Collegiate athlete mental health issue requires action

No one knows if the $357,000 lawmakers approved last session to provide nutrition and mental health services for athletes at the University of New Mexico could have been put to use in time to possibly have prevented the suicide of Lobo defensive lineman Nahje Flowers on Nov. 5 — even if Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham hadn’t used her line-item veto power to strike the money.

But the legislative debate, the veto and Flowers’ death should be plenty of incentive for legislators to take up the question of mental health and student athletes during next year’s 30-day session. As a budget matter, it will be germane.

Sen. Mark Moores, an Albuquerque Republican and himself a former Lobo football player, pushed for the funding at the request of UNM Athletics Director Eddie Nuñez.

Both Moores and Nuñez have seen firsthand the struggles faced by college athletes. Like it or not, these young men and women face demands beyond those of other students. And the university appropriately provides them with a range of additional help such as tutoring and academic counseling.

That’s fair, given the additional grueling physical and mental challenges faced by these young people we call “student athletes.”

The governor’s office dismissed the notion suggested by Moores that her veto was payback for UNM’s decision to cut four sports — most notably men’s soccer and men’s and women’s skiing — to stem the department’s perennial flow of red ink, over her vocal objections.

Her office makes a fair point that she had concerns over what nutrition services would entail. The argument that she had reservations over behavioral health services being targeted to a specific group also is reasonable, but has less merit given the aforementioned additional demands on student athletes — particularly at the Division 1 level.

That said, it’s fair to note that the money was only designated for UNM, and Moores concedes other college programs around the state likely need more behavioral health services, too.

That presents special challenges in a process where there is no unified state budget for such matters and each university more or less fends for itself.

No one should question the governor’s commitment to addressing behavioral health issues. What Lujan Grisham and lawmakers can do now is work with university representatives around the state to come up with a plan to address this issue moving forward.

It’s the least we can do for Nahje.