Editor,
In light of the Albuquerque Journal’s April 12 front-page article about UNM’s “Mathmagicians,” I write to share my concern about UNM’s funding crisis. I am a second-year English doctoral student who moved to New Mexico for the English department’s reputed doctoral program, and yet our department is on the brink of collapse.
The article examined how the funding crisis is affecting the math department — faculty are leaving for better jobs and the Ph.D. program in statistics (the only one in the state) has virtually collapsed, as statistics professors are not being replaced. The Journal’s article most aptly stated what the campus has known — that another department is on the brink of collapse from lack of funding. While the current financial crisis may not be the sole reason why the math department is drowning, there is an obvious correlation between the inability to hire faculty to teach courses and departmental funding. The math department is not the only department suffering; particularly, the history department has lost 11 professors in the last few years, and the department does not have the funds to replace them.
The English department is under financial duress as well. Because we are not allocated enough funds to cover the courses we teach, a very real reality is that English 101 and 102 sections will be drastically cut. Despite our meetings with the deans and administrators and a very recent Academic Program Review completed by outside-institutional reviewers which attested to our plight, we cannot get the funding necessary to hire faculty. Apparently, the UNM Board of Regents and Scholes Hall administrators believe accepting more freshmen will solve the problem. Yes, every new student brings funding with him or her, but who are going to teach those students if the English department is not allocated funding? And where are these funds going that students are bringing with them?
As a student myself, I am having great difficulties getting the courses and professional development opportunities I need to become a viable candidate when I enter the job market.
For example, many graduate courses are only offered once every two or three years because the department does not have the faculty to teach them. To further the complications, many of our faculty have part-time appointments as administrators, and with the tragic murder of Professor Hector Torres, they are spread extremely thin. All of them are overworked, underappreciated and underpaid.
UNM’s crisis should be a concern for us all. We should be concerned about maintaining our national R1 reputation. We should be concerned that departments cannot fund integral, general education courses. While I appreciate University President David Schmidly’s decision to cut two vice president positions to save $400,000 (Daily Lobo April 14 issue), I want to see a promise from him that those funds are going to departments in dire need of faculty. Let me remind you that in February 2009 UNM faculty voted 329-106 for “no confidence” in Schmidly’s management of the University, yet that vote doesn’t seem to mean anything. Consider this a call for action: I’d like to see UNM students taking their concerns and frustration beyond their departments and the campus. We’re not being heard, so I suggest e-mailing New Mexico legislators. I’ve e-mailed 10 today. Let’s band together and demand that our voices are heard.
Genesea M. Carter
English Ph.D. student
