UNM leaders are not Lobos
IS EVERYONE a Lobo? Despite attending UNM as both an undergraduate and while working toward my master’s degree, I do not feel like one after (President) Dr. Garnett Stokes, (Athletic Director) Eddie Nuñez and the Board of Regents cut some of our most dedicated sports teams.
Our administration should not punish students for said administration’s gross negligence. Make no mistake, this is not a crisis that happened overnight. In October 2017, Higher Education Secretary Barbara Damon noted to then-President Chaouki Abdallah while there was a reimbursement plan in place for debts, Athletic Department financial statements indicated this plan was not being followed. Let’s not forget how then-AD Paul Krebs spent $65,000 to take his cushy Scotland trip, intending to “promote private philanthropy.”
Nuñez and Stokes are hiding behind Title IX to justify cutting our successful sports programs. How about having UNM employees who make at least six figures take a temporary pay cut? What about enforcing and strengthening our Pit suite contracts? Or cutting back the $100-a-plate dinners Mayor Tim Keller found as state auditor? Administrators will not suffer.
At the July 19 regents’ meeting, Mark Ronchetti noticed one regent was asleep and most of the others were on their phones when students pleaded to save these sports. I’m ashamed the leaders we entrust to protect UNM do not have the common decency to even pay attention to the students they serve. UNM Regent President Robert Doughty wanted to completely forgive the entire $5 million debt just a few months ago. There was no Title IX concern then. Could they forgive my $3,723.04 tuition this semester?
Since Dr. Stokes took office, she has been touring New Mexico and eating green chile cheeseburgers. I appreciate her desire to get to know our community, but I hope the money for all those cheeseburgers is coming out of her pocket. She can afford it with her $400,000 salary.
UNM’s new marketing campaign proclaims: “Each of us, defines all of us.” I refuse to be defined by the actions of my university’s leadership in this matter. CONNOR LITES UNM student