GPSA is trying to decide if it should volunteer some money to keep the student UNM newspaper afloat.
At a meeting Saturday, GPSA discussed whether to give funding to the Daily Lobo from GPSA’s funds. The proposed measure would dedicate almost $16,000 a year from GPSA to the Lobo.
GPSA Council Chair Danny Hernandez said the resolution — which the council will decide to vote on March 6 — was considered because ASUNM asked GPSA to help fund the Lobo.
“I found out in a Daily Lobo article that ASUNM is contributing to the Lobo,” he said. “I think it would be only fair if we contribute to them, too.”
ASUNM senators Alicia Barry and Travis Maestas introduced a resolution and bill to the ASUNM Steering and Rules Committee that would both cut some ASUNM funding to Student Publications and encourage GPSA and other UNM governing bodies to contribute more to the newspaper. The bill failed, but the resolution comes before the full Senate Wednesday.
However, GPSA representative Shawn Whiteman said she doesn’t feel the Lobo deserves so much money from GPSA.
“My constituency doesn’t really read the Lobo, so I would have to vote against this,” she said. “I would see giving them some funding, but not as much as ASUNM. I would give them maybe 50 cents per student.”
At a Student Publications Board meeting on Friday, Barry — who is the ASUNM representative on the board — justified introducing the bill and resolution by saying money taken from Student Publications would be given to new student organizations.
“It’s heartbreaking when we can’t give them money,” she said.
Barry said the bill wasn’t intended only to cut the funding but was supposed to coincide with other governing groups chipping in. Staff Council and Faculty Senate were also listed in the resolution, but the Student Publications Board representatives pointed out that the two organizations don’t collect fees from their members.
ASUNM contributes $57,212 yearly to the Daily Lobo, according to information distributed by GPSA. This works out to roughly $2.85 per undergraduate student, and the proposed measure would give the same amount to the Lobo from every graduate student. Since there are less graduate students than undergraduates, this would equal a projected $15,803 per year.
GPSA contributes nothing to the Daily Lobo, although it does give $1,850 every year to student publications Conceptions Southwest and Best Student Essays.
The Lobo relies on ASUNM for about 6 percent of its budget.
However, Leslie Donovan, president of the Student Publications Board, said at a meeting Friday that if ASUNM stopped its funding, the newspaper’s reserves would only sustain the paper for two or three years.
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After the reserves ran out, Donovan said, the Lobo would stop being published.
GPSA President Lissa Knudsen said she didn’t know if ASUNM would reduce its funding to the Lobo if GPSA voted to fund it.
“If the total amount for the Daily Lobo is almost $16,000, the first question is would we give that on top of ASUNM’s money, or would they reduce their contribution?” she said.
Knudsen said the Lobo provides a service to graduate students, so they should be expected to help fund it.
“It’s sort of considered a subscription, because all of us read it. But we don’t pay for it,” she said. “We’re also readers, but we’re not contributing to that.”
Hernandez said it’s important to fund the Lobo in order to encourage a free press in New Mexico.
“I strongly believe the only way democracy works is with a strong press, and right now, the Daily Lobo is the second largest paper in (Albuquerque), after the Journal,” he said. “And it’s not just students that read it. Ask a legislator if they read an article in the Lobo, and they’ll say yes.”
Knudsen said the Lobo is in need of additional funding, but the GPSA still needs to figure out where the money would come from.
“They’re running in the red, as are most print newspapers,” she said. “There’s difficult decisions to be made, and it’s up to the council to make them. The only way we could do it is if we were to cut stipends and salaries, or if we increased student fees.”
Knudsen gave one more reason for funding the Lobo: to show support for ASUNM.
“I also like the gesture of hearing the undergraduates. There’s a perception that the graduate students don’t want to work with them,” she said.
The Daily Lobo’s annual budget is $749,500.
Pat Lohmann contributed to this report.
