After almost a year of construction, the redesigned Johnson Center is beginning to take shape. While there will be many new additions, the remodeled recreation center will not have a rock-climbing wall, a feature suggested at the start of the project. According to Director of Recreational Services Jim Todd, there wasn’t room in the $35 million budget for the addition.
My first time in Washington, D.C. was not special. I remember spending most of my time working in my dorm room and in the Senate Press Gallery of the Capitol building. I never saw as much as I wanted to. I walked the National Mall and went to museums dozens of times, but I never took the time to explore as much as I should. I visited a friend in D.C. over the break and I wanted to makeup for lost time. Instead of keeping my head down and avoiding human interaction, I made it a goal to get out and notice the small things.
On Monday, University of New Mexico officials will be releasing their response to a petition signed by over 900 faculty members across all five campuses in support of the formation of a collective bargaining unit, which was filed under the name United Academics of the University of New Mexico (UA-UNM). The decision will come more than a month after the petition was first delivered to President Garnett Stokes during her traveling office hours. UA-UNM allowed the University until March 18 to reach a decision Lee Montgomery, an associate professor and member of UA-UNM, said the University essentially has three options on how to respond to the petition:
On a rainy Monday during Spring Break, the University of New Mexico Board of Regents discussed support for a faculty union, resurrected the Athletics cuts discussion and elected new leadership positions on the board. Douglas “Doug” Brown was elected to regent president, Kimberly Sanchez Rael was elected vice president and secretary-treasurer went to Sandra Begay. All votes were unanimous. This removes the mantel from both Regents Robert Doughty, and Marron Lee, former regent president and vice president respectively. They are also the only holdovers from former Gov. Susana Martinez’s appointments to the seven-member governing board. At the top of the meeting, the regents voted unanimously to appoint Marianne Bowers and re-appoint the UNM/Management appointee, Charlotte Lamont, to the UNM Labor Management Relations Board which governs labor negotiations.
With the first day of spring break so tantalizingly close, the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico held there fourth meeting of the semester, doling out about $9,000 to eleven student organizations and modifying a few positions within the government. Christian groups, most of which were requesting money to attend conferences, were the biggest recipients of Wednesday night’s appropriations. Deviate, Navigators and InterVarsity received a combined $3,139. Deviate received the most. According to their appropriation request, the money is to attend a retreat in Colorado.
This spring semester has been a busy one for the University of New Mexico's Graduate and Professional Student Association. They've experienced conflicts of interests, people in the gallery becoming voting members of GPSA in a matter of minutes, accusations of unethical behavior and presidential impeachment proceedings. And that was all in one meeting. That February meeting began with Director of Student Affairs, Ryan Lindquist, explaining to the council what abstaining means. Shortly after, it was announced that three council members had resigned since the last meeting.
Three senators — all of which are or have been chairs — and an agency director with a recognizable name are running for leadership of the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico. Lobo Spirit Director Adam Biederwolf is running against Steering & Rules Committee Chair Mohammad Assed for president, while former finance committee chair Madelyn Lucas is running against current finance chair Holly Gallegos for vice president. Assed and Gallegos have said they are running together, while Biederwolf and Lucas are doing the same. That leaves open the possibility of a president and vice president from separate unofficial slates holding office together.
It seemed all the big topics at the University of New Mexico made an appearance at the final forum for the Higher Learning Commission site visit: low wages for professors, the state budget, staff-hiring moratorium, athletics funding, and transparency concerns. The last of three sessions was held at 10 a.m. in the Domenici Center for Health Sciences Education on North Campus. The final forum focused on the last two criteria: evaluations and then resources, the mission and the how effective University institutions are.
Over two years of intensive planning will come to a close on Monday and Tuesday, as the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) — the body in charge of the University of New Mexico’s accreditation — will perform a site visit on UNM's main campus. According to their website, the HLC has the responsibility of affirming the accreditation status of higher education institutions in 19 states, including New Mexico. They judge whether or not a university is accredited based upon five criteria:
The University of New Mexico Board of Regents held a special meeting last Thursday where members of the board, President Garnett Stokes and Chief Legal Counsel Loretta Martinez discussed a petition signed by more than half of UNM faculty members in support of the formation of a faculty union. Stokes informed the regents that the union, United Academics of UNM (UA-UNM), had granted the University an extension to respond to the request, which is now set for March 18. She also said that University leaders must consider "what's in the best interest of the University of New Mexico in response," which she said must include information for the faculty about unionization.
Nearly a year after officially breaking ground the Physics & Astronomy and Interdisciplinary Science (PAÍS) building at the University of New Mexico has passed the halfway point of construction. Located on the site of a former City of Albuquerque water reservoir at the northeast intersection of Yale Boulevard and Redondo Drive, the construction site is difficult to miss. Following the ceremonial groundbreaking on March 20, 2018, construction crews have been on site five days a week erecting steel, installing electrical, plumbing, mechanical systems and assorted other construction work. Sarah Scott, communication and outreach specialist with UNM’s Institutional Support Services, said the construction is on schedule and on budget.
Lobos can now add a leash to the list of necessary things for attending the University of New Mexico. UNM Resident Life and Student Housing will be launching a pilot program starting Fall 2019 and concluding at the end of the spring semester 2020. According to Wayne Sullivan, director of Resident Life and Student Housing, this will be an opt-in program to house a pet in their dorm, however there will be only 150 of the 2,000 resident slots on campus. Halls participating in this trial program include Santa Clara Hall — a traditional dorm — and one of the Resident Center apartment buildings. Dogs, cats, small mammals, small reptiles and amphibians will be allowed to live in the dorms.
Before his resignation, Nick Morgan was referred to as a model senator. Vice President Emily Wilks called Morgan “phenomenal.” Finance Chair Holly Gallegos said Morgan was someone students liked talking to and in Finance Committee meetings, Morgan would often open by telling students that Senators were students too. About three weeks ago, Morgan resigned as a senator from the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico. “I came across some of the stuff that was happening with some of the money,” Morgan said referring to the Student Service Agencies. “I thought it was a little unethical.”
A special meeting of the University of New Mexico Board of Regents on Thursday Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. will involve discussion surrounding many pressing issues facing the University. It will be the first meeting with Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s five new appointees, who were approved by the New Mexico State Senate on Feb. 16. According to the official agenda, the meeting will involve interim Provost Richard Wood informing the Board about the upcoming Higher Learning Commission (HLC) site visit on March 4. The HLC is the body in charge of the accreditation process for the whole of UNM.
A source close to the matter has confirmed to the Daily Lobo that there will be cake (but no candles) available during a celebration today for the University of New Mexico’s 130th birthday party in the Student Union Building on Thursday, which will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Another hefty round of requests was approved on Wednesday night. Three student groups received a combined total of $22,736 in appropriations. Two of them were club sports. The appropriations come as the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico's remaining budget for the spring semester falls to $40,935. Senators have appropriated $61,807 so far this semester. In Fall 2018, ASUNM appropriated $68,743 in total.
State legislators have made reinstating the four sports cut by the University of New Mexico a mandatory condition in order for the UNM Athletics Departments to receive any state funding this legislative session. House Bill 2, the general appropriations bill for the legislative session, includes a clause stating that the $4.6 million to be appropriated to the UNM Athletics Department “is contingent on the reinstatement” of men’s soccer, men’s skiing, women’s skiing and beach volleyball — all of which were cut by the Board of Regents last August. The clause also states the Higher Education Department would have to certify to the Department of Finance and Administration and the Legislative Finance Committee that the sports have been reinstated for Fiscal Year 2020.
Current research being done at the University of New Mexico has the potential to revolutionize the firefighting industry within the next few years. Manish Bhattarai, a graduate student and researcher in the electrical and computer engineering department at UNM, has been developing new technology to better help firefighters in dangerous situations. “I’m really passionate about using technology to address real-world problems,” Bhattarai said.
The New Mexico State Senate recently confirmed all five of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s nominees for the University of New Mexico Board of Regents. One of those appointees was former Anderson School of Business Dean Douglas M. Brown. He previously served on the UNM Board for two years before his service as State Treasurer of New Mexico in 2005. Brown said he wants to tackle problems that will eventually help UNM in the near future. “It's really important not to show up with a big agenda, it's important to tend to the universities short problems such as budget — longer term is to plan for vitality for the future.” Brown said.
The New Mexico Senate unanimously confirmed all five nominees Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recommended to head the University of New Mexico Board of Regents on Friday. Sandra Begay, Douglas “Doug” Brown, Kimberly Sanchez Rael, and Robert Schwartz were confirmed as full regents, while Melissa Henry was confirmed as the student regent. Their terms start immediately.
Solutions by The State News
