Editor,
I have deep respect for graduate and professional students. They take their education seriously and they will be leaders that shape our future. I am writing today to send a message to the graduate and professional students at UNM. I want to encourage these students to vote in the GPSA election. I also want these students to take a careful look at the presidential candidates. More specifically, I want the graduate and professional students to look at the causes the presidential candidates support.
In this last year, a large campaign was run by both graduate and undergraduate students. This campaign was called the Student Voice for Student Fees campaign. The main purpose of this campaign was to support the student’s right to decide where student fee money was going, but there was more to this fight. The organizations looking to get cut were the Research Service Learning Program, Community Learning and Public Service, NMPIRG and the request for a Queer Resource Center.
All of these organizations, in some way or another, provides a service that no other department or organization plays at UNM. All of these organizations educate students on their rights, how to engage within the community and how to organize in order to have their issues addressed. It was an honor to stand next to members of both ASUNM and GPSA. GPSA is not only supporting student’s right to decide their funding, but to support the student’s voice on a larger capacity.
One of the strongest supporters of this campaign was current GPSA President Lissa Knudsen. Knudsen chaired the Student Fee Review Board this year. Throughout the process, she was adamant about keeping everything open to the public. She went as far as to video tape all of the 100 hours of deliberations and posted it online. If you watch, you will find that Knudsen was unwilling to stop fighting for these organizations that benefit students beyond campus. She was fighting for a student voice then. And she even continued fighting for student’s voice after the Student Voice for Student Fees campaign won the funding for the four organizations.
She criticized the decision to provide additional funds to Athletics, the University Libraries, Information Technologies and building projects from student fees that were not in the Student Fee Review Board’s recommendation.
Lissa Knudsen has demonstrated the qualities I look for in a leader. Somebody who hears the voice of their constituents and makes sure others are hearing that voice too. Somebody who is willing to make everything public and not hide behind the issues. While I may not be a current student at UNM, I have spent years working on behalf of the student voice at UNM, even after I graduated. I believe that universities and colleges are social and economic leaders in our cities, states and nation. I believe students can and will be the force behind the path universities and colleges take. And I believe Lissa Knudsen is a leader who can make that happen.
Katryn E. Fraher
UNM Alumni
