ASUNM senators exchanged suggestions and questions with two new members of the UNM Board of Regents concerning topics such as the presidential search, tuition increases and faculty and staff salary increases.
Newly appointed Regs. James Koch and Donald Salazar were guest speakers at the Associated Students of UNM meeting, Wednesday, and took the opportunity to acclimate themselves with the senators’ concerns.
One of the biggest issues senators addressed was a possible tuition increase.
Koch said that undergraduate tuition increases are contingent upon how much state funding the University receives. He said UNM has asked for a $15 million increase in funding and the number he has heard that the State Legislature is willing to give is between $8 and 9 million. Included in that figure would be a mandatory percentage to fund faculty and staff salary raises.
“The legislature will ask the University to fund part of the increase for faculty salaries,” Koch said. He explained that UNM is responsible for a portion of any increases in faculty and staff increases. “That is a way, really, for the legislature to pass the responsibility to the regents.”
Sen. Lorenzo Garcia asked Koch and Salazar whether being a New Mexican would play a factor in the presidential choice.
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“One of my concerns is picking a president that is New Mexican or local, someone who knows the issues,” Garcia said.
Koch and Salazar are not members of the Presidential Search Committee and said they did not know whether that would factor into the committees decision.
Several senators felt that whoever the next president is, that person needs to be more involved and visible in the UNM community.
Salazar agreed, saying that the new president should be accessible to students.
He also urged senators to be active and asked them to use ASUNM President Jennifer Onuska, a student-adviser to the regents, as a channel for students’ needs. He added that the regents will hold a town-hall meeting to keep themselves informed about campus issues.
Koch also said that the senators should take an initiative and contact state officials about student concerns.
“You all are elected University senators,” he said. “You need to be active and make your voice known.”
ASUNM Vice President Heather Gabel thanked Koch and Salazar and invited them, as well as the other members of the board, to visit future meetings.
“This is the first time in my four years with the senate that a regent, besides the student regent, has come to a meeting,” she said.
