Senate.
The resolution also called for the University to inform students that undocumented immigrants are eligible to receive the Lottery Scholarship, but has no direct effect over what goes into the actual application.
Steering & Rules Chair Jorge Rios said the resolution was meant to create more dialogue around UNM about DACA and the status of undocumented immigrants.
Three resolutions commending the UNM beach volleyball team, ski team and men’s soccer team for their past achievements on and off the field were also passed. Those three sports were cut from the Athletics Department earlier this year.
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Members of the women's beach volleyball team finished the 2017-2018 school year with a cumulative 3.64 GPA and were awarded AVCA Team Academic Award, according to the UNM Athletics Department website.
The women's ski team had them beat with a 3.95 cumulative GPA in the Fall 2017 semester, according to the Athletics Department website.
In her closing comments, Vice Chair Ashlynn Bennett voiced her frustration with the Standing & Rules Committee’s computer, saying “this computer makes me want to beat my head against a wall.”
She made a motion to switch to a Macbook, but the motion failed when it was not seconded.
Anthony Jackson contributed reporting to this article.
Justin Garcia is a freelance news reporter at the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers ASUNM. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @just516garc.
