Cherry, silver and turquoise coated the Roundhouse in Santa Fe as students, staff and administrators of the University of New Mexico journeyed up to the State Capitol for “UNM Day” on Wednesday, Feb. 4.
“It’s just been an amazing day. I think no matter what happens, our students are having fun and they’re learning, and that’s very important to me, so that’s one of the reasons I love doing UNM Day,” the Executive Director of Associated Students at UNM Governmental Affairs, Alana Baca, said.
ASUNM held meetings with lawmakers throughout the day to lobby for their legislative priorities, encapsulated in HB 170; the UNM Basic Needs Project that requests $1.4 million from the state.
The money would be used to provide menstrual products to students, support the Lobo Food Pantry, fund need-based scholarships, assist students with minor legal challenges and further fund the Lobo Lift Initiative.
ASUNM is also seeking $400,000 in Capitol Outlay funds to improve safety in T- and P-Lots.
Nearly 50 students traveled to Santa Fe for UNM Day to view the governing process.
“Whenever I have a student who’s not an ASUNM member come over, I get so excited. They usually seem very timid about it, because it is very intimidating — it’s a round structure, you don’t know where you’re going, very chaotic, there’s a lot of groups here all at once,” Baca said.
While being serenaded by the UNM Mariachi Ensemble and the UNM Choir, many UNM organizations tabled around the rotunda of the Capitol Building and
spoke to legislators and community members. Some of the groups tabling included the UNM School of Law, the Anderson School of Management, the UNM Office of Sustainability and the College of Pharmacy.
“There’s tons of political science majors and people interested in politics around. Even if they’re not going to go into politics in the future, they want an opportunity to talk to senators and kids about things that matter to them pertaining to UNM. I think being able to bring them up here is an amazing opportunity, and I want to get it around to some more students at UNM,” Baca said.
The UNM College of Pharmacy’s table was one of the most popular and administered health screenings to passersby.
“We’re checking individuals’ blood glucose levels, their blood pressure, BMI screenings and we have pharmacists here with us who are assisting us in counseling individuals with their readings that we get,” Danyale Avallone, a second-year pharmacy student at the table, said.
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Some of the University’s legislative priorities involving the Health Sciences Center include $16 million to expand the Office of the Medical Investigator, $4.25 million to expand statewide targeted substance-use-related activities already underway by creating a Virtual Addiction Treatment Clinic and nearly $11 million to expand the UNM HSC Cancer Center to accompany a request for $546.6 million to build a new School of Medicine.
“I think people are really enjoying it. I think checking your blood glucose and your blood pressure is something that you kind of forget about unless you have to go to the doctor or you’re sick. It’s really important to be current on that and be aware of where you stand if you need to maybe make some changes or talk to a pharmacist,” Avallome said.
Other UNM priorities include requesting $50 million for upgrades to University Stadium and nearly $3 million to go to the Quantum New Mexico Institute, a joint research entity between UNM and Sandia National Laboratories. In addition, approximately $2 million is requested for the Accelerating Resilience Innovations in Drylands Institute, which researches clean water, energy, ecosystems and community health in drylands in New Mexico and worldwide.
Jaden McKelvey-Francis is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at editorinchief@dailylobo.com or on X @jadenmckelvey
