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Congress ground to a halt Tuesday morning, but a UNM official said campus life should carry on as usual.
UNM Interim Vice President of Human Resources Jewel Washington said the effect of the shutdown on the University is dependent upon how long it lasts. But she said the shutdown will not affect classes because UNM is partially funded by the state.
Washington said that while none of UNM’s faculty is in danger of losing their salaries, there are several UNM employees who are federally funded, mostly in research fields.
“We do have employees who are on contracts and grants that are funded through the government and so forth,” she said, “Right now if we have any contracts that are up for renewal, that, of course, could impact those employees. But if it’s a contract that is not up for renewal, we don’t anticipate that we would have any kind of issue.”
Washington said UNM officials are examining potential contracts that could be affected, as well as the timeline of when each renewal will be due. There are employees funded through grants both at the Health Sciences Center and at UNM’s main campus, she said.
The United States federal government shut down on Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. EST after the House and the Senate failed to agree on a spending bill to fund the government. Talks between Republican and Democratic leaders on Wednesday ended with no further breakthroughs.
And UNM students are not pleased with the shut down.
Nutrition and dietetics senior Cristina Miller said she does not think that the government’s actions were a suitable response to the situation.
“I’m angry,” she said. “They say they are speaking for the people but I don’t know anyone who feels this is an appropriate way to respond to things.”
Miller said Congress has acted unprofessionally regarding the situation.
“Even if they don’t really like Obamacare or Affordable Care Act, nobody supports this sort of temper tantrum mentality and I don’t think they should be paid for this time,” she said. “I think that they also shouldn’t have any time off until this gets resolved.”
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Sophomore Alex Athens, biology major, said he is also unhappy that the government is failing to work together.
“I think it’s just a lack of organization and cooperation between the government branches,” Athens said. “I think they should get their act together.”
Despite the shutdown and many Republicans’ doubts about the Affordable Care Act, exchange marketplaces for Obamacare opened Tuesday as planned.
Still, Washington says she encourages students not to worry about the impact of the shutdown on UNM. She said she hopes that everything would be resolved by the government soon.
“I’m hoping it doesn’t last long,” Washington said. “I’m hoping that our leadership can come together and find a resolution to what’s going on so that people can go back to work, and we don’t have to anticipate (the effect of) these types of things.”
