by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
Newly-painted walls were one of the only improvements made to biology labs in Castetter Hall since they were built in 1952.
UNM wants to increase student fees $56 per year for five years to update and construct modern educational facilities.
However, Brittany Jaeger, ASUNM president, questioned whether such a decision should be made during the summer.
"I question that it's being brought up in the middle of summer," Jaeger said. "It worries me because I want to be the voice of the student population, and right now there are no students on campus."
The UNM Regents voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve the basic parameters of the $135 million bond issue.
Money from student fees will be used to pay for $73 million of the bond issue.
Just the beginning
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Before the bond sale is made it must be approved by the New Mexico Higher Education Department and the New Mexico Board of Finance sometime this summer, said Andrew Cullen, associate vice president of fiscal planning, policy & analysis.
Cullen said UNM's administration wants to issue the bonds soon to benefit from low interest rates, and because the University is already going to issue bonds in August.
Kevin Stevenson, assistant to UNM President Louis Caldera said it would cost at least $400,000 to wait until the fall semester to issue the bonds, because it costs money to go into the bond market. He said it could cost even more depending on fluctuations in the bond market interest rates.
Stevenson said it is necessary to pay for renovation using student fees because UNM got much less money than it expected from the state during the last legislative session.
Jaeger said the extra money could be worth it since it is a small percentage of the money students might be paying.
"We're already paying seventy-three million dollars," Jaeger said. "I think people would wait a little bit longer to find out what students think."
Student Corey Everett said he had not heard of the bond issue, but thought it would benefit students.
"Some of these buildings are really old," Everett said. "I think if they felt newer you'd be more likely to go."
Everett said it does not bother him that many students are gone while the decision is being made.
Kathy Cantrell, the interim director of the Higher Education Department, said members of her department will carefully examine the bond issue before approving it. She said they will consider how reliant UNM is on student fees, and how much influence students had in the decision.
"We will look very seriously at how much input students have," she said.
Five students attended a public forum about the bond issue on June 10 but all of them were affiliated with ASUNM or GPSA. Jaeger said it is difficult to make the entire student body aware of events on such short notice, especially during the summer.
No dissent from students
About 15 students were at the Finance and Facilities meeting on June 13. All who spoke were associated with student government, or were students from the departments that will be receiving the upgrades. Many of them were brought by professors to speak about how badly the buildings needed renovation or replacement.
A similar number of students also attended the full Board of Regent's meeting on Tuesday, but none of them spoke any objections to the bond issue.
Regent president Jamie Koch said he was pleased with the student turnout, and had no problem moving forward with the bond issue during summer since there was no dissent from students.
The bond sale will not be made until the beginning of August, and Cullen said he welcomes all student input between now and then.
'Critical renovations'
Although the fee increase only pays for approximately $73 million of building and renovation, the rest is paid for by past fee increases and existing funds. Some places the money will go include $25 million for the construction of the Centennial Engineering Center, $16 million for a science and mathematics learning center, $4 to $7 million for renovations to Castetter Hall and $4 million for renovations to the Communication & Journalism building.
Cullen said those buildings have been the University's top three priorities for capital improvement for several years.
Although many of the projects would not be funded entirely by student fees, Stevenson said the money would result in improvement on every project within three years after the bonds are issued. He said UNM is required by the state to spend the money within three years of issuing the bonds.
John Oetzel, department chair of the Communication & Journalism Department, said the renovations are critical, and may help the department get its accreditation back. There are roughly 12,000 square feet in the basement of the Communication & Journalism building that are used for storage but could be renovated into high-tech classrooms and offices using the $4 million from the bond issue, he said. Some of the basement is locked up because it contains asbestos.
Oetzel said infrastructure of the building has not been updated since it was built in 1948.
The situation is similar, and more cramped, in Castetter Hall, where freshmen biology labs are taught.
Cara Lea Council-Garcia, who organizes those labs, said there will be about 70 labs in four classrooms by the end of next year. The small, outdated classrooms cause not only discomfort for the students and teachers, but are also unsafe for chemistry experiments, she said.
Footing the bill
Although most of the proposed improvements are for educational facilities, Jaeger was concerned about some of the buildings that will receive money from the bond issue. For example, the Health Sciences Center will receive $7.5 million to help fund the building of the Cancer Research and Treatment Center.
Jaeger said students should not have to foot the bill for something that a small percentage of students will use and all of New Mexico will benefit from.
Cullen said it is reasonable to finance such facilities with students fees because they fit with UNM's mission to serve, and many students who graduate from UNM may end up working in the cancer research center.
The bonds will be at a fixed rate of interest, with a maximum annual interest of 5.5 percent. Stevenson said the interest rate, which would be fixed when the bonds are sold in August, would probably be about 4.6 percent.
Cullen said using student fees to finance large-scale construction on campus could become common practice.
"I can't tell you that a similar plan's not going to happen in four or five years," Cullen said.
Notes from the June regents meeting
* At Tuesday's meeting, the regents approved bonuses and salary increases for six UNM administrators:
-David Harris, executive vice president for administration, received a base salary increase of 3.25 percent to $211,663. He was also awarded a 20 percent bonus or $41,000.
-Michael Carroll, vice president for advancement, received a base salary increase of 3.25 percent, from $165,000 to $206,500 with an additional bonus of $10,000.
-Eliseo Torres, vice president of student affairs received a base salary increase of 3.25 percent making his salary $132,839 with an additional bonus of $15,439.
-Terry Yates, vice president for research and economic development, received a base salary increase of 3.25 percent bringing his salary to $185,850 with an additional incentive bonus of $18,000.
-Rudy Davalos, director of athletics, got a base salary increase of 3.75 percent making it $152, 948. He will receive an additional bonus of $25,000 contingent on the performance of the men's and women's basketball teams.
-Robert Bienstock, deputy university counsel received a 3.75 percent salary increase of 3.25 percent bringing his salary to $163,830.
* The regents also approved a measure to allow up to 20 percent base salary increase based on performance and productivity of individual executive administrators, regardless of the University's achievements over a one year time period.
* UNM regents approved a $1.572 billion budget for next year, which is a 5.9 percent increase from the 2004-05 budget. From the approved budget, 35.5 percent will go to main campus, 26.6 percent will go to the Health Sciences Center, 25.7 percent will go to UNM Hospital, 9.7 percent goes to Physical Plant funds and 2.4 percent will go to branch campuses.
* The regents also approved a graduate certificate program for Women's Studies. It is the only one in New Mexico.
