by Heather R. Gabel
ASUNM Vice President
As I sit here and ponder what I should write for my final Daily Lobo column as ASUNM vice president I think of what a great year it has been.
When I ran last year, I wanted to increase communication around ASUNM and get the Senate motivated to hit the ground running without taking any steps back. I hope that we were able to accomplish this for you.
We used a lot of different methods to attempt to outreach to the students in new ways this year. Some of these included, Daily Lobo columns and ads, the Vice Presidential Update newsletters, the monthly calendar of events, the ASUNM outreach tables, senator updates to their student groups and the wonderful events brought to you by the ASUNM executive agencies (Community Experience, Crafts Studio, Elections Commission, Homecoming Committee, Lobby Committee, Southwest Film Center and Student Special Events).
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The ASUNM Senate standing committees (finance, presidential appointment and steering and rules) have been hard at work modifying and passing appropriations, appointments and legislation for us to have efficient Senate meetings that accomplish the most work in the smallest amount of time.
In the fall, the Senate reviewed 39-student organization appropriations totaling $51,902 in allocated funds and they passed a fall budget of $51,576. This spring, we have had 45 appropriations that will be reviewed by the senate for a total request of $118,722.83 in allocated funds.
The Finance Committee also passed a Spring Budget of $485,747. The Senate passed 18 bills in the spring making changes to the elections, definitions, executive, executive agency, judicial, legislative, and budget code. It also approved five Constitutional Amendments that were placed on the ballot for a student vote.
This semester, it has been given 13 bills to review that make changes to the legislative, judicial, elections, disciplinary action, executive, executive agency, finance, Jenny Aimes memorial scholarship and the legislative code. One of these changes has changed the elections process so that the polling location on north campus will not be held on Election Day but will instead be an absentee polling location the Monday preceding elections.
This will hopefully encourage a larger voter turnout on North Campus, due to the variation in many north campus students' class and clinical schedules.
In addition to the ASUNM's Senate standing committees we also created three ad hoc committees to accomplish our goals for the semester. Two of the ad hoc committees were formed in the fall and were continued in the spring.
I am happy to report that both of these committees have completed their goals. The Recycling Committee worked very hard to learn the ins and outs of recycling on this campus and have assured us that our goal of having a recycling program for the SUB will be a reality.
The committee learned of a funding increase that would be necessary to increase the amount of recyclable products that UNM chooses to recycle. Therefore, the same materials will be recycled in the SUB that are recycled in other areas of campus.
The Outreach Committee did a wonderful job hosting the first annual High School Leadership Conference last Tuesday from noon to 3 p.m. at University House. The Committee asked all APS high school activities directors to send two student leaders to socialize with the ASUNM Senate and listen to a presentation on "The Essence of Leadership," given by UNM alumnae Dathan Weems. The function was a complete success and we hope to see some of those young leaders continuing their education at UNM in a couple years.
The third ad hoc committee of this semester was the Safety Promotion Committee. It is continuing to work on its planned goals for this semester and will be sponsoring a workshop in early May. It has also requested funding to create a brochure that will be handed out at Welcome Back Days next semester.
I hope that all of you enjoyed the ASUNM Student Special Events sponsored concert featuring The Donnas, with special guests Ok Go and Mistletoe.
Remember to come out to Johnson Field this Saturday, May 3, from noon to 7 p.m., because Student Special Events will be sponsoring Fiestas 2003.
There will be food, games, student group booths, and fun in the sun while listening to the live music of Simple Plan, with special guests The Eyeliners, Fertile Soil, Feels Like Sunday, Civitas, Guajira, Concepto Tambor, Rhythm Cartel and Capoeira Club.
Please come join us at our last committee meeting on Wednesday, April 30, call 277-5528 for location and time. Or you can come help us celebrate our final full senate meeting on Wednesday, May 7 at 6 p.m. in the Kiva Lecture Hall.
I am honored that I was given the opportunity to serve you as your ASUNM vice president and I hope that I will serve you again someday in another capacity. Thank you so much for giving me one of my best college experiences and I wish you all the best in your academic and social lives to come.
