$80,000 of Your Money Is Gone

By Jennifer Jones
Campus Voice Editor

GALLUP— Student Senate blows through almost $95,000.
“The budget should benefit the students and right now it’s only benefiting the Senate,” said UNM Gallup student and president of the Phi Theta Kappa Club, Marcus Yazzie.
Student Senate President Elroy Natachu Jr. said all of the activities the Senate had last semester used up most of the money.
“We are low on money because the last administration depleted the funds,” said Natachu Jr Natachu Jr. was the vice president during the last administration that he refers to.
“They spent that money pretty fast in the fall semester, like $80,000, “ said Yazzie.
After looking over the Senate’s budget Yazzie said, “I don’t think they spent the money right.”
The Student Senate gets their budget from student fees, according to Zeke Garcia, director of student services.
Natachu Jr. said, “We only get $2 from every student.”
Garcia contradicted that number.
Garcia said $10.40 is taken from each student account and is divided by 3 departments, Student Senate being one of them.
So the Senate actually gets $3.46 from each student, which may seem like a low number, but when the total comes to $95,000, the $3.46 per student seriously adds up.
This budget is for the current academic year, which started in July 2012 and will end in June 2013.
According to Natachu Jr. the Senate only has enough money left for club budgets.
Yazzie contradicted that.
Yazzie said the PTK Club applied for a Senate scholarship and was informed by the Senate that they won the scholarship in Oct 2012, but the PTK Club has yet to be awarded the money.
Yazzie said the Senate told him that his club hasn’t received the money because the paper work is still in process.
Which sounds like a code for ‘we don’t have the money.’
Vice President Matthew Herrera said $95,000 is a really low number for the Senate’s budget compared to other Senate budgets at other schools.
$95,000 is a low number?
In this economy?
To top that off Natachu Jr. said the Senate is looking for ways to get more money.
He said, “Maybe by donations.”
So the Senate has blown through almost their entire budget and they still want more money.
Which begs the question, when will the Senate be reined in?