Editor,
This is the first letter I have written to the newspaper because there has been nothing I felt so passionate about until now. Yesterday it was a seemingly normal Thursday while I walked past the SUB on my way to class, but something was off: Where I would usually hear the sound of house music playing, I heard nothing. I looked over to where the music usually comes from, and I saw the boom box and the man who owns the boom box, but could barely make out the music. So I decided to go over and talk to him and see why the music was so low. I don’t remember this man’s name and we’ve only talked a handful of times, but I have always been appreciative of his music. He told me that a professor had asked him to turn the music down, so he did out of courtesy while the professor was there, but then turned it up once he left because no one else there had complained to him about it. He said he would always turn it down if someone requests it. Well, the professor came back and he once again turned it down for him without having to be asked again. But the professor was upset that it had been turned up while he wasn’t there and told him that he speaks for the student body and believes by playing his music he is ruining the study environment. The professor put in a formal complaint to UNM and now the man who has always made my day a little more relaxing between tests might have to stop playing his music after playing it for 6 years. I have always considered it a nice treat to hear the music on the way to class or listen to it while eating lunch outside on the north side of the SUB. He plays mainly house music, an often misunderstood genre of electronic music. Many people consider it drug music or not real music because it is electronic, but I don’t do any drugs and it is my favorite type of music; it means so much to me. I have spoken with many other students on campus who feel the same way and would be horrified to see the music leave. I can understand what the professor meant if that was the only place to study, but it isn’t. I have been downstairs in the SUB trying to study and people will be playing music from their computers and talking ridiculously loudly, but I don’t ask them to stop talking because their conversation might be as important as my studying. I just find another place to study. I am writing this letter to show that the professor does not speak for all of UNM. Like I said before, many UNM students agree with me. The professor’s opinion is valid, but I would hope we would all be able to come to a compromise and not lose the music.
Eric Knowlson
UNM student
