In this year’s Student Fee Review Board process, organizations across the University of New Mexico requested $4.5 million more than what was available, according to Becka Myers, chair of the SFRB.
Myers, who is also president of Associated Students of UNM, told Senators during Wednesday’s Full Senate meeting that about $17.6 million had been requested, while only about $13.1 million was available for the fall 2019 and spring 2020 semesters.
In the latest Board of Regents meeting, interim Provost Richard Wood stated that the University faced a $2.1 million shortfall in student fees due to decreasing enrollment. He added organizations relying on student fees could face cuts of up to 12 percent if they were fully implemented.
“That doesn’t mean or ensure that there will be a student fee raise or that units will be cut dramatically,” Myers said, “it just means that those are the numbers right now and we are working with them.”
The Student Fee Review Board submits recommendations on how to spend student fees and whether they should be increased to Budget Leadership Team. The Board of Regents have the ultimate authority on how student fees are spent.
The Student Fee Review Board will present their recommendations to the Budget Leadership Team on November 13.
The Daily Lobo is among the organizations requesting funds.
A bill and three resolutions were also passed in Wednesday's Full Senate meeting.
The phrase “classroom components” was redefined in the ASUNM Law Book in a bill that was passed unanimously.
On October 10, ASUNM passed a law that prohibited funding classroom components. That bill codified a 2016 ruling that defunded Scribendi, an Honors College literary magazine.
The two bills come as ASUNM investigates whether the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) use their budget and appropriated money to fund activities that earned academic credit.
SAE has previously used some of its budgets and appropriations — which in 2018 exceeded $20,000 — to purchase high-grade parts for a formula one racecar, according to Dr John Russell, the group’s faculty advisor.
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Russell said that the high-grade parts are necessary to compete against the high quality of better-funded teams.
The car is designed, built and raced by students, many of whom are studying mechanical engineering, in three courses taught by Russell.
The new definition states classroom components are “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.”
ASUNM Joint Council recommended the definition specify “required” assignments.
Attorney General Emily Hartshorn spoke-out against the recommendation. She said that as long the intention of a student organization was not to earn credit, the organization would not be defunded based on this rule. The motion to add “required” failed.
Three resolutions commending Men’s Soccer, Women’s Beach Volleyball, and Women’s Ski Team for achievements on and off the field were also passed. Those three sports were cut from the Athletics Department in August.
The resolutions also denounce the BOR’s decision to cut the teams, citing a lack of sufficient input from the undergraduate student body before the decision was made.
Another resolution called for undocumented and DACA students to receive the same legal protection as other students, but it failed because the resolution contained several grammatical errors.
During discussion of the resolutions, Senators discovered that the name of the President of UNM, Garnett Stokes, was incorrectly written as Garnett L. Stokes. President Stokes’ middle name is Sue. The errors were corrected in the three passed resolutions.
Senator Molly Callaghan voiced frustration with the Senate’s discussion of grammatical errors this semester. She said, going forward, she’d oppose any resolution with as many errors.
Appropriation Round-up
About $4,300 was also appropriated to six student organizations.
LoboSlam, a slam poetry group, received $200 to pay a guest to perform. According to Senator Jorge Rios, Finance standing rules allow $100 to go to honorariums.
Senator Nick Morgan, who sits on the finance committee, said the standing rules were suspended in that case and the appropriation was passed through committee, because the amount was so low.
Taiwanese Student Association received $1,048. Much of the appropriation was for a ski trip. In their request, the Taiwanese Student Association said that because of Taiwan’s tropical climate, this trip would give its members “the rare experience of skiing and snowboarding” and would “strengthen the relationship between members and develop leadership.”
Women Student Veterans of UNM requested an over $7,000 appropriation, but were restricted to $500. Since they hadn’t requested money in the past, standing rules confined them to $500.
Nepali Student Association received $704. A previous appropriation they requested failed. The UNM chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics received $272.
Anthony Jackson contributed reporting to this article.
Justin Garcia is a freelance reporter with the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers ASUNM. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter at @just516garc.
