Why?!

Why can I not just graduate without finding out that the University has done it again with it's outrageous mandates? First, I find out that our President, President Robert Frank, along with the "help" of the Board of Regents, decided that maybe being President was just not up his alley. It was best that he should instead be the Director of the Center for Innovation in Health and Education, as can be seen by clicking on the hyperlink as quoted by the UNM NewsRoom.

Next,

I find out that the University is requiring students to live on campus. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. but no student should have to be forced to live on campus. Especially when it's specifically targeted towards students such as myself, of whom came to this school as a transfer student. Exceptions including being not over: 20 years of age, not having a child (thank god), as well as not having a legal guardian within 30 miles of Main Campus.

As can be seen here, living on campus does actually help to provide the comfort of having both college and your housing in one area. It's nice, convienient and if you can afford it then by all means do it. I can say personally that I've lived on campus for the first two years of my college experience and I have seen the difference in my GPA, but again it should not be forced upon students. If anything, if you're going to push mandatory campus living; then you should lower your prices, and upgrade these "Residence Centers" because

Let's be real,

Some of these living spaces on campus could use a whole lot of TLC. The walls are paper thin, I could hear what was going on three rooms down from my own. When I needed my shower fixed, I'd write a report online, but it wouldn't get taken care of till about four days later. Meaning that I would be showering with cold water, but hey at least I had water? I was paying $600 for cold water right? Maybe I'm still salty, lets move on.

Now,

Now, I'm finding out that one of the top Athletic programs this school has to offer, The UNM Ski Team, is being cut and for what reason? The Daily Lobo reports that by cutting the team, the University will save the school about $600,000 a year, but I find that hard to wrap my mind around when the new coach for UNM's Basketball team Paul Weir, is getting a salary of $600,000, as stated by KRQE. (Update: it's actually 285,000 as reported by the "Save the Ski team page") Basically he's getting payed on his first year a little bit more than what the Ski team was worth, yet there isn't a correlation? I find that hard to believe. I also find it complicated when the Ski team for UNM has a wide range of accomplishments made in just a couple of years.

These achievements include, but are not limited to:

1. Winning an NCAA trophy against top competing schools nationwide.

2. Thirteen times, they have placed in the top four in the NCAA Championship.

3. The Women's Ski team has set a 3.9 GPA, and the Men's Ski team has set a 3.6 GPA for this past year. Not to forget that they have set a record for the top comulative GPA in the Athletic's program for the University. While also staying under the budget every year.

So,

How are the players feeling about this? I spoke to one of the Ski Members Rob Grieg, about what is happening and he states that, he was devastated by the news.

"There was talk in the athletic department about something happening, but we had no rumors and no warnings about us getting cut. There was a mass text sent out to both teams saying that we needed to head over to meet; because there was some news. That's when we were told that they were cutting our program."

I asked if whether they could open a club, but opening a club is difficult especially when:

1. You cannot compete in the NCAA.

2. Funding a club sport takes a lot of money.

The team members were told that they could keep their scholarships, but it would mean quitting the sport. How is a University going to provide a team for students (some of which are not New Mexico Native), give them with some of what they need, say "make the University proud" and when they do; they get cut for it? These students not only are without something they've dedicated years of their lives, but can't even transfer to another school because recruitment is too far gone. I don't know about you, but this is nonsense. As students we cannot allow for things like this to happen. Just because the University caters to the fan service that the larger sports provide, does not mean that other student groups need to be cut in the process.

The University is furthering it's link with it's students, and it is now becoming the 1% over the 99%. This is not Wall Street and this University was built on more than the premise of it being just business.

The Board of Regents? Or The Embodiment of President Snow?

You decide.

To help the UNM Ski Team, please sign this petition. Every vote truly matters.