A subcommittee of the Board of Regents voted Thursday to table the law students’ request to secede from the Graduate and Professional Students Association.
The Academic and Student Affairs Committee advised the Student Bar Association to work harder with GPSA to make the organization better meet its needs.
Student Bar Association President Corinne Hale said the law school has been pushing to work with GPSA already, and she was disappointed by the committee’s decision.
“It is disappointing for us to hear that basically we aren’t doing enough, because we’ve really done a lot over the past year,” she said.
In late March, three-fourths of UNM law students voted to withdraw their student fees from GPSA.
Hale said the SBA had invited GPSA President Lissa Knudsen to give a presentation to the SBA Board about what GPSA has to offer law students. She said the law school had also hosted debates and town hall meetings for law students to become more familiar with GPSA.
“The law students still felt it was the best move on our part to secede,” Hale said.
Knudsen said she was pleased with the committee’s decision, because it would give GPSA a chance to work harder to better accommodate the law students.
“It is unfortunate that it wasn’t of their own accord that they are still with us,” she said. “But I think it is another chance for us try and see if we can make it work for both groups — but not both groups, one group — that includes the law students.”
Knudsen said some of the discussion during the meeting suggested that, if the law school had worked with some of the other
professional students, then maybe its request would have been received more favorably.
“Maybe if it wasn’t just one individual group trying to separate from a larger body,” she said.
Hale said law students still plan to continue with their efforts to secede.
“We need to get together and discuss what our options are,” she said. “We are still going to go to the Board of Regents and presenting to them where we stand.”
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The law school’s request will not be an action item on Tuesday’s Board of Regents agenda, but Hale said they plan to gather documentation that shows how much effort law students have put into working with GPSA.
“So then maybe they will understand a little bit more where we are coming from,” she said. “We’ll try to use all the avenues we have to make it happen.”
Knudsen said she does not expect to see the law school being able secede soon.
“I think it is a possibility that they will still leave,” she said. “I don’t expect it to happen quickly.”
Knudsen said she would like to resolve the issue with law students so that they no longer want to leave GPSA.
“I would hope that there is no impetus,” she said. “I hope they wouldn’t feel like they would have to do that.”
Knudsen said she enjoys the diversity that the law school brings to GPSA.
“I agree professional students are unique and separate, but I think there is a benefit in us being together,” she said.
Hale said the law school hopes to have its status changed before the beginning of the fall 2010 semester.
The SBA cited what it perceives as a misalignment of interests between the GPSA and SBA as reason for the secession earlier this semester.
