Slate wants to lower tuition if it gets elected to ASUNM

Editor,

ASUNM exists to represent the concerns of the people that this University was built to serve - the students.

One of ASUNM's promises has always been to lower tuition, yet every year tuition still goes up. The people running ASUNM are not doing nearly enough to stop that from happening, so I've decided to run for ASUNM myself. The slate I'm running with, Power to Create Change, will do a lot to stop the increases.

If elected, PAC members will make the University administration listen to the students. They will hold the administration responsible when it does not act in our interests or if it ignores the demands of undergraduates. We will pass a tuition freeze bill through the Board of Regents. This will keep tuition the same until the students say otherwise. In order to get this done, we will have students sign a petition, while bird-dogging every regents meeting.

We will fund student organizations that fight for tuition stabilization, and we will work more closely with the Associated Students of New Mexico State University. ASUNM has not worked with this organization in years. If we start working with the ASNMSU, we will be able to have a stronger voice statewide in the Legislature, and we will be working with every college and university in the state.

We also want to develop internship programs so UNM graduates will be more marketable when they graduate and develop relationships with the Albuquerque community to improve the retention and recruitment of underrepresented people on campus. In order to do these things, we will establish networks with private and public employers.

If elected, PAC members will be able to sit on both the financing and the student fee review boards, where we will be able to allocate money to Greek Life, athletics and student organizations. Our biggest step in making these promises a reality is to give more opportunities for student organizations to work with ASUNM. Currently, ASUNM runs its campaigns through its own branches. By giving more student organizations opportunities to be seen and grow, more students will be able to get involved with activities here on campus.

Showing administrators that we know how to organize and work together will give students more credibility when questioning administrators here on campus. Part of this is allowing all students to vote on whether ASUNM should pass a bill. This is an easy thing to do, and we already have the technology to do it. It is done by voting on campus online from any computer. If this idea is passed, students will be able to vote on every decision, from the smoking ban on campus to tuition and fees.

ASUNM is not an organization designed to pad the rÇsumÇ of its elected officials, but rather a system established to give students a voice. We will return that voice to the students.

Chris Knight

UNM student