President David Schmidly defended his fiscal decisions amid jeers from about 750 students and employees during Friday's forum on the University's financial troubles.
The sound system failed repeatedly during the meeting, requiring speakers to shout their questions. Schmidly said he could not raise his voice to answer the questions because he had a cold, and the crowd demanded he move to the center of the room to be heard.
Loyola Chastain, Staff Council president, said a survey of employees found that morale is at a record low and asked Schmidly what he would do to improve it.
Schmidly responded that he had not seen the survey but that the results were not unexpected.
"Am I surprised that morale is at an all-time low? No, I am not surprised. My morale is not that high," he said.
The audience laughed when Schmidly began by saying that high morale starts with trust and communication.
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"If there is one thing I would focus on to improve the University, it's trust," he said. "I stand here in front of you right now proud to be standing on the record that I stand.... What I'm trying to do is preserve 20,000 jobs on this campus, and the steps I took were because I knew they were the right steps to take. And I would ask Loyola (Chastain) - and perhaps you should ask her too - what is she doing to help morale on this campus."
Chastain invited anyone to put the question to her any time, and staff members stood up later in the meeting to defend her.
Schmidly was also asked to defend his decision to go ahead with the remodeling of The Pit - an action his critics say contradicts his stated goal of conserving, not splurging, during a time of economic turmoil.
Student Doresa Carrington said she was upset that Schmidly continues to spend money on the Athletics Department when other departments on campus are suffering.
"If The Pit is not going to open itself up for public vending and concerts or any other convention type of situation - and we have not held a tournament here in the state in decades - why, why (rebuild it) now when you're losing students?" Carrington asked. "When you're losing faculty, and in the midst of all these scandals and the lack of money, (why) are you throwing out $87 million - in my mind - for a fun palace?"
The audience laughed when Schmidly replied that The Pit renovations will only cost $60 million. He said the money used to fund the reconstruction of The Pit came from revenue bonds and that the University must pay the debt service on them in spite of the economic crisis.
He said the bond debt would be paid back through ticket sales, concessions and luxury-suite sales.
"We are continuing with The Pit because it will generate the revenue to pay for itself," he said.
Schmidly told Carrington that the hiring freeze was instituted in response to a possible cut in state funding from the Legislature.
"We received letters from leadership in the Legislature instructing us that there was a possibility of a mid-year budget rescission and we should prepare for that," he said. "And so, what we did is that we put in place a pause-and-hold. We have not done anything with that money other than pause the money as it related to the positions.... If we do not have a rescission and we do not have a reduction in next year's budget, we will return those monies to where they came from."
Schmidly insisted that UNM is conserving the money and not spending it foolishly.
"We're doing what most American families are doing in this nation right now," he said. "We are saving money until we see how bad this situation is. So, that's the explanation."
John Oetzel, chairman of Communication and Journalism Department, said UNM is using the country's economic troubles as a scapegoat and that the administration's financial problems started long before the crisis began.
Oetzel also expressed disdain for the increase of executive salaries at UNM, which he said have grown by 71 percent since 2002, a statistic that drew hisses from the crowd.
"I believe these concerns are widely shared by faculty, students and staff," Oetzel said. "I think it is critical to point out that these concerns predate the economic crisis and the crisis has simply exacerbated the situation."
Despite the witch-hunt atmosphere of the hour-and-a-half-long forum, Schmidly answered every question the crowd threw at him and defended himself against allegations that his administration was leaving the rest of the University in the dark.
"I have tried to be very transparent," he said. "I met with you when you requested to meet with me. I have scheduled a series of town-hall meetings. I have not tried to hide (anything) ... or any issue - and I don't believe that you can accuse me of that. I have no hidden agenda other than to do the very best I can to strengthen this institution."
Schmidly said he will continue to serve the University community to the best of his ability.
"I said from the beginning that what I care most about at this institution is the success of the students, and I have never deviated from that in any conversation I have had," he said.
