Letter: Student Fee Review Board should provide funding for student journalists

Editor,

Recently, a working group within the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) has been reviewing portions of our Bylaws which relate to our annual budget. As a member of that working group, as well as the current vice chair of GPSA’s Finance Committee, I am writing to suggest the Student Fee Review Board (SFRB) consider providing funding to the UNM Student Publications Board.

According to the GPSA’s Bylaws, we must take some of the money we collect from graduate students (the “GPSA Student Fee”) and allocate between 1 and 1.5 percent of it to the Board, amounting to roughly $3,000 per year. As part of its deliberations, the working group I am part of considered removing that provision. Our reason being that the Board is comprised of entities (the Daily Lobo, and the “Conceptions Southwest” and “Best Student Essays” magazines) which are open to contribution from all UNM students.

Further, we have learned that ASUNM also provides support to the Board. Put plainly, GPSA and ASUNM are separately funding an entity which interacts with and supports both of our constituencies.

In light of this, I am perplexed as to why GPSA and ASUNM are separately funding these useful student-run entities within the University, when there already exists a mechanism which could be used; namely, SFRB. The entire reason for SRFB is to let students have a say in how roughly $12 million in student fees is spent. Why not include the Board in that process?

I agree with Daven Quelle and Monica Kowal (both affiliated with the Board), with whom I met to discuss the working group’s idea, that student publications need to be supported by students, and should not be subject to the whims and vagaries of a changing University administration.

However, I disagree with the idea that separate funding streams is sensible. GPSA and ASUNM could work together, via SFRB, to provide a cohesive, consolidated funding stream. This would probably yield more funding for the Board, thereby expanding its impact.

As such, I call upon next year’s SFRB to work with the Board, to support UNM’s student journalists, communications experts and creative artists, and to preserve the independence of UNM’s student-run press. Both GPSA and ASUNM have made separate commitments to the Board; now is a time to do so jointly.

Travis Scholten

Daily Lobo reader