Daily Lobo 10/21/19

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D‘Union aily Lobo Yes’ new mexico

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Monday, O c tober 21, 2019 | Vo l u m e 1 2 4 | I s s u e 2 0

Faculty vote to form two collective bargaining units

By Justin Garcia & Makayla Grijalva @Just516garc @MakaylaEliboria

The University of New Mexico faculty voted in force for two collective bargaining units last week. Full-time faculty voted to form a union with 60% support in the election. According to the counters, there were 811 total votes cast — 500 of those voted "Yes" and 304 voted "No." Seven ballots were deemed ineligible due to extraneous marks. There were 43 ballots cast to challenge the vote, but the counters determined them insignificant in the final count. "I’m still calling it a tentative 'yes'," Jessamyn Lovell, a full-time professor in the College of Fine Arts, told the Daily Lobo. The results for the part-time collective bargaining unit were received before those for full-time

faculty, with 90% of the votes in favor of unionizing. "It’s fabulous," UNM statistics professor Billy Brown told the Daily Lobo after the vote. Brown, a union organizer, said the parttime union results were better than he expected. Out of the 288 votes cast in the election for the part-time union, 259 voted "Yes" and 26 voted "No." Three were invalidated due to extraneous marks. 32 votes challenged the parttime union election — however, counters determined these are "not determinative of anything." The vote counters were made up of a member of the University, United Academics of UNM (UAUNM), and two neutral arbitrators. Nearly two dozen community members — many donning UAUNM t-shirts and other swag — were in the room while the votes were being tallied. Lovell said she is expecting the University to challenge to vote in some way. However, she and the organizers had plans for the next week.

Justin Garcia / @Just516garc / Daily Lobo

UA-UNM organizers posing for a ‘team picture’ after learning that the UNM faculty voted in favor of forming two collective bargaining units on Friday, Oct. 18, 2019.

"We’re all taking a break next week," Lovell said. "I’m personally going out of town with my husband and my child." Lovell added that they plan on having an organizing meeting in the coming weeks. "UNM’s faculty are one faculty, even as they are a varied group of singular scholars and intellectual entrepreneurs," said Provost and EVP of Academic Affairs James Holloway, according to UNM Chief of Staff and spokeswoman Cinnamon Blair. "The debate over faculty unionization has been vigorous

and intellectually robust. Such exchanges of ideas and clashes of values are core to the special environment that a research university must create. Ideas can be launched here, challenged here and made better here." Holloway added, "The faculty decisions on unionization speak their will, and I look forward, in partnership with our faculty and the rest of the Lobo community, to helping move UNM forward as a great research university." Provost Holloway, who over-

sees the faculty, had previously voiced opposition to the formation of a union. Justin Garcia is the Editor-in-chief of the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at editorinchief@dailylobo.com or Twitter @Just516garc Makayla Grijalva is the managing editor at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at managingeditor@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @MakaylaEliboria

LULAC: Hispanics at UNM underrepresented UNMH neurosurgery residency program canceled By Alex Hiett @Nmal1123

By Lissa Knudsen & Megan Holmen @lissaknudsen @megan_holmen

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story ran on the Daily Lobo’s website. That story was taken down and rewritten for clarity. The University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) neurosurgical residency training program has been canceled due to a lack of mentorship for the residents, according to Executive Vice President and Chancellor for UNM Health Sciences Paul Roth. Residents are physicians who have finished medical school and are receiving training in a specialized area, such as neurosurgery. They practice medicine under the supervision of a senior physician registered in their specialty. The UNMH accreditation period officially ends in the summer of 2020. However, six of the eight neurosurgery residents have already left for other hospitals because they’re scheduled to finish their seven-year program after the accreditation period ends. Only two will remain at UNMH, as they will be able to finish their program before summer 2020. A UNMH employee in the department of neurosurgery said the department received notification that they lost their accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in August. The employee

requested anonymity citing concerns of retaliation because UNMH employees are required to sign an agreement stating that they will not talk to the media. “Residents are being forced to leave. The University (UNM, not the hospital) is bound to pay their salary until they graduate — the other schools (that they transfer to will) get free help,” the neurosurgery employee said. Roth, who also serves as the dean of the School of Medicine, held a town hall in September where he addressed how UNMH reached this point. He said the neurosurgical residency program lost accreditation in part because of “the way in which the residents were being treated — there was inadequate supervision and there was very poor mentoring going on.” A letter from the ACGME Office of Complaints, dated August of 2018, said the program was notified about multiple potential ACGME requirement violations a year before the accreditation was pulled. A “diminishing caseload resulting in a decline in operative experience” was one of the seven allegations listed in the ACGME letter. The letter alleged that residents were “consistently taken out of the operating room to perform basic service-related tasks that are typically performed by nurse practitioners and physician assistants,” wrote Keisha Billups, the ACGME Office of Complaints

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UNMH page 2

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The League of Latin American Citizens (LULAC) adopted a resolution calling for local, state and federal entities to investigate UNM for violating New Mexico state law and previous agreements with the Hispanic community and the U.S. Department of Justice. The resolution, which was adopted over the summer, came as a response four days after University of New Mexico President Garnett Stokes selected Dr. Assata Zerai for the position of Vice President for Equity and Inclusion. President Stokes selected Dr. Zerai on June 4, filling the position that Lawrence Roybal had been serving in on an interim basis for two years. Roybal has been a member of the UNM community for over 40 years — first as a student and then later professionally. He had broad approval within the University during his tenure. While he served as the Interim Vice President of Equity and Inclusion, UNM ranked 11th in the nation as an LGBTQ-friendly institution. He currently serves as the statewide executive director of ENLACE (Engaging Latino Communities for Education). "(Roybal) always made an effort to get to know my students and learn what they were doing. He always made an effort to be present, to get to know what it is we do and who we are as a community," said Alejandro Mendiaz Rivera, a student programs specialist at El Centro de la Raza, who has known Roybal since he was an undergraduate

at UNM. "I don’t think that was specific to our students here at El Centro. I think it’s just who he is." Mendiaz continued. "He’s always been very accessible and very willing to help and contribute." LULAC’s resolution alleges that "community leaders were ignored, disrespected and excluded as part of a critical search for leadership to advance diversity, equity and inclusion" and that "(President Stokes) has reneged on her commitment of including LULAC, the Hispano Roundtable of New Mexico, Mexican American Women’s National Association (MANA) and many other community organizations in the search committee for the Vice President for the Division of Equity and Inclusion (at UNM)." The resolution also alleges that hiring practices for different administrative positions were inconsistent across the University. Cinnamon Blair, chief marketing and communications officer for the Office of the President, said her office is aware of the resolution and has met with Hispanic community leaders to discuss the issues raised. She also stated that UNM adheres to state law, federal law and University policy applicable to hiring practices, including recent executive searches. "We’ve given (President Stokes) a lot of opportunities to work with us," said Ralph Arellanes, executive director of New Mexico LULAC and chairman of the Hispano Roundtable of New Mexico. "I think that UNM’s relationship with the Hispanic community and the community as a whole is at an alltime low today."

Arellanes has served on UNM search committees and was interviewed for a position on the Board of Regents. He also accused Richard Wood — the former interim provost who was also appointed by Stokes — of silencing Hispanic voices when the requirements for the position of Vice President of Equity and Inclusion were being considered. "He called me and said, 'the meeting’s at 2 o’clock.' I said, 'okay, I’ll be there at 2 o’clock' — myself and Irma Ruiz, the chairwoman of the Hispanic Heritage Committee. So, we walk in, the room’s already full, they had already met at 1 o’clock and voted to retain the tenured faculty requirements," Arellanes said. He described the meeting as devolving into a shouting match between himself and several faculty members. "At the end, Irma Ruiz said, 'I’ve never been invited to the University of New Mexico and I never want to come back again, because the people were so rude," Arellanes said. Arellanes believes the tenured faculty requirement was added to the requirements for VP of Equity and Inclusion specifically to exclude Dr. Roybal from the position. "(President Stokes) has not addressed our concerns that we laid out in the proclamation," Arellanes said. "We’re still waiting for an implementation plan about how they (the University) are going to meet the goals and objectives of the Hispanic Statement of Cooperation agreement."

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LULAC page 2

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Daily Lobo 10/21/19 by UNM Student Publications - Issuu