Regents near final design of residence

PORTALES — Designing a house can be difficult for a newlywed or even a long-married couple, between the discussions on materials, the floor layout and what rooms serve what purposes. But compromises are made because at the end of the day, the couple will have to live together in that house.

Now imagine the process is done by a committee whose members aren’t sure what to compromise because they aren’t sure who’s going to live there.

That process is about to come to an end at Eastern New Mexico University, with Regent Terry Othick figuring six more weeks of meetings should provide a final design for a new presidential residence.

Othick said the committee is looking at a structure of about 3,500 square feet with three bedrooms, one of which can double as a study area, a large public space for university events and a kitchen large enough for Sodexo to cater on site.

“We aren’t at final design yet,” Othick said, “but the committee has done a really good job of providing information.”

The university has $650,000 from the state to build the house, but Othick said wage requirements will run the university around $100,000.

The regents discussed numerous other items during a meeting that stretched five-and-a-half hours on Friday:

Jeff Elwell, ENMU chancellor and Portales campus president, updated regents on the university’s governmental liquor license application.

The Portales City Council has scheduled a public hearing regarding the license 6:30 p.m. Nov. 5. Scott Smart, vice president for business affairs, plans to attend to answer any questions.

The university has no current plans to offer alcoholic beverages at Greyhound athletic events, but is seeking the license so adult beverages can be offered by Sodexo if a social event is booked on campus.

Student Regent Joseph Gergel asked how the university’s policy barring alcohol on campus needed to be changed should the license be approved, and if there was any issue with the Oct. 18 Queso Vino food and wine festival at the Campus Union Building. Vice President for Planning, Analysis and Government Relations Patrice Caldwell said a policy change was in draft status and would be presented to the regents if the license is granted. Regarding the wine and cheese festival, regents said they weren’t sure, but noted if necessary a telephonic meeting could be scheduled to waive the policy for the festival.

• Elwell said the college has looked into renovating the long-vacant Harding Hall into a university welcome center.

The building would be a “front door” to the university, Elwell said, with many of the offices a student needs to go to when starting off at the university. Many of those services are now housed at the Student Academic Services building.

The renovation would be $10.8 million. Elwell would seek the money through the state, but said the university would likely offer some matching funds. The item was an information item, with no vote taken.

• Regents discussed a possible regent scholarship, with university staff looking into what other state institutions are doing.

The university provides scholarships for its student body president, vice president and supreme court justice during their year of service, but the regent position is currently volunteer.

While regents in general are not compensated for their service to ENMU, the non-student regents are often retired or have achieved some level of financial success. A scholarship for a student regent would provide recognition that

Gergel noted he wasn’t seeking the scholarship for himself, but having it available would make the position more attractive and create a deeper applicant pool.

University staff noted the scholarship should be offered through student government and not by the regents, because the student regent would be in a position of voting for financial gain. Regents noted that if they’re voting on the student fee amounts that would cover a regent scholarship, they’d be voting for the scholarship in a roundabout way.

Regent Dan Patterson said the issue might be something for the state Legislature to decide.

• An hour-long presentation was provided on the 2018 Yazzie/Martinez ruling, sated that all New Mexico students have a right to be college and career ready and the state has failed to meet that obligation and must do so going forward.

Patricia Jimenez-Lathm of Transform Education New Mexico and Edward Tabet-Cubero of Learning Alliance New Mexico led the presentation and discussed potential impacts for colleges.

While the ruling largely targets K-12 education, Tabet-Cubero said universities would feel some impacts because requirements for teacher preparation would likely be borne by the colleges that prepare them for the field.

Patterson, a retired educator of more than 50 years, said there were three key issues with worsening education — a negative portrait of teaching as an occupation, parental involvement and failure to read to children at an early age and dwindling vocational training in high schools.

Jamie Laurenz, ENMU’s vice president for academic affairs, told presenters that too often the approach with educational requirements is to add additional credit hour requirements onto the curriculum for education students. He said any approach should incorporate that training into the already-existing credit hours.

• Regents approved a renovations for the physical plant building and an automotive/welding building on the ENMU-Roswell campus. The total cost of the two projects was $10.5 million, with $3 million provided by prior general obligation bond awards from the state.

The vote was 4-1, with Regent Lance Pyle casting the dissenting vote. Pyle said he supported the projects, but had concerns with the procurement process used.

• Regents met for an hour in executive session to discuss three personnel matters, one instance of pending or threatened litigation and discussion of sale options on the former Greyhound Stadium. Members met in regular session and adjourned without any action from the executive session.

• The next regent meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Nov. 1.