Students who want to attend the legislative session in Santa Fe on Monday can sign up to receive a free Rail Runner pass to get there.
GPSA and ASUNM are providing the passes, and students can sign up online at either group's Web site.
ASUNM Chief of Staff Jake Wellman said students should consider trekking to Santa Fe to fight for funding that would benefit them.
"We've never faced a legislative session where students are more involved and had greater interests invested in the laws being passed up in Santa Fe," Wellman said. "The issues that they're talking about up there and the issues that the bills are being (written) about really do affect students."
Wellman said ASUNM would like to see 50 students participate in the legislative session, where issues affecting UNM's budget, services and programs will be addressed.
Students on campus will meet at the Duck Pond at 7 a.m. where they will be shuttled to the Rail Runner depot, he said.
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Students will get to speak with legislators in the morning and afternoon, meals will be provided, and students should expect to be back in Albuquerque by 5:30 p.m. if they stay for the entire session.
ASUNM President Ashley Fate said a student presence at the session could have an impact on the amount of money appropriated for student services and programs.
"Students are the biggest influence - when legislators talk to people from UNM, they're really interested in talking to students," Fate said. "Student priorities are what make this University function. We are the priority of the University, which means that our voice needs to be the priority and it needs to be heard the loudest."
Fate said ticket funds are limited but that Rail Runner tickets for students are inexpensive. Students with a UNM ID can get a round-trip ticket for $8.
Chris Ramirez, GPSA president, said student participation in the legislative process helps lawmakers get a sense of the impact their decisions will have.
"It's the personal stories and the faces that the lawmakers will hopefully remember as they go to make these votes," he said. "The numbers are one thing, but when we can have the students tell a story about why this particular project or why this service on campus is critical to them . then that will really be the most influential way of letting the lawmaker know why these programs are important."
Fate said students who go to Santa Fe to share their stories will be participating in major government decisions.
"When students go to lobby at the Legislature, it's a lot easier for legislators to put dollars to faces and to the stories that students are able to tell," Fate said. "This is where the students come in. If students go up to the Legislature, then they're making a difference because they're speaking with their legislators."
Sarah Shadid, an art history major, said the issues lawmakers will vote on are important to her and that she'd like to be there to participate. She said she's worried about how the University handles its finances.
"I feel very strongly about this," she said. "I went to the budget meeting with Schmidly, and I kind of felt like he lied to us the whole time, or he said that things were not his fault when they were his fault - like the vice president raises - and I would love to go."
Shadid said a student presence is the primary way to bring about change and influence those in power.
"I think that's the only way that you change anything," she said. "I think that if the bureaucracy was allowed to do whatever they wanted and no one spoke up, the problem would be worse."
Joe Budagher, a graduate student pursuing his master's in business, said students should consider going to Santa Fe on Monday regardless of their concern about funding for student issues.
"Any opportunity to get students up to the Legislature and actually get them to see the legislative process firsthand is a fantastic thing," he said. "That opportunity is pretty cool."
To sign up, visit Unm.edu/~asunm or Unm.edu/~gpsa.
