Editor,
This is in response to the letter in Thursday's Daily Lobo by Matt Beck, an ASUNM senator. While I, alongside other students here at UNM, were angered by tuition increases, what angered me more was how ASUNM sat back and did nothing. It's the only thing it seems to be good at these days - doing nothing that interests students as a whole.
ASUNM needs a change, and that is exactly what PAC - Progressive Action Coalition - stands for. We need a change in the way funds are distributed and the fact that student organizations are being cheated.
During the Candidate Endorsement Forum on Wednesday at the SUB, many of the incumbent senators demonstrated that they are way out of touch with the issues facing the students here at UNM. When questioned about promoting diversity on campus, one incumbent senator - who proudly stated she had sat on the Senate for three years - responded that it is important to support the ethnic centers. However, this senator forgot the names of two of the centers. There are only three. This is how in touch the senators are with student organizations and students in general.
In Beck's letter, he said, "Every ASUNM senator holds office hours in the SUB for two hours a week just so the students who have issues get the opportunity to discuss them." This is the first time I ever heard about it. Being a member of MEChA - Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlan - I have yet to meet the ASUNM senator that represents our organization. Generally, the students do not even know who and where the senators are. How could we know about their office hours if they don't even communicate with the student body they are representing?
It is time for a change, and while Senator Beck said that some of the policies that PAC is proposing are unrealistic, the fact that they are the only ones speaking out gives me confidence that PAC is at least willing to fight the fight. The other slate sits back and simply says that it cannot be done.
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If our ASUNM senators can't do it or are unwilling to try, then they should move aside and let others have that chance.
Thalia Cata§o
UNM student
