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The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
February 19, 2010
Schmidly’s advisory team shuns Staff Council, GPSA
Half-pipe dreams
by Pat Lohmann Daily Lobo
UNM President David Schmidly unveiled Wednesday the list of students, faculty and administrators who will make up a new team of advisers. Schmidly asked Faculty Senate leadership — but not GPSA and Staff Council — for a list of possible candidates for the team. Faculty Senate President Doug Fields said he submitted a list of faculty he wanted to be on the team as well as administrators he wanted off it. “We gave him a list of faculty that should be on it and administration that should not be on it, and he took some of the suggestions and didn’t take others,” Fields said. Fields would not say who was on the list. The first-ever team — known as the President’s Strategic Advisory Team — is supposed to help Schmidly cut costs and evaluate University processes through means separate from the traditional channels, like student and faculty governing bodies. President Schmidly was not available for an interview on Wednesday and late Thursday. However, the President’s Office put a tab on its
To make suggestions for the President’s Strategic Advisory Team, visit Unm.edu/president and click on “Strategic Priorities” Web site about the team with a diagram showing means of dialog with the UNM administration. Also, members of the UNM community are encouraged to give suggestions about University governance and cost containment on the Web site. The diagram on the site indicates that the advisory team is separate from the governing bodies. However, that didn’t stop GPSA President Lissa Knudsen and Staff Council President Elisha Allen from tossing their names in for consideration. Knudsen said the team Schmidly created does not consist of “loyal opposition.” “My big concern is that I don’t think he’s reaching out to the part of the community that has been feeling like they haven’t been heard,” Knudsen said. “If he had done that, I think that would’ve been a great way to bring those groups who have been
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ASUNM wants help funding publications Full Disclosure: Mario Trujillo is the editor-in-chief of Conceptions Southwest
by Mario Trujillo Daily Lobo
Dmitry Lovetsky / AP Photo Austria’s Martin Koch attempts a jump during a men’s large hill ski jumping training session at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Whistler, British Columbia on Thursday. The Olympics are broadcasted on the west wall in the SUB Atrium.
Legislature will need special session LEGISLATIVE SESSION
by Barry Massey and Susan Montoya Bryan The Associated Press
SANTA FE, N.M. — The New Mexico Legislature adjourned Thursday without a plan on how to finance public schools and state government in the coming year, marking the first time in 26 years that lawmakers finished a regular session without reaching a budget deal. Shortly after lawmakers wrapped up their 30-day session, Gov. Bill Richardson announced a special session to deal with the state
Inside the
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budget would open Wednesday. A special session will cost about $50,000 a day. “New Mexico taxpayers want a solution. They don’t want to wait,” said Richardson. “We don’t need another month or two of indecision. I think it’s important that we move as rapidly as we can.” Marc Saavedra, director of government relations at UNM, said the House and the Senate could have created a budget if they’d just had another day or so. “They ran out of time. I think they were close,” he said. “With a little bit more time, they should be able to bridge that between the governor, the Senate and the House.” Also, Saavedra said the House and Senate negotiated their
proposed tuition credit increases. He said, initially, the House wanted to increase the tuition credit by 6 percent for in-state students and 15 percent of out-of-state students. Now, the House cut its recommendation to 4 percent for both in- and out-of-state students. He said the Senate decided on the same plan except for a 5 percent increase for out-of-state students. As it stands, UNM main campus is looking at between a 2.6 percent and 2.9 percent cut, he said. However, the House and Senate could adjust these cuts and increases during the special session. House Speaker Ben Lujan, DSanta Fe, said the Senate and
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Written into the ASUNM government’s constitution is a clause that automatically allots 8.5 percent of its budget to Student Publications. The ASUNM Steering and Rules Committee passed a resolution asking for help to foot the bill. In a resolution that will go before the full ASUNM senate next Wednesday, the Graduate and Professional Student Association, the Faculty Senate and Staff Council are all asked to help out with funding. “With this resolution, I am taking this from kind of a student publication board perspective,” Sen. Alicia Barry said. “I was very alarmed to find the GPSA, the Faculty Senate and Staff Council do not contribute the way we do, and I would like to see their participation with that.” The ASUNM allocation for Student Publications is an estimated $57,212. Student Publications is an umbrella organization for the Daily Lobo, Conceptions Southwest and Best Student Essays. ASUNM is funded by the undergraduate student body. Every
Question of the week
Bad to the core
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full-time student gives $20 in student fees to it. Part-time students pay a fraction of that. ASUNM Sen. Sean Mallory said these organizations should support an outlet — the Daily Lobo — that they all use. “I think that over the last couple weeks, organizations have been pretty active in where their student fees are going,” Mallory said. “And it seems kind of unfair that the outlet they are using to attack our organization is something we fund entirely.” Yet, not all of the government budgets can fund Student Publications. Elisha Allen, president of the Staff Council, said that the council’s budget is miniscule. That takes into account one staff member, some supplies and a staff picnic. All the other members are volunteers. He said helping to fund Student Publications would entail a layoff. “We couldn’t fund a lot without killing our whole operation,” said Richard Wood, Faculty Senate president. The Faculty Senate budget is “pretty tiny,” Wood said. Vivian Valencia, University secretary, said the Faculty Senate’s budget is estimated at $55,122 for fiscal year of 2010.
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