Student Fee Review Board members couldn’t agree over whether a video camera should be allowed to record applicant hearings, so undergraduate and graduate members held separate sessions over the weekend.
ASUNM board members met in one room of the College of Education Building, while GPSA board members deliberated next door.
GPSA Grants Committee Chair Katie Richardson said separate hearings sessions could be bad for the student body as a whole.
“I think the two student groups have more in common, and if we don’t find a way to work together the student body will suffer,” Richardson said.
Both sides of the SFRB will host a town-hall meeting today to gain student input on student fee allocation. Some student groups requested funding this year for the first time since other avenues of funding are drying up.
Parking and Transportation Services requested student fees for the first time because the free bus pass program is in danger of being cut. It asked for $100,000 to keep the program running.
Student Health and Counseling historically requests the largest amount of money from student fees. This year it requested more than $4 million.
The Athletics Department requested the next largest sum at $1.8 million.
Tim Cass, associate director for athletics and administration, said athletics makes 85 percent of its budget through sources such as ticket sales.
“We are the top self-generating school in our league,” Cass said.
Michael Thorning, ASUNM chief of staff, asked the athletics panel about what the department is doing in response to the recent media attention concerning athletes and coaches.
Henry Villegas, manager of academic advisement for athletes, said the media has portrayed UNM athletes and coaches in a negative light recently. He said the media writes only negative stories.
“Any time something like that happens, it is the front-page story,” Villegas said. “But if you look at the over 3,000 hours of community service, there is no one out there covering those things.”
The hearings were originally scheduled for last month, but SFRB Chair and ASUNM President Laz Cardenas motioned to postpone them pending a University Counsel ruling on whether the board had to allow the meetings to be recorded.
GPSA board members supported having the hearings recorded, and video recorded hearings over the weekend. ASUNM members opposed video recording, and video cameras were prohibited at its session.
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Last month’s joint hearings were recorded, and ASUNM board members gave student groups a chance to present again if they felt uncomfortable about the camera. ASUNM Sen. Heidi Overton said none of the student groups asked to present again.
Richardson said all the groups were given prior notification that the GPSA hearings would be video recorded, and each group showed up for the hearing despite the camera. GPSA did not allow groups that presented last month to present again.
Alma Rosa Silva-Bañuelos, program coordinator for the LGBTQ Resource Center, attended the hearings with about 13 students, volunteers and supporters.
Silva-Bañuelos said she didn’t mind presenting her request twice.
“We still have some of our strong supporters that were able to show up,” she said. “They’ve been ready to show up the first time, the second time, and now they’re ready here to be with us and support us.”
