Moving services center will tie students to weapons maker

Editor,

I read the Oct. 13 article "Town hall to address plans for Student Services" in the Daily Lobo and was troubled by its implications. First, President David Schmidly assured us (in the dehumanized parlance of neoliberalism) that moving vital services to the Lockheed Martin building off campus would "improve customer service." Setting aside the question of whether moving services off campus will really make things more convenient for students and staff, I think Schmidly should be reminded that UNM is not a corporation; it is a public trust.

We students do not take on weekend and evening jobs or mortgage our future incomes to merely buy a product. We are not customers. We invest in this institution to receive an education, one that (ideally) will serve our state, our country and our communities.

To that end, it is worth noting that student success at the University belongs to New Mexicans, not Lockheed Martin. The decision to relocate essential student services to a building named for one of the world's largest weapons makers creates an insidious and sinister psychological tie between students and war profiteers that many and I find objectionable. Using more than $2 million in taxpayer bonds to house student services in a building that functions as an ongoing advertisement for a war-mongering private corporation is morally indefensible.

Finally, Schmidly felt compelled to reassure readers "It will not be worse; it will be better. And, if it's not better, we'll undo the thing." Undo the thing? UNM should be investing in recruiting and retaining top faculty, community outreach, providing affordable and decent housing and food for its students and a living wage for its staff, not another disruptive and confusing administrative scheme Schmidly himself admits may not make things better after all.

Andrew B. Marcum

UNM student