Student Fee Review Board will hold SFRB hearings during winter break, University organizations oppose decision

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Student groups expressed concerns to the Student Fee Review Board (SFRB) about the dates for the board’s funding hearings after the board decided to hold those meetings during winter break.

The board recommends how student fees should be distributed to organizations on campus each year. Some organizations, such as American Indian Student Services, are concerned that students may still be out of town and will not have the opportunity to attend the public hearings.

American Indian Student Services Director Pamela Agoyo said the board should reconsider the meeting dates to allow equal opportunity for everyone to engage in the discussion about how student fees will be spent.

“You want to have these kinds of interactions and these kinds of proceedings at a time when the campus community is in full operation,” she said.

Agoyo said student participation is vital to the hearings because it demonstrates why a program is important and deserving of funds. She also said it affords students an opportunity to educate members of the SFRB.

“Many of the folks that sit on the SFRB, in my experience, are not intimately interactive with every single department that comes to ask for funding,” she said. “So the students play a critical role in educating them.”

SFRB member Matthew Rush said the hearing dates were set earlier than in previous years due to time restrictions implemented after the creation of the Strategic Budget Leadership Team (SBLT) by former UNM President Schmidly in early 2012. The SBLT is composed of staff and faculty members who look at the entire UNM budget for the upcoming fiscal year, including student fees.

Rush said that before the SBLT was implemented, recommendations were sent directly to the University president, but that last year, SFRB recommendations were due to the SBLT by March 1. He said that this year, SFRB recommendations are due to the SBLT by Feb. 15.

Last year, SFRB allocated $11 million to campus organizations.

Rush said that with projected increases in enrollment, that amount could increase to as much as $13 million.

Rush said the new budget team has shortened the SFRB’s deliberation time.

“The unfortunate thing for SFRB is the new timetable with this new policy,” he said. “Last year we had five and a half weeks, this year we have four and a half weeks to have the hearings, do the forums and do the deliberations.”

Rush said that after the hearings, community forums will be held when school is in session for students and community members to make a case for organizations asking for funding. He said organizations that feel that student presence is necessary may be scheduled for the final day of the hearings on Jan. 12.

“The hearings are intended for us to get a good overview of budgeteering needs,” he said. “We’re looking into the possibility of asking for student input at community forum times.”