DAILY LOBO new mexico
Succeeding at Seceding?
thursday
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November 15, 2012
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
Layoffs cut safety positions
Undergrad senate election ends
Internal auditors called for slash to risk-department budget by Antonio Sanchez news@dailylobo.com
Six people in the Department of Safety and Risk Services have been laid off following an audit performed earlier this year. The University’s ongoing Safety and Risk Services (SRS) audit has led to six safety positions being cut from the department because the audit required UNM to have more departmental fiscal responsibility. The “Safety and Risk Services Audit of Operations and Compliance,” an audit begun by the University in 2011, called for a complete staff evaluation in the department, which is in charge of ensuring UNM facilities meet safety standards. SRS Interim Director Carla Domenici said the recent layoffs in the SRS department were part of the audit’s goal to balance its budget. “During the course of the year, we started really reviewing positions and that everybody was really working in their area, that they were really engaged and to make sure there wasn’t a duplication of effort,” Domenici said. “Because there is a lot to do in the area of safety but you want to make sure you have the right people in the right place and the right positions — those positions were (unnecessary) and that was the reason for those layoffs.” Domenici said the University created a committee to evaluate each position within the department in terms of its importance to furthering the department’s goals. The committee then chose which positions to cut accordingly. The department’s layoffs occurred between March and August of this year. Domenici said the layoffs within the department won’t hurt the safety and security of faculty, staff and students. “A layoff, when you really look at it, you have to look at it really carefully,” she said. “You don’t make these decisions overnight. At SRS we have a management team — with every decision, we talk about small things, but with something of this magnitude, we really looked to see whether we should do this and how we should do this and how it would affect UNM.” Domenici said that while the number of employees in the department has decreased, the SRS has strengthened its approach to campus safety. Despite the audit, she said the department is focusing on monthly laboratory safety inspections, along with an effort to educate all students about laboratory safety. “I can tell you that we are safer today than we have been in a while,” she said. “We’re involving faculty and we’re involving students, and what we’re looking at is making training available online for everyone.”
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 117
issue 62
Adria Malcolm / @AdriaMalcolm / Daily Lobo Senator-elect Rachel Williams receives a hug from a fellow Senate member while Jillian Martinez ,right, and Ana Frias, left, wait to congratulate her. Williams said the elections results were a surprise because she received 525 votes, the second highest of any candidate.
Nine slate candidates and one independent elected by Ardee Napolitano news@dailylobo.com
The ASUNM Senate welcomed six new members Wednesday night. The RISE slate, the only slate to run this semester, dominated the race. Nine out of RISE’s 10 candidates won a seat. RISE slate member Grace Liu received first place with 539 votes. Liu said that, because this was her first time running for the ASUNM Senate, she did not expect to win. “This is a complete shock,” she said. “I’m not expecting anything like this. This is crazy.” Liu said she was satisfied about the election’s results but it was unfortunate that one of the RISE candidates, Joe Stevens, lost. Incumbent Stevens came in 11th place and received 364 votes. Liu said she wants to improve UNM’s website and that she’s been working on this project
No. of Votes
since last semester. “I’ve been working … with the dean of students and we’ve been getting some ideas together,” she said. “But now it’s time to push it.” RISE slate member Rachel Williams won second place with 525 votes. She said that, because she was not qualified to run last semester, the victory was a surprise and that she’s excited to work on campus projects. “Senate just means the world to me, and I really want to help this University,” she said. “This University is my whole heart.” RISE slate member Malika Ladha said she congratulates all candidates for their hard work but she was disappointed because she expected that all RISE members would win. “We were able to get nine people from our slate elected,” she said. “It’s a really weird feeling actually.” Ladha said she will continue to fight New Mexico’s tuition credit in the Legislature. She said she will also work to improve the quality of academics at UNM. “We have the tuition credit frozen, but it’s still there,” she said. “We have a lot of input,
ELECTED Candidate No. of Votes
Candidate
539 Grace Liu 484 Holly Marquez 525 Rachel Williams 480 Earl W. Shank 500 Taylor Bui 463 Colt Balok (I) 495 Tyler Crawley 420 Brandon Meyers 491 Malika Ladha 386 Wesley Martinez Original weaves
All the world is a stage
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but we need to know how we’re going to go and what our next step is.” Colt Balok, a first-time senate candidate, was the only independent candidate out of the three who ran to win a seat. Bolok said running independently gave him an edge in the race because he was able to prove his courage and ambition as a candidate and that during his term, he wants to focus on parking and transportation issues at UNM. “I really want this to show to people that anyone who wants to make an impact on campus … can do it,” he said. “If you want to make an impact, go out there and make the change.” Independent candidate Spenser Owens, who received 279 votes and came in 12th place, said his loss was nobody’s fault but his. He said it was the second time he lost in an ASUNM Senate election, but that he plans to run again next semester. “I didn’t work as hard as the other candidates did, and the results reflected that,” he said. “If you didn’t win, keep on trying … I’ll never give up.”
NOT ELECTED No. of Votes
364 279 256
Candidate
Joe Stevens (I) Spenser Owens Adrian Avila (I) (I)-Independent
TODAY
62 | 32