Regent Jamie Koch was reappointed to a six-year term to the Board of Regents by the New Mexico state Senate by a vote of 31-5.
Students, staff and faculty drove to Santa Fe to speak for and against Koch’s reappointment. Koch said his margin of victory speaks for itself.
“I knew I was going to be in good shape, because the presentation I made was on accountability and that’s what the legislators wanted to hear,” he said. “It’s very humbling to get that kind of vote with the kinds of e-mails and phone calls and all of the blasting.”
Koch said his reappointment should send a message to faculty members who are still reeling after their no-confidence vote last February.
“I would hope that we can all sit down together now and talk to move this University on and get away with all this negativism,” he said. “We’ve got to get away from all this vote of no confidence and this all this other stuff, because all that does is make the outside community not to happy with us.”
Faculty Senate President Doug Fields said around 15 faculty members attended the confirmation hearing. Fields said he spoke out against Koch’s confirmation to another term on the Board of Regents, because Koch hasn’t addressed faculty concerns since their no-confidence vote.
“My individual concerns were that we had voted no confidence and nothing has changed really to improve our confidence in him,” he said.
Fields said the faculty’s efforts toward administrative accountability did not undermine the mission of the University.
“The faculty is always doing everything it can to help the University, and we will continue to do that regardless of who is in power,” he said.
Regent President Raymond Sanchez said the reappointment of Koch — as well as Regent Gene Gallegos and Student Regent Emily “Cate” Wisdom by similar margins — will serve as a turning point in tough economic times.
“I’m certainly looking forward to moving forward instead of … backward at this juncture and am hoping to start a dialogue that is meaningful and will re-establish trust and hope among all of us,” he said.
Senators who voted against Koch included Dede Feldman, Cisco McSorley, Eric Griego, Jerry Ortiz Y Pino and Stephen H. Fischmann. Griego, who also voted against Gallegos’ reappointment, is sponsoring a resolution encouraging the Regents to cut UNM administrative salaries.
Sanchez said President Schmidly is evaluating administrative salaries.
“I know that President Schmidly has been asked — in fact, directed — to begin review of administrative salaries and to look at the positions that people hold. He has assured me personally that he will look at doing that. … All of the three Regents today expressed concern and all three of them agreed that we need to be more vigilant in how we allow the president to set up an administrative team.”
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Koch said he’s not upset with faculty or staff members who questioned his reappointment, but he’s concerned about the graduate student governing body.
“I have no resentment. I’m not upset with any faculty, staff,” he said. “I am concerned about our graduate students. I am concerned that they’ve gotten too political. They’re not talking about day care centers for graduates, housing for graduates. They’re more interested in getting into political-type things.”
Sanchez said transparency is crucial when dealing with high-tension issues at UNM, especially during the financial crisis.
“Everybody’s got to give everybody else a little space, a little breathing room, so that we can be able to determine if in fact what each side is saying is accurate, because there’s a lot of figures thrown out,” he said. “All of that has got to be explained with clarity and in an open fashion and I look forward to leading the Regents in that regard and working as closely as I can with faculty, staff, students and everybody on campus.”
