Residence Life failed to enforce its policies in ASUNM elections

Editor,

I take much interest in the political letters submitted to this publication, even the ones I don’t agree with. It’s great to see a student body discussing hot topics such as social issues, the Iraq war and happenings in the economy. However, while we’ve been so busy discussing such national governmental issues, we have overlooked an unfortunate and appalling student government fiasco here in our own backyard.

The illegitimacy of the recent ASUNM election’s results is something that has been swept under the rug not only by the ASUNM Elections Commission, but more importantly by UNM Residence Life.

It’s disgusting how a division within UNM itself has been able to clearly defy its own rules and in turn allow Resident Advisers to throw protocol out the window in order to save face in front of the UNM community. The Residence Life application rules clearly state the following: “Residence Advisers will assume no officer positions or chairperson positions in campus activities nor be a member of hall or campus student government.”

In a past article Patrick Call, director of Residence Life and Student Housing, stated the following: “There’s a piece in our agreement with them that talks about that (not serving as a member of student government), but it is really intended for folks if they want to run for ASUNM president or vice president.” Call states no rule was broken, only the rule was misinterpreted.

Mr. Call, do you really expect students of this higher learning institution to believe you? It is obvious your department has failed to enforce its own policies and instead of correcting the mistake and being embarrassed in front of the whole student body, you use these petty language tactics and blame “misinterpretation.” Your rules are clearly stated on your Web site. If you wanted them to mean something different they should state something different. I am sure you could’ve taken your application rules to the English department or across Lomas Boulevard to the Law School to have someone revise them for you. It’s utterly outrageous you and our department are standing behind the clear violation of the rules, and claiming the election outcome was legitimate.

As for the ASUNM Elections Commission, stating this matter is out of your jurisdiction is a simple cop out. These elections are your elections. If candidates have broken a campus department’s rules prohibiting them from participating in your elections then you should act as ultimate enforcer and bar their engagement in your elections.

Brian Moore, you are correct in stating ASUNM doesn’t prohibit senators from being Residence Advisers, however Residence Life prohibits Residence Advisers from being senators, despite their inefficiency in writing clear and concise rules. Let’s hope none of your committee members are in charge of state or federal elections someday.

For those who “won” the elections, the feeling of knowing you have broken rules and your department has come to your defense must sit well with you. None of you have done the right thing and admitted your wrong doing. Your reputations would not be tainted, rather the student body would look at you honest individuals, with some integrity. However, doing the right thing would entail possessing a certain level of class, a level that has yet to be seen from you and your department.

Tommy Paine
Daily Lobo reader