DAILY LOBO
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wednesday
April 27, 2011
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Caldera still listed on UNM’s payroll Schmidly Law school has diverted former president’s salary for operational costs like guest lecturers, student travel by Shaun Griswold shaun24@unm.edu
Former UNM President Louis Caldera left the position almost five years ago, but his name still appears in the University salary book as a law school professor making $124,000 a year. Caldera has not received a penny from his listed salary since he has not instructed a course at the law school after leaving the University in 2006, said Kevin Washburn, UNM Law School dean. “We were receiving his salary, but we weren’t paying it to him,” he said. Instead, the law school used his salary to cover operational costs such as guest lecturers, fac-
ulty and student travel, and research positions. “They (UNM) don’t give us operational revenues to pay for the administration of the law school,” he said. “We would use any additional revenue that we have to run the school.” Since UNM allocates money to the law school based on the revenue it receives from faculty salaries, additional revenue often includes salaries from faculty who are on leave. “Salary lines fund the law school. When we have a professor on leave, we harvest their salary line,” Washburn said. “They are not getting paid; we get the money at the law school, so we use that money to help us pay for
other expenses that we really need to cover.” Caldera negotiated for a tenure home at the law school when he took his job as University president, according to UNM spokesman Benson Hendrix. Caldera has been on sabbatical since he resigned from the president’s office in January 2006. The Provost’s Office confirmed Caldera resigned from the faculty in December 2010. However, his position is still considered as part of the salary faculty line at the law school. As a result, his salary will be used to fund different functions at the law school next year, Washburn said. “We rely on certain people being gone,” he said. “Every year we
got two or three people who teach elsewhere or are on leave. If everybody who is technically on our faculty at the law school in one year were teaching and demanding a salary, we would go broke.” Caldera could not be reached for comment. The salary book, which is compiled by the payroll department, could also be using bad data, Washburn said. “It lists what his (Caldera’s) salary would be if he was teaching at the University,” he said. “But since he was on leave, he wasn’t drawing it. So, technically, it’s right.” Representatives from the payroll department declined to
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CALM AFTER THE STORM
The LaPorte Herald-Argus / AP Photo Blue skies appear following a strong storm, with heavy downpour and nickel-sized hail, that pushed through LaPorte, Ind., on Tuesday afternoon. The storm is seen heading northeast near the intersection of US Route 20 and Indiana Route 2.
to decide SFRB makeup by Hunter Riley hriley@unm.edu
A proposed Student Fee Review Board policy change has once again pitted the graduates against the undergraduates. The Student Fee Review Board has five undergraduate students and four graduate students who can vote on student fees, but that might change if UNM President David Schmidly accepts a recommendation to change the board to seven undergraduates and two graduates. GPSA president-elect Katie Richardson said this recommendation threatens to extinguish the SFRB’s graduate student voice. “Even as the board stands now, graduates need at least one undergrad to agree (to pass) any proposal that we make,” she said in an April 12 interview. The recommendation comes from a task force Schmidly put together last year. The task force, composed of UNM students and staff, was formed to evaluate and make recommendations on SFRB processes and policy 1310, the policy the board uses to make fee recommendations to the president. In order to form its recommendations, the task force met with UNM faculty, staff, student-feefunded organizations, current and past SFRB members, and undergraduate and graduate students. The task force suggested changing the number of student representatives on the board to nine members. It released a report in October 2010. The report said the task force recognizes that the change would diminish graduate presence on the board, but the change would be consistent with the ratio of
see SFRB page 3
Provost candidates No funds for UNM nonresidents seek public input by Kevin Forte kforte@unm.edu
by Shaun Griswold shaun24@unm.edu
The University announced three finalists for the interim provost position on Monday, continuing a month-long process to replace former provost Suzanne Ortega. The finalists — Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, Chaouki T. Abdallah and James W. Linnell — will interview this week to succeed Ortega. All three are employed at UNM. Each will be part of a public forum where faculty, staff and students can ask questions. Abdallah
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and Linnell will have their forums Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, at 9:30 a.m. in the SUB Theater. The interim provost will begin a two-year term July 1. Ortega, named the senior vice president of Academic Affairs at the University of North Carolina on April 11, takes over in North Carolina on July 1. She made $260,000 plus benefits at UNM. Lopez, a professor at the UNM School of Law, held her forum Tuesday. She said UNM needs to increase its graduation rates.
see Provost page 3
Nonresident students could face an almost 300 percent tuition increase if they take fewer than six credit hours. This semester, full-time, nonresident students are paying about $6,500 more than resident students, according spring 2011 figures from the Bursar’s Office. Nonresident students taking six hours or fewer are given a tuition waiver that allows them to pay resident rates. That will all change unless UNM decides to pay those waivers, said Curtis Porter, associate vice president of budget and analysis for Academic Affairs. He said the state previously paid for
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the waivers, which are offered to about 900 students, and cost the state more than $4 million the last two semesters. “Although no one has made a decision yet, it is pretty well agreed that UNM cannot afford to keep funding all of these waivers,” he said. “So now a policy has to be drafted that will outline who will be eligible for the waiver in the future.” Porter stressed that the administration has not yet made a final decision. He said obtaining residency takes about a year in New Mexico. The waiver cuts could discourage foreign exchange students from attending UNM and will impact the ones already here, said Linda Melville, associate director of the Office of International Programs and
Studies. “Everyone’s trying to figure out what exactly happened,” she said. “They’re also trying to figure out whether the University can cover that out-of-state tuition.” About 80 international students work in graduate programs, and Melville said she is worried about students who are working on their dissertations. She said those students are normally considered fulltime in order to maintain their Visa status but take fewer than six credit hours. “At this point, those dissertation hours are inexpensive because they’re under the six-credit-hour limit,” she said. “What’s not clear is
see Funds page 3
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