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The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
April 2, 2010
UNM will approve budget at summit by Leah Valencia Daily Lobo
The UNM Board of Regents may give a new meaning to cutting classes at today’s budget summit. Administrators will meet with several UNM departments in SUB Ballroom C to discuss and approve a final budget for the 2011 fiscal year. Raymond Sanchez, president of the Board of Regents, said that though UNM is facing a 7.7 percent reduction in state funding, he is confident the University is braced to handle it. “It has been a rough year financially and otherwise,” he said. “But we have been preparing for this for a year and a half now.” Sanchez said the board will look at each department to determine where cuts can be made. “All the way up the chain, we will find out what everybody needs and where we can have some cost savings,” he said. “Last year, I think everybody agreed that we did the budget fairly.” Provost Suzanne Ortega submitted seven recommendations for consideration. If implemented, they could result in an estimated $5.3 million in savings. The recommendations include increasing class sizes, rotating the classes offered and an adherence to the minimum-class-size policy. This provision alone could save an estimated $792,000. Regents will also be looking at recommendations from the deans, administrators and the President’s Strategic Advisory Team. “Hopefully we can find something there so we can avoid any layoffs, furloughs, cuts or anything of that nature,” Sanchez said. The PSAT also made short-term recommendations that, if approved, could save an estimated $5.8 million. These recommendations include Gary Alderate/ Daily Lobo Senior Devin Most signs a thank you letter to UNM President David Schmidly in the SUB on Thursday. PIRG was circulating the letter after the administration rescinded its recommendation to cut the group and several others instead of raising student fees.
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Student fees look, once again, like they’re going to increase by $10.10 to a total of $456.91 next year in order to fund three organizations and a Queer Resource Center. The groups and center were set to losing funding after Cheo Torres, vice president of Student Affairs, asked the Board of Regents not to increase student fees, a suggestion that conflicted with the Student Fee Review Board’s recommendation of a $10.10 increase in February.
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Torres rescinded the recommendation in a memo addressed to Provost Suzanne Ortega on Thursday. President David Schmidly and Executive Vice President David Harris also signed the memo. The Board of Regents will make the final decision about whether to raise student fees at its budget summit today. Torres said he was against raising student fees because he thought it would be a University-wide practice to avoid fee increases in all UNM departments and programs. However, when he discovered that other groups like the libraries were asking for fee increases — and when
students barraged him with e-mails and phone calls — he decided to withdraw his recommendation. “I was under the impression that we were not going to have any new fees,” he said. “And also I’ve gotten a lot of student input — a lot of emails, a lot of calls — and I said, ‘I would like to revise my recommendations and honor the Student Fee Review Board.’” Torres said he received between 40 and 50 e-mails from students who supported the groups. GPSA President Lissa Knudsen, and chair of the SFRB, said in
see Fees page 2
negotiating Dell contract pricing, shifting printing from desktop printers to copier fleets and reducing the frequency of office cleaning. Most of the PSAT short-term recommendations would save money in the Instructional and General budget, which comes from the legislature, for years to come. University spokeswoman Susan McKinsey said in an e-mail that the severity of cuts to departments is determined by the amount of the tuition increase. “We will learn the level of tuition increase today,” she said. “Keeping in mind the N.M. Legislature has already approved a legislative tuition tax of 5 percent that will mean a $5 million impact on our students.” Regents will also consider about 24 amendments to UNM policies that the Student Fee Review Board submitted in March. ASUNM President Monika Roberts said the amendments try to give future SFRBs more options in how to use student fees. “Before, it was kind of restricted, and we wanted to make it more open,” she said. “Because we were limited in some of the reductions we may or may not have wanted to make.” The amendments included increase the amount by which the SFRB is allowed to cut an organization, as well as allowing the board to demote an organization — like Athletics or Student Health and Counseling — off recurring-funding status. Jake Wellman, an undergraduate member of the SFRB, said that as the policies stand, students have to pay
see Budget page 3
Follow us on Twitter as we tweet during the budget summit Twitter.com/DailyLobo
Regents weigh hike in student fees by Mario Trujillo and Pat Lohmann
UNM Budget Summit SUB Ballroom C Today 1 p.m.
Fine Tuning
Robert Maes / Daily Lobo Giorgio Giannini, also known as Trebol Clef, takes a break from playing the keyboard at his studio to pet Cloey. To see what kind of music he makes, check out the Multimedia page at DailyLobo.com.
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Today’s weather
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53° / 34°