DAILY LOBO new mexico
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tuesday The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
December 8, 2009
UNM Press to cut back by Andrew Beale Daily Lobo
Amie Zimmer / Daily Lobo Sophomore Tyler Mound, left, senior Simon Walker, center, and freshman Adeline Murthy read an ornament on the Giving Tree in the SUB atrium. Each ornament describes a gift requested for a child or family in need. UNM community members can purchase the gifts and drop them off in the ASUNM office by Dec. 14.
Students use Giving Tree to help community by Tricia Remark Daily Lobo
Students in ASUNM Community Experience are helping bring holiday cheer to Albuquerque charities. In the middle of the SUB Atrium, ASUNM CE has put up the Giving Tree — a large holiday tree decorated with requests for presents from children and families, said Hallee Kells, Community Experience events director. The Giving Tree has been in the SUB since Nov. 30 and will be there until Dec. 14 at 5 p.m. The event has been a UNM tradition at least since 2003. “Since it is a tradition, people start to notice the tree more every year,” Kells said. “We don’t know who is picking up the ornaments, but we seem to get them all back from a wide range of people.” Kells said ornaments on the tree list the gender, age, initials of the charity, as well as what items the family or child needs. After UNM community members buy the gifts, they are instructed to bring them to the ASUNM office, Room 1016, by Dec. 14. Kells said CE doesn’t expose the names of people or charities that receive the gifts for privacy reasons. “Some of the charities are battered women’s shelters, so we don’t want to expose anything about them,” she said. Jenny Shroba, the CE executive director, said the UNM community is still supporting the Giving Tree despite the tough economy. She said about 30 ornaments are left from the more than 300 ornaments placed on the tree initially. “Even when times are hard, I think it brings people together,” she said. “Who knows, maybe in our own lifetime there will be a time when we need help. I think if you have the means to do it, you should
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“I think it’s very important that we share with others and take care of our neighbors and community members. Simple things like kitchen towels or deodorant — someone shouldn’t go without those.” ~Lucia Cook UNM student help. The Giving Tree definitely reinforces that.” Kells said some common items requested are toiletries, kitchen supplies and toys. Most of the ornaments ask for items under $20. “Children get really specific sometimes. They’ll say, ‘I want a Spiderman action figure,’ or ‘Barbie’ or ‘toy cars,’” she said. “Sometimes the organizations won’t have specific people, but they’ll know of people that are usually at their centers around the holidays. They’ll guesstimate that they may need bedding or something like that.” Kells said CE — which has at least four members — make the ornaments from the wish lists provided by local charities. “I really like to see students doing this because it’s a simple way to contribute to the community,” Kells said. “You don’t know how much of an impact you’re making by just buying one gift.” UNM student Lucia Cook said this is
the second year she’s participated in the Giving Tree event. She picked up three ornaments this year that asked for items such as shaving cream, razors, deodorant and a manicure set. “I think it’s very important that we share with others and take care of our neighbors and community members,” Cook said. “Simple things like kitchen towels or deodorant — someone shouldn’t go without those.” Kells said there are still ways to participate in the Giving Tree if students can’t afford to buy gifts. “I think it would be appropriate to maybe write a card — you could look at the ornament and find someone your age or a child,” she said. “Something as simple as that would be great. Just keeping them in mind somehow or mentioning it to other people is good, too.” Shroba said participants can take as many ornaments as they want, and can get more items than the ornament requests. She said the Giving Tree is a simple way to give back to the community. “I think that you should give to those who don’t have the means to help themselves,” she said. “We’re all very fortunate — we might be struggling through college to make enough for tuition and books, but not being able to have a toy for your child — that’s a little different level. The holiday season brings a time of giving, and the Giving Tree is my favorite event because of that.”
The Giving Tree SUB Atrium Through Dec. 14, 5 p.m.
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The Provost’s Office will not outsource the UNM Press warehouse operation, but several employees still aren’t confident that their jobs are safe. Joyce Perz, who works in Accounts Receivable at UNM Press, said a memo sent by the Provost’s Office contains language that makes her question the future of UNM Press’s warehouse department. She said the Provost’s Office has called for “substantive changes” in the operation of the warehouse department. “Now, what would the changes be?” she said. “The only thing we could do would be cut people.” The Provost’s Office reviewed four proposals, requested last March, from companies that offered bids on the warehouse contract. If one of the proposals had been accepted, all the jobs at the UNM Press warehouse would have been outsourced and the Albuquerque employees laid off. Provost Wynn Goering sent a memo to the UNM Press staff on Nov. 18, stating that none of the bids were accepted and that the warehouse operation will stay in New Mexico for now. “One element common to all the bids was a charge of approximately $100,000 for ‘excess inventory,’” Goering said in the memo. “Without that penalty each would have resulted in substantial cost savings over our current operations.” The excess inventory charge came from books that UNM Press does not expect to sell immediately. UNM Press Director Luther Wilson said there was nothing in Goering’s memo to indicate that there will be a reduction in the number of staff at the warehouse, or that outsourcing is still a possibility. “I don’t know how they interpret this stuff. They interpreted the fact that going up for bid is a fait accompli,” he said. “That is not the case.” Perz said she interpreted the memo to mean that, if the warehouse could reduce excess inventory, the Provost’s Office would reconsider outsourcing the operation. “There was only one facet of the proposal that pushed the cost of outsourcing significantly over keeping it here,” she said. “So if we were to reduce our inventory, substantial cost savings could be realized (by outsourcing the warehouse operations) … If just cutting the inventory would make these enormous cost differences, why wouldn’t they do it?” Richard Schuetz, associate director for business operations, said he is glad the warehouse was not outsourced, according to a press release from UNM Press. He said the Request for Proposals showed that the warehouse is cost-efficient compared to other bidders. “We’re obviously pleased with the outcome,” Schuetz said in the press release. “We plan to use information from the RFP process to improve our operations, but we were particularly encouraged by how well we compared with the bidders in terms of the quality of our service.” Wilson said the Provost’s Office plans to review the efficiency of the UNM Press warehouse in two years but did not specify changes to be made. “The Provost did say that: ‘We’re going to give you a two-year period to see if you can realize the kind of (changes) that one or two of the bidders indicated in their bid process, on our own,’” he said. “Our associate director is working on that.” Wilson said UNM Press has performed well over the last five months, contrary to general economic trends in publishing. He said the Press is trying to reduce its excess inventory, but that will not affect the future of the Press. Wilson said the Press is working to bring costs down, because the economic climate is not favorable for discretionary spending, such as buying books. “We’re vulnerable to those economic forces in a way that a lot aren’t,” he said.
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