The argument at the center of last year’s student government election controversy took one step closer to being settled after the Board of Regents Academic Affairs Committee meeting Monday.
The committee approved an ASUNM Constitutional amendment that changes language in the student government election code, requiring that Senate vacancies be filled by the candidate who earned the most votes in the most recent student election.
During the fall, ASUNM senators and the attorney general clashed when interpreting the Constitution. The matter was taken to Student Court, but the justices who heard the case hadn’t been through the presidential appointments process and never made a decision before the fall election winners filled the vacancies.
The clarification would be applied by the end of the semester, with two senators stepping down before completing their terms.
Before the measure came to the committee, it was approved by a 1,395 to 175 vote during the recent student elections. The amendment now goes before the full Board of Regents for final approval during its next meeting, on May 8 at 1 p.m. in Scholes Hall.
During the same committee meeting, Provost Brian Foster updated the committee on the status of eight searches to fill administrative vacancies.
l Five dean of Arts and Sciences candidates have visited the campus, and an announcement will be made soon on that position.
l Four candidates for the dean of the School of Engineering are visiting the campus during the next two weeks.
l The graduate dean is being selected through an internal University search, with two candidates interviewing for the position. Foster said he expects to fill the vacancy by the fall semester.
l The dean of Fine Arts search was an external, national search that Foster said he decided to postpone until the fall. He said that five finalists were selected, but the University hopes to collect a better group of applicants by using a national search firm in the fall.
l Nancy Uscher, the interim associate provost, was the only candidate to apply for the associate provost for curriculum instruction. Foster said Uscher is the best candidate and the job is hers unless she withdraws her application.
l Foster said finalists have been selected during an internal search for the dean of University College.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
l Finalists also have been selected to fill the director of Latin American Studies and Iberian Institute position on an interim basis.
l Foster said Jennifer Gruenewald, an adviser in the International Studies Office, will be the interim director of International Studies.
“We really handled these searches poorly because they are all ending at the end of the semester, but I can assure it won’t happen again,” Foster said. “Part of the reason this happened was that I was new and came in here this semester, and we got started on filling these jobs late. But, the search committees also missed a lot of deadlines. At any rate, it won’t be a problem in the future.”
Following Foster’s report, Eliseo Torres, vice president for student affairs, said that William Elliot, the vice president for enrollment management at Carnegie Mellon University, will tour UNM Thursday. Elliot will offer advice on how to better assess and improve the UNM’s enrollment.
“A lot of people are very impressed by the work he has done, and we are thrilled that he will be working with us this week,” Torres said. “We’re going to talk with him and pick his brain to see what we can learn.”
