As an election and presidential debate loomed, ASNMSU’s senate session on March 26 rolled in changes that will impact all future meetings. On top of that, the senate would spend the most money the student government has in years.
ASNMSU staffers brought a leaderboard of each senator’s total spending so far in front of the 69th Senate of the Associated Students of New Mexico State University. Vice President Kolby Graham Taylor said that the displayed statistics were to encourage senators to increase ASNMSU’s spending. Later that night, the senate spent double their minimum recommended expenditures, with one bill spending beyond the expenditure limit in ASNMSU’s Financial Procedures. Additionally, Taylor announced a change to how the senate would conduct its votes; iClickers will no longer be used by senators. This change came into effect for the March 26 session and will remain for all sessions during the rest of the Spring 2026 semester, including an announced extra senate meeting after the semester ends.
After a bill is presented, the floor will motion to give the bill a unanimous due pass. If there is no dissent from any senator, the legislation is passed unanimously. However, if there is any dissent, the floor moves into a ‘roll call vote,’ where each senator is called upon for their vote on the bill. Taylor said that the logistical difficulties of using iClickers motivated this change, which he hoped would quicken voting and senate sessions.
“I have come to find out, over the past while, that it is extremely hard to tie the serial numbers that are applied to all the iClickers with everyone’s names,” Taylor said. “And it also doesn’t help that sometimes some of you don’t grab the right iClickers as assigned on sign-up sheet. So, that also makes things complicated and makes things inaccurate.”
Sen. Joukhadar presented Bill 336, a bill to increase funding for KRUX so that they can get the equipment necessary for KRUXFEST 2026 and other future events. Sen. Joukhadar motioned to suspend Bylaw 7-4-3g, as the bill surpassed the spending limit for any campus organization. General Manage Cole Rowland justified the motion with KRUX’s performance at the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) Conference in New York as a reason to provide the group with more resources.
“After those four finalist positions that we made, I can say that I employ the best social media director in any college broadcasting system,” Rowland said. “With that, I think we’re showing we are using the funding in appropriate ways. We went last year asking you guys for some money for going to New York to kind of get our toes wet, learning the kind of environment that we were working in. And then this year we would come back; we were swinging, and we successfully knocked it out of the water.”
Not only did the senate agree to suspend the Bylaw 7-4-3g for Bill 336, but the legislation passed unanimously.
In total, the senate spent $85,750 in expenditures this session, roughly double their recommended spending. Sen. Saul Angel Hernandez congratulated his fellow senators on the increased spending and encouraged them to continue informing constituents on the funds ASNMSU can provide.
Hernandez spoke with the senate about an instance before their meeting where a constituent asked if the senate could give more funds to their needs.
“From that little interaction,” Hernandez said. “I know that there are a lot of students here that don’t know how the ASNMSU Senate works, and how much money we can give out. So, I encourage everyone to start telling everyone that, hey, there is a lot of money here to help your departments, help your students, and help organize events.”
