DAILY LOBO new mexico
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wednesday
January 27, 2010
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Committee: UNM, NMSU funds need evaluation by Andrew Beale and Pat Lohmann Daily Lobo
The New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee is putting New Mexico’s largest universities under the magnifying glass. The LFC’s office of program evaluation is assessing the efficiency of UNM’s and NMSU’s expenditures, outcomes and governance, and the evaluation should be completed by early summer. The Regents Audit Committee announced the assessment at their Jan.
22 meeting. Charles Sallee, program evaluation manager, said 15 or 16 percent of state money goes to higher education in New Mexico, so the LFC wants to make sure it’s being used well. “We typically go where the money is,” he said. “Higher education has been on our work plan for the past year, and we’re just now ready to get to it. So, we’re starting an evaluation of the two largest universities that make up the bulk of higher education funding.” Sallee said, eventually, all of New Mexico’s institutes of higher learning
LaPo’s ‘green’ dishwasher generates paper waste
will be evaluated. He said this is the first time the LFC has evaluated the schools themselves. “It wasn’t anything specific that prompted the evaluation. There wasn’t anything that the two institutions did,” he said. “Every year we do kind of a scan of state government to see where our resources are going, where have we done evaluations in the past — kind of a risk assessment — and we hadn’t done this kind of evaluation in higher education and it was time to do it.” Regent Gene Gallegos, chair of the Audit Committee, said he’s
concerned about the LFC’s ability to measure a university’s ability of “governance,” which is one of the three key areas under scrutiny. “That’s a very broad subject. How do you put a tape measure up to that?” he said. “When I saw that on the letter (announcing the assessment), I said, ‘You’ve really bitten off something. Let’s see if you can chew it.’ … That’s going to be sort of like judging ice skating or something.” The other two areas are spending and outcomes, according to the letter sent to the Regents Audit Committee announcing the assessment by LFC
director of program evaluation David Abbey. Salle said the LFC program evaluation team has a systematic method of measuring governance, no matter how abstract it may seem. “We’ll look at governance in terms of both the Regents and the administration,” he said. “So, we’ll look at things like strategic planning, budget development, coordination with other institutions and relationships with various adjunct organizations like (non-profit organizations) and
see Evaluation page 3
Up in the air
by Shaun Griswold Daily Lobo
An illegal dishwasher at La Posada forced residents to eat their food on disposable plates, cups and plastic utensils. The dishwasher has remained in that status since the semester started. “We were waiting on approval from the inspector to make sure the chemicals we are using in our new dishwasher were safe,” said Susan Dorry, manager for La Posada. The dishwasher was installed over the break and was ready to be used on the first day of classes, but the delayed inspection forced the dining hall to use disposable plates and utensils for a week. Almost 4,500 patrons ate at La Posada with disposable wear during the delay, Dorry said. “I had to order four cases containing 500 paper plates each, so over 2,000 additional plates were needed,” Dorry said. “We didn’t have to order plastic utensils or cups because we used some from our current take-out program.” The absence of a mechanical dishwasher forced La Posada patrons to throw away all their dishes. Dorry said, the new dishwasher will save tons of gallons of water and decrease the University’s water bill. “We cannot make actual estimations until we’ve been using the device for over a month, but compare our water usage after this February to February of last year (and) you’ll see a significant decline,” she said. Dorry said the new dishwasher uses roughly half the amount of water as the previous installation, which she attributed to the rinsing process. The new machine uses twice the amount of chemicals as the old model. La Posada’s recent efforts to create a sustainable dining hall include
see Waste page 3
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 114
issue 85
Anubis Rahlee performs an overhead kick flip in Smith Plaza on Monday. Rahlee said his acrobatic soccer move is all about “rhythm.”
Zach Gould / Daily Lobo
Peace prize open for nominations to UNM community by Rita Jo Gutierrez Daily Lobo
UNM community members who feel they’ve made the world a more peaceful place should consider nominating themselves for the Paul Ré Peace Prize. Candidates must be UNM students, faculty, staff members or retirees, and their work should promote or demonstrate their commitment to
inner and global serenity, Ré said. “Peace is just a kind of health … a mental and emotional and spiritual health. We’re talking about the promotion of harmony in the world,” Ré said. “My peace prize is a very diverse, wide spectrum. All persons in all disciplines are eligible for it. I think it’s only when everyone contributes in some way that we can have peace.” Ré said he created the prize in 2008 to assist others who work to promote tranquility throughout the world in
Paul Ré Peace Prize Paulre.org Nomination deadline March 31 their own field or area of study. Ré, a local artist and peace advocate, said he’s dedicated his life to encouraging a peaceful lifestyle for all. Nomination forms can be found on Ré’s Web site and should be sent to prize administrator Belinda Jentzen, the development officer in the College
of Fine Arts. A short essay describing the candidate’s qualifications, a resume and a letter of recommendation must also be submitted. Other supporting material, such as articles, poetry or photographs may also be included. Nominations are accepted until March 31. Recipients can be awarded up to
see Nominations page 3
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