Administration must consider student voice in fee allocation

Editor,

This is not an anti-administration letter, nor is it meant as an attack. We have the utmost respect for the administration and what it does, from making hard decisions throughout the economic crisis to the unseen and uncredited good deeds done. However, with the administration’s recent decision to ignore the student recommendations on how to spend our own student fee dollars, there is a need to stand up. 

Traditionally, the student governments (ASUNM and GPSA) at UNM participate in a process called the Student Fee Review Board. This board votes on how student fees should be spent. A variety of organizations from athletics, ethnic centers and service programs come to the body to submit applications. Many organizations, such as Student Health and Counseling, are completely dependent upon student fees to continue their operations. The average student pays roughly $450 in student fees over the course of the year. 

This year, the board met for over 100 hours reviewing applications and engaging in vigorous debate about each program. Among its recommendations were to fund a new Queer Resource Center for students of other sexual orientations in addition to service programs that either engage students on campus or give them opportunities to work in underprivileged communities across Albuquerque and New Mexico.  
And after all this work, some members of the administration drew a red pen through all new programs, totaling $200,000.
While some recommendations were retained, the targeting of these programs is a departure from the norm. Each student would pay $10 a year to support these programs, roughly 2,000 lattes at Starbucks. To put this in context, each student pays $72 to Athletics, $204 to Student Health, etc. To put these programs in perspective, the $200,000 comes out of a total of $9.3 million projected to be raised next year from student fees.

While $10 is not to be taken for granted, it is a flash in the pan compared to the thousands of dollars students will pay in extra tuition next year. And while it pains us that tuition rates will be rising next year, it is nonsensical to think that pulling student activity fees will lead to any sort of solution. What’s the University of New Mexico without the services it offers outside the classroom?  

The potential failure of the administration to heed the SFRB’s recommendations is dangerous for two reasons. First, the entire concept surrounding student fees is that students have a say in the process. The administration’s decision shows that while we may have a say, we may not be listened to. More importantly, student leaders are elected and thus can be held accountable by their fellow students. Student fees without student control are simply fees. Taxes. Another set of money taken from students to fund predetermined programs by outside parties. 
The second major reason is that this is a precedent. If students lose the ability to decide how their student fees are spent this year — what happens next year? Can the SFRB act as a respected body if its recommendations can be dismissed with no check or balance? These precedents are important to students.  

You may believe strongly that we need to fund a Queer Resource Center for students of different sexual orientations, or you may not. You may believe that we need to support a program that sends students help in underprivileged schools dominated by gang violence, or you may not. But you must be able to hold your student leaders accountable for spending your fee dollars. The administration’s actions threaten the very ability of student government to represent its constituents. Whether or not you are happy with your student government, this involves you.  
While the Student Fee Review Board is a recommendation board for decisions ultimately left to the discretion of the Board of Regents and President David Schmidly, by no means has the board been — or was it ever meant to be — a rubber stamp for the administration. For many years, the SFRB promoted positive dialogue between students and the administration as to where student fees should be appropriately spent to maximize the college experience for students, from providing extended hours at Johnson Gym and Parish Library to discounted performance tickets at Popejoy Hall to additional services at the Student Health and Counseling Center. 

Student fees are unique because they can provide services to students that traditional tuition dollars can’t. Tuition dollars may be able to fund the provision of certain courses, but they can’t fund the utility that students derive from utilizing places like ethnic and cultural centers where they can meet fellow students with similar interests and backgrounds. Nor can they fund opportunities for career development such as the Career Services’ Student Conference Award Program, which is made possible by student fees. 

Both ASUNM and GPSA student governments, by meeting with constituents every day, are often far better suited to determine where student needs must be met than the administration can. And through student fees, they can address many of these needs. By meeting hundreds of engaged students at numerous SFRB town hall meetings, it became readily apparent that student fee dollars are just as important as tuition dollars — if not more — in providing a college experience for students that will prepare them for future opportunities as they further their education or transition into careers. 

We don’t believe it has to be this way. We want to be respectful to the administration, but we must also be firm. This is wrong. Tuition and departmental fees are imposed upon us. Student fees were created based around the idea that if students are to shoulder the burden of programs, they should decide what those programs are. And if student government makes unpopular decisions, then the student body has the ultimate say come election time.  

By ignoring the SFRB, it creates a ripple effect in how programs are funded and in the effectiveness of student government. The one small piece of funding on which students have substantive input is at risk this year. What is good for the students is what is good for the administration. And the ability to decide student fees is very good for students. We can’t afford to lose this system. It is our sincere hope that we can reach a compromise to do what is best for students before the University-wide budget summit later this week. 
 
Abdullah Feroze
ASUNM SFRB representative
Lee Drake
GPSA SFRB alternate