by Ashley Fate
and Joseph Garcia
ASUNM president and GPSA president
Every year, the two student governments, ASUNM and GPSA, establish student priorities to lobby for at the Legislature. This year is no different.
ASUNM has chosen to lobby for five priorities. The first is to keep tuition low, thus we will be lobbying for a 0 percent tuition credit increase from the Legislature. While lobbying for low tuition, we will also be expressing gratitude for keeping the Lottery Scholarship intact. This will be considered one of our priorities.
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Now that Johnson Field has lights, we will need to have a field fit to utilize. ASUNM will lobby for Johnson to be resurfaced and to have a new irrigation system installed. A new surface will allow more students and organizations to use the field without safety concerns. The new irrigation system will assist in water conservation and make our University more environmentally friendly.
One of the newest priorities is to lobby for an increase in state work-study funding. State work-study is no-need assistance, which means that more students will be eligible to receive financial support. Finally, ASUNM will lobby for money to install systems in all buildings that will allow for energy efficiency through automated controls and computer monitoring.
The past year for the GPSA has been remarkable with the passage of the Breastfeeding in the Work Place Law that developed out of a resolution given to the Board of Regents. This success was part of a renewed effort to involve more UNM students to develop a stronger dialogue with the Board of Regents, and University administrators to bridge the challenges we face in our society with effective communication and better understanding.
This year proves to be historically important for UNM. We have begun a strong and effective dialogue with President David Schmidly, which will be beneficial to the UNM community. His inclusion of ASUNM and GPSA into his leadership team is recognition of the strong contribution that students bring to UNM. With this recognition, students should know that we welcome your involvement, and with support from the University, your voice will be heard. The conversion of making UNM the University of New Mexico, rather than in New Mexico, has begun. We must embrace the UNM and New Mexico community to make this a lasting and rewarding historical moment.
Both governmental bodies would like to encourage you, as a university student, to join us at the Legislature this year. The more students' voices we have articulating the need for these objectives to be funded, the more likely it is that we will succeed in our endeavors. As a student, undergraduate or graduate, you are affected by the issues of this University, and you have the ability to make positive changes occur. We look forward to working with you to attain these goals. Please do not hesitate to contact either body; both offices are located on the plaza level of the SUB.
