The Board of Regents postponed voting on UNM Master Plan of Development — again.
Steve Beffort, vice president of Institutional Support Services, sent President David Schmidly a letter on Sept. 23 asking to delay the Master Plan vote. The Master Plan was slated for approval at the Tuesday regents meeting.
Beffort said the vote needed to be delayed because the Faculty Senate passed a resolution requesting more time to comment on the Master Plan before it’s approved.
Beffort said the regents have to approve the Master Plan of Development, but voting on the project has been put off since December.
“We’ve had a nine-month delay from our original delivery date in attempt to get more input,” Beffort said. “What we don’t want to do at this point after putting so much time into it is try to slam something down somebody’s throat that they’re not comfortable with.”
Beffort said the Master Plan delay will not affect plans to build new dorms with the student housing developer American Campus Communities. The new dorm location is planned for south campus, according to the Master Plan.
Beffort said the regents need to have more discussion on the dorms’ placement location, and the new dorm outline will be presented to the regents sometime this fall.
“American Campus Communities has been working with our Master Plan group to decide on appropriateness of location,” he said. “The project will have to be approved on by the regents.”
The new dorms and the Master Plan are connected, Beffort said, but do not depend on each other for approval.
Doug Fields, president of the Faculty Senate, said the regents should consider input from the surrounding community before expanding UNM.
“While the Faculty Senate appreciates the extended time to consider the Master Plan, we hope that common concerns can be addressed for the mutual benefit of all,” he said.
The regents still need to hear many opinions on the Master Plan, Fields said. The Faculty Senate suggested creating a Master Plan development board that would give voting rights concerning the Master Plan to groups including students, faculty and neighborhood organizations.
“What we have informally proposed is that UNM have a UNM and Albuquerque development board,” Fields said. “This will give voting rights to a broad spectrum of internal and external constituents in order to come to a consensus on the Master Plan.”
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In a statement delivered by fellow senator Abdullah Feroze, ASUNM President Monika Roberts said she supports the Master Plan delay because it gives students extra time to make comments about it.
“I’d like to thank President Schmidly and the Board for keeping the Master Plan open for comment and additional feedback,” Roberts said in the statement. “Since the Plan has been open I have done my best to get undergraduates to leave feedback. I will continue these efforts until the Master Plan is finalized.”
Roberts said she is in favor of the proposed ACC dorms because the company has done a good job getting student input on the future dorms.
“As a student representative, I have seen many of the ACC communities around the region including the University of Arizona, Texas A&M and the University of Houston,” Roberts said. “I would like to express my support for this company. At each of the campuses I visited, they had a positive impact on student housing and student life in general.”
To give input on the UNM Master Plan, e-mail planning@unm.edu
