Rushed meeting an attempt to sneak proposition through

Editor,

The SFRB Task Force’s decision is janky.

Yes, that’s right; it’s janky. This letter is a response to the Daily Lobo article, “ASUNM hastily passes fee resolution.”
If you are only reading this to find out what the word janky means, you will probably give this article about as much thought as the Student Fee Review Board was allowed to have concerning the monumental ruling it is being required to make. And for those of you only reading this because you are interested in the word janky, I will say that in this case the word means sketch, messed up, wrong or just outright crazy.

That exactly describes this situation.
ASUNM called an emergency meeting late Wednesday night, and according to Sen. Melissa Trent, the senators were allowed minimal time to review this drastic policy change. In that time, they were expected to not only review the proposition themselves, but also most were concerned enough that they attempted to gather organizations and students’ opinions. The only reason anyone was made aware of this issue is because of Sen. Trent and the other two senators’ strong commitment to equal representation. All three voted against the resolution, even though many accused them of being opposed to greater undergraduate representation.

When examined, this situation sounds like some sort of sketch top-secret operation that is trying to sneak a considerable change through before anyone can realize just how crazy it really is.

Let’s take a look at the current situation: Right now, there are three graduate students and four undergraduate students composing the board, which, by the way, controls upwards of $9 million worth of student fees.

By simple observation, we can see that undergraduates already make up the board’s majority. If the proposed change goes through, the numbers would change to seven undergraduates and two graduates. While this initially seems to be a wise option, it is totally unreasonable.
If you claim to be in favor of equal representation, you can not possibly support this proposition. By making this change, the graduate students would be outnumbered and underrepresented. It is unjust and does not give graduate students their fair share of representation.
If any action is to be taken here, it needs to be after careful deliberation and examination of the effects of the decision.

Cameron MacInnis
UNM student

Editor’s Note: Trent was quoted as saying that she had only an hour to review the resolution. She didn’t say that all senators were able to view the resolution for only an hour.