Senate bill hurts more than it helps students

The ASUNM Senate will vote tonight on a constitutional amendment that would eliminate the student government’s funding of the New Mexico Daily Lobo.

The funding is about $36,000 and makes up about 5 percent of the newspaper’s budget. While the staff has not been contacted by the senator who introduced the bill, we have been told by other representatives that proponents of the bill feel the funding can be better spent elsewhere.

We disagree.

I cannot think of a better way of spending student money than providing the UNM community with an open forum.

The funding that the student government contributes to the newspaper is the only funding the Daily Lobo can count on annually, with the remainder generated by advertising sold by students. It has always been considered a subscription fee that allows students to pick up the newspaper free of charge.

The newspaper’s chunk of student fees goes into a general fund, so it makes it difficult to say what the impact will be of the possible loss of funding.

Would it result in the loss of student jobs? The editors would do everything they can to avoid it, but the Web department likely will be trimmed. Will we cut from other departments? The photo department will likely be cut back, providing fewer opportunities for students. We also will likely cut back on student travel to conferences, where they gain invaluable experience and have the opportunity to interact with their peers.

While the staff would be left with many questions to answer if the Senate eliminated the paper’s funding, one thing would be clear.

The student government is telling the 100 students who run the Daily Lobo and the 24,000 students they serve that they don’t matter.

James Barron

Daily Lobo Editor in chief