Roybal blind to students’ votes against rec center

Editor’s Note: This letter is in response to Luke Holmen’s article “Roybal: Students want rec center,” published Wednesday.

Editor,

I must say I admire Roybal’s ability to read the minds of thousands of students and interpret their desires in a manner completely contradictory to numerous surveys and votes.

ASUNM President Roybal is quoted in the article as saying that the proposal for a rec center didn’t pass because “it was poorly worded.”

President Roybal, pray tell what was badly worded about it? Was it the part where student fees would increase? Or was it that it wouldn’t be done before everyone currently attending UNM has graduated?

Please, President Roybal, don’t insult our intelligence and don’t presume to understand our preferences. Surveys have been widely distributed at UNM long before this proposal came up, and they have all come back saying solidly that students don’t want to pay more for a new rec center we will never see.

I would add to this that it seems irresponsible to talk about raising student fees for a rec center when the University is in the middle of such financial difficulties. Shouldn’t we think about raising fees to help support the academic mission of the school before we talk about making a building with fancier stuff to play with?

I agree with Alice Rodney, also quoted in the article: We need to consider the future of the institution and what’s best for future students. I feel I speak for many of my peers when I say that what’s best is not a new rec center. Of course, as student James Brown mentioned, no one seems to pay attention to us.

Kyle Farris
UNM Student