5-12 Pinkins Letter

Editor, I was very disappointed to learn that President Frank failed to honor an agreement that he made with the ASUNM and GPSA presidents and removed over $5 million of student fees from the purview of the Student Fee Review Board without their knowledge. I think it shows a tremendous amount of disrespect for the students on this campus and is a blatant violation of our trust.Now President Frank claims that he wants to “hear more student voices” through the student cabinet he has proposed. I voted for Priscila Poliana to be GPSA president because she shares many of my desires to increase graduate student opportunity and success at UNM. Refusing to keep the word he made to her and Isaac Romero tells me exactly how much President Frank cares about my voice and opinions. The creation of a student cabinet does not even address the issue of students losing a say in what happens to our fees!It seems to me that the president wants to create a handpicked body of ‘yes men’ to condone future subversions of student wishes and de-legitimize the representative authority of the elected student government. What is the point of electing student leaders to speak for us in the governance of the university when the president can appoint students that agree with him and claim that they represent us? How can he work towards creating a learning environment that will further student success when he blatantly ignores the individuals that students elect to communicate our needs?President Frank should be more concerned with restoring the trust between him and the student body. He can do that by dismissing plans for his student cabinet and honoring the agreements he makes with elected student leaders. All of our leaders should be people of integrity – that’s what he expects of the students. It would be hypocritical of him not to exhibit the same quality.Sincerely,Carlyn N. PinkinsDoctoral Student, Department of History