President David Schmidly's campus-wide e-mail, sent out on Monday, gave a positive - but inexact - outline of steps that UNM will take to make up for shortfalls in the state budget.
Schmidly said in the letter that the University has already worked to save money, such as through the hiring freeze, but that it will now save more by reducing nonacademic administrative spending by 15 percent in the next three years.
In an interview with the Daily Lobo, Schmidly defined "nonacademic administrative spending" as anything that does not directly support teaching or research. However, construction projects on campus will continue because they are funded by bonds. He said athletics and Parking and Transportation Services also won't be affected by the reduction in spending, because they are self-supporting.
"We're going to look at any and everything," he said. "I hope we can do as much of (the spending reduction) as possible through attrition, because we've said all along that we want to preserve the work force."
Schmidly said the work force might still be reduced.
"We do have a lot of people that leave (their positions at UNM), they get other jobs, they move out of the state, and they leave vacant positions. Every time one of those vacancies comes up, we're going to look very hard at whether or not we need to fill it," he said. "Or if we can accommodate it some other way."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Schmidly said in his letter that he would add 10 full-time faculty positions.
But would those 10 faculty members be hired to fill current vacancies?
"That would be above the vacancies - but in order to be able to do that we have to have a better outcome and be able to work together," he said. "And we're going to target those faculty positions into areas where we see enrollment growth."
Schmidly said raising enrollment is a priority for the University right now.
"We are trying to grow our enrollment to break out of this band so we get larger state appropriation," he said.
Schmidly said there will also be a freeze on executive compensation, meaning administrators will continue getting paychecks and benefits but not raises.
"What we said is we are not going to adjust; we're not going to move upward any of those components of salary until we see a recovery," he said.
Schmidly said he will go to the Board of Regents' meeting in April to discuss a policy that will allow for deferred compensation for executive positions including the president, executive vice presidents and Main Campus vice presidents.
He said the deferred compensation program will work well for many of the administrators, including him.
"Deferred compensation is money that is not paid into my salary," Schmidly said. "I don't see it every year. It goes into my retirement program, and the University does not pay benefits on it. It is particularly common for people that are nearing the end of their career, like me."
Cheo Torres, vice president for Student Affairs, holds one of the positions whose compensation will be frozen. Torres said he supports the president's economic actions.
"It's the right thing to do in these tough economic times," Torres said. "I'm glad that he has taken some action."
Torres said he is optimistic about the University's financial situation and hopes it has reached its lowest point.
"With our new president being elected, there are initiatives to get back in control of the budget, (but) it may take some time," Torres said. "I think that if everyone works together, we'll wind up a better country."
Communication and Journalism Chairman John Oetzel, who presented faculty and staff grievances at Schmidly's forum last semester, said he is pleased with the actions Schmidly has taken.
"I think it's a good first step. I think that it shows some responsiveness to some of the concerns raised by faculty, staff, students and some other constituents," Oetzel said.
He said the deferred compensation policy Schmidly outlined in the letter is a good idea because it might help ease some of the strain between faculty and administrators.
"One of the frustrations that came out was that one of the executive vice presidents received a large deferred compensation package in the middle of an economic crisis," Oetzel said. "So that created frustration among faculty, staff, students and (the) Legislature, from what I understand."
Schmidly said UNM needs to ensure cooperation from Santa Fe in order to improve UNM's budget.
"If you look at what has been recommended, we're about 35 to 38 percent of the higher education budget, and they're projecting to give us about 50 percent of the cut," Schmidly said. "Which we think is unfair to our students, faculty and staff."
Schmidly said UNM has people working hard in Santa Fe to make sure UNM gets enough money.
"The University is highly respected there, and I think with hard work and a rational approach and all of us working together, we can have a better outcome than what it looks like right now," he said.
