Making sure UNM recognizes underrepresented groups in legislative priorities and other projects was a heated topic for Regent Richard Toliver during the Board of Regents Finance and Facilities meeting Monday, Aug. 5.
Toliver broached the subject twice during the meeting: first during the legislative request priorities for the 2002-03 fiscal year, and then again before a series of motions to select four architects for UNM building projects.
Julie Weaks, vice president of business and finance, said that since no mechanism within the University exists to fund certain new or current special projects, the University must ask for legislative assistance.
This year’s requests, which Weaks said mirror last year’s, come from a variety of programs, including the Teacher Licensure Institute, Manufacturing Engineering, the Latin American Date Base, the Diversity Institute, Accessibility Services, El Centro de la Raza and the Ralph J. Bunch Scholars Program/African American Student Services.
Requested funding for ongoing special projects totals about $33.5 million according to statistics Weaks presented at the meeting.
Weaks said that the actual funding for the projects depends on the state Legislature each year, since many legislators fight for certain special projects that are of interest to them and their constituents.
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She added that often times teaching projects are more likely to be funded.
Toliver expressed concern that the needs of underrepresented students, such as blacks, are not being met and putting funding for projects such as African American Student Services and El Centro de la Raza on the special funding request list is part of the problem.
“I’ve heard from the African American community here on campus that they’re consistently left out of the equation,” Toliver said.
He said that the University must find another way to fund those programs.
“As long as we continue to put them on this list, their needs won’t be met,” he said.
Weaks promised to speak with the vice president of student affairs about seeking alternate solutions to the funding problem, but added that the University focuses heavily on getting the special requests funded.
Toliver also cautioned the committee and Roger Lujan, director of facility planning, that priorities for the architect selections for the $48 million the University will spend on four new building projects should include determining whether the architects employ underrepresented people, including blacks and American Indians.
He said that when people criticize the University of being unfair, the only way to disprove them is to show that it has minorities working here. Toliver added that a system of checks and balancing or an auditing process needs to be in place before approving future selections.
Lujan said that a provision in the contract with the architects includes a statement that they are equal-opportunity employers and have minorities working for them.
The committee passed all four architect selections for a research building for the UNM Health Sciences Center, a Patient Care Unit remodeling and renewal for the Mental Heath Center, four south and five south Patient Care Unit remodeling and an instructional facility addition to Student Services and Administration Building on the Valencia branch campus.
Lujan also gave an update on the Student Union Building process, stating that the building is only 72 percent complete when it should be 88 percent done. He said that the general contractor is 2.3 months behind, and while he is entitled to a month lenience, each additional month in delays will cost $40,000.
He said the general contractor with Silver Construction Company attributed the delay to uncooperative substitution workers, but part of the general contractor’s job is to be able to work with the substitutes.
Lujan said that while he has informed the union of the situation, it doesn’t “sit right with us,” but added that it was his only leverage.
The Board of Regents will meet Tuesday for its first full meeting of the fall semester.
