At the forum Friday, students and employees voiced concerns about the wide salary gap between administrators and faculty.
Some asked President David Schmidly if he would take a pay cut and have his vice presidents do the same.
Schmidly earns a base salary of $387,600, and UNM's 14 vice presidents make an average of more than $250,000.
Schmidly said that he and all but one of the vice presidents make less than their counterparts at peer institutions.
Loyola Chastain, Staff Council president, asked whether UNM's upper administration would be willing to take a pay cut and defer compensation incentives.
Several University administrators said they're already doing their part to help UNM's financial situation, and Schmidly said he is trying to avoid salary cutbacks at all costs.
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"I'm not reducing anybody's salaries," he said. "I haven't been asked to. I haven't given one dime back to the state of New Mexico yet. I'm not sure if I will, and I'm not sure how much I will have to do so. I will attempt to manage that without having to reduce anyone's salaries."
Chastain said she heard a rumor that Paul Roth, dean of the School of Medicine, would ask his staff to work a week without pay.
Roth said in a statement that the rumor had no factual basis.
"No one will be required to take mandatory unpaid leave as a result of our pending state of economic budgetary shortfalls," he said.
Several department heads said the salary gap is alarming but that harvesting funds from departments with surpluses is also problematic.
"Over the past 18 months, we have identified four separate times . where the higher administration has harvested money from Academic Affairs," said John Oetzel, chairman of Communication and Journalism. "Money harvesting is of great concern because of the lack of transparency in what has happened to the money and the already paltry budgets in academic programs."
Cheo Torres, vice president of Student Affairs, said the funds are harvested selectively and that money that directly affects students is off limits.
"We will be the last to have our money harvested, so I feel very good about the students being protected and most of the budget being protected," he said. "I think the students should be pleased and happy . that this is not going to have a major impact on the students."
In order to prevent harvesting, students and faculty at the meeting proposed making salary cuts mandatory for administrators and setting the money aside in UNM's emergency reserve fund.
Carmen Alvarez Brown, vice president for Enrollment Management, said she agrees with Schmidly's stance on salary cutbacks.
"The president's goal is that no one has to give up any of their salaries," she said. "That's really his message to all of us. What he's doing is to make sure that he protects us, protects us from people losing their jobs or having to give a percentage of our salaries."
Brown said she and other administrators already donate a portion of their salaries to the UNM Foundation through United Way.
Donations to the UNM Foundation provide student scholarships and some research funding.
"We're already giving to the University through the United Way," Brown said. "That, in itself, we already do. We're very committed to that."
