UNM releases draft changes to affirmative action policies

The University of New Mexico released prospective changes to its affirmative action policies on Friday, March 28. The draft policies — which largely remove references to affirmative action — are available on the UNM Policy Office website for the campus community’s review and commentary through Friday, April 4.

Affirmative action at UNM seeks to promote race and gender diversity in employment by recruiting qualified women, minorities, people with disabilities and protected veterans, according to UNM Compliance, Ethics, & Equal Opportunity.

Typically, the public review and comment period for new policy drafts lasts 30 days. But a March 31 campus-wide email announcing the draft changes reads that the period was shortened “due to the compelling legal need to revise these policies.”

The Policy Office can respond to questions that people comment on each policy, according to UNM Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Cinnamon Blair. After April 4, the comments and responses will be compiled and sent to Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Teresa Costantinidis for endorsement, then President Garnett Stokes for approval. After that, the revised policies will be announced and issued on the Policy Office website, Blair said.

The University announced that it reviewed and would revise its gender-, race- and ethnicity-based employment policies on March 6. This followed the U.S. Education Department’s Feb. 14 memo to universities across the country, directing them to end race-based programs or risk losing federal funding.

UNM also released prospective changes to its security fee policy for on-campus speech events.

Draft Policy 2720: Equal Opportunity and Prohibited Discrimination (Interim)

University Administrative Policies - Policy 2720 outlines University equal opportunity and discrimination misconduct policies.

The prospective changes would remove “traditionally underrepresented groups, including women, racial/ethnic minorities (to include, Native Americans, Black/African Americans, Latinx/Hispanics, Asians, and Pacific Islanders)” from the list of groups that UNM aims to increase representation of through its affirmative action program. People with disabilities and veterans would remain on that list.

The changes would also remove the requirement for the University to create a written affirmative action plan that “measures whether women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are being employed at the expected rate.” Additionally, they would remove other University responsibilities regarding gathering and reporting affirmative action data.

The changes would mandate that departments take reasonable steps to ensure people who have a limited ability to read, write, speak or understand English have meaningful accommodations to access their programs and activities.

Draft Policy 3210: Recruitment and Hiring

UAP - Policy 3210 describes recruitment and hiring procedures, as well as employment restrictions.

The prospective changes would remove all mentions of and references to affirmative action within the policy.

One crossed-out section reads: “UNM is committed to meeting its affirmative action responsibilities in recruiting and retaining a highly qualified and diverse workforce.”

The draft policy still states that the University maintains a commitment to equal employment opportunity to all qualified people. It removes “participation of qualified candidates from diverse groups in applicant pools” as a primary objective of the University’s recruitment and hiring process.

Under the draft, policies for alternative appointment, which occurs when the University needs to fill a position without conducting a recruitment, would change. The draft removes a section stating that in these circumstances, a hiring official may fill a position with someone who is a member of a historically underrepresented group if another more qualified member of a protected group is unlikely to apply.

Draft Policy 2740: Sexual Harassment Including Sexual Misconduct (Interim)

UAP - Policy 2740 describes University procedures for sexual harassment and sexual misconduct.

The draft changes part of the title of the policy from “Sexual Assault” to “Sexual Misconduct,” though this swap does not appear anywhere else.

The draft policy also changes the name of the Compliance, Ethics & Equal Opportunity grievance procedure from “Discrimination Grievance Procedure” to just “Grievance Procedure.”

Everything else, including the University’s prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex — including gender, sex stereotyping, gender expression and gender identity — remains the same.

Draft Policy 2230: Major Events

UAP - Policy 2230 affirms UNM’s commitment to the protection of people and property and the preservation of human rights.

The policy aims to support chartered student organizations to host events on campus without regard to the perspectives that are expressed during the events, according to the draft.

The policy change follows a judge’s 2024 decision that mandated UNM to stop enforcing its security fee policy for on-campus speech events, in response to a lawsuit filed by the student chapter of conservative group Turning Point USA.

Funding for additional security measures at campus speech events would be UNM’s responsibility, and student organizations would not be charged for the extra security measures that UNM deems necessary to respond to protests or protect the community, according to the policy draft.

Lily Alexander is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at editorinchief@dailylobo.com or on X @llilyalexander

Nate Bernard is the news editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on X @natebernard14

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