Graduate students are taking action against proposed Latin American and Iberian Institute funding cuts that, according to institute representatives, could force the LAII to shut down.
Last week, the Provost Review Committee released a recommendation that the institution switch from an internally funded to an externally funded budget, which LAII Director Susan Tiano said would be impossible.
The LAII facilitates student research across various departments at UNM through scholarships, fellowships and travel grants.
“I wouldn’t have come to UNM for my Ph.D. if the Latin American Institute didn’t exist,” graduate student Lucinda Grinnell said in a previous interview.
GPSA Council Chair Megan McRobert said law students in the Latin American Studies department drafted a resolution opposing cuts to LAII, which the council will hear Saturday.
“It was specifically drafted by people that are impacted by the cuts,” she said.
Graduate student Benjamin Abbott said that on Jan. 20, a group of 15 graduate students delivered more than 50 letters expressing support for the LAII to Chief of Staff Breda Bova at President David Schmidly’s office. He said they requested meetings with Schmidly and Provost Suzanne Ortega, but both requests were denied.
Ortega’s secretary confirmed that she is only accepting written feedback regarding the issue. Bova said she would deliver the letters to the Cost Containment Task Force, which will be responsible for compiling the final FY 12 recommendations. The FY 12 budget will be voted on at the April 29 Board of Regents meeting.
Abbott said students will now try to get in contact with someone from the Cost Containment Task Force.
“We are planning on figuring out the best way to air our concerns about them cutting funding to the LAII with the administration,” he said. “This was definitely an effective first step.”
Tiano said support for the institute has extended beyond the University.
“There have been quite a number of people expressing their concern and interest all over the country,” she said. “We are really gratified by the support, and until we hear something from the University or the administration — the people who will be making the decisions — we are not quite sure what the outcome will be.”
Abbott said graduate students will continue to work in support of LAII.
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“We will be pursuing these and other avenues for emphasizing to the administration the importance of the LAII and the harm cutting its funding would cause,” he said.
