Caldwell to stay on one more year

PORTALES — After a 40-minute closed session, Eastern New Mexico University’s regents decided one more year with Patrice Caldwell in the chancellor’s spot was its best plan going forward.

By a 5-0 vote, the board voted Friday evening to extend Caldwell’s contract one additional year to the end of the 2022-23 school year.

“Thank you for your vote of confidence and trust,” said Caldwell, who was elevated to the position almost a year ago to the day — April 24, following the resignation of Jeff Elwell — and had the interim tag removed in September with a contract through the 2021-22 school year.

Regents did not discuss the position’s salary, currently $200,000. Caldwell first joined the university in 1980 as an assistant professor and served nearly a decade as dean of the college of liberal arts and sciences, and was planning a retirement last year before being asked to fill the chancellor position on an interim basis.

The action came at the tail end of a meeting that stretched five and a half hours. In other action taken by regents:

• Regents heard a 30-minute presentation from the student fees allocation board, and made no alterations to the board’s decisions on 20 different organizations that went before the student-led board.

Cameron Colson, student body vice president and allocation board chair, said this year’s allocation was $1.5 million, down about $87,393 from last year. Ten organizations saw decreases, with Campus Union taking a $14,093 cut. Seven organizations saw increases, including $8,862 for health services with La Casa.

Colson said many places didn’t ask for money, including intramural athletics, because they had no need to spend their 2020 awards and could survive on carryover funding in 2021-22.

Regent Lance Pyle wanted the university to see if it could renegotiate a contract with La Casa, as the university paid a full contract while the campus was closed to students, and the list was approved with the caveat that the health services amount may change down the road.

• Following a discussion that veered off, regents approved updates to the university’s faculty handbook and personnel policy.

A key change, faculty representative Stephanie Beinlich said, came regarding scholarly activity — research a faculty member does in their area of knowledge. Beinlich said most faculty fulfill scholarly activity requirements by publishing papers in academic journals, but policy was modified so fine arts faculty could perform activities like recording an album or research artists.

Regent Dan Patterson asked how scholarly activity impacted students, and Beinlich said the knowledge gained could carry into instruction. For example, Beinlich — a department of music teacher — did independent research on female composers, so her students learned some of those findings.

“Giving them a broader education is the best way to describe it,” Beinlich said.

Patterson said he was concerned students would be in difficult positions if their personal beliefs went against something that was taught in the classroom. Student Regent Chandlar Head, a vocal performance major, joined the discussion and said a student may sometimes be asked to perform a piece of music that goes against their beliefs.

Beinlich said she understood the concerns, but did note learning sometimes requires you challenge preconceived notions from others and yourself.

Vice President of Academic Affairs Jamie Laurenz said that was another discussion altogether, as the faculty handbook doesn’t detail what is or isn’t taught in a classroom. Those decisions, Laurenz said, fall in line with accrediting bodies and individual programs, and students have a complaint process in those instances.

• Caldwell told regents the university had its first athletics review committee meeting earlier that day, with most of the focus on identifying budget issues and Title IX compliance. When asked by regents what decisions were made regarding ways to save money in the department, Caldwell said those decisions would be premature for a first meeting.

“One can’t simply just slash and burn,” Caldwell said. “It has to be a very deliberate plan.”

The committee meets again May 7.

n Vice President of Business Affairs Scott Smart told regents the system would try to find savings in recent attrition on its purchasing departments.

Smart said the comptrollers for both the Portales and Roswell campuses retired, and the purchasing director at Roswell left for another position. Smart thinks the system can survive with one purchasing director and a system comptroller, provided there is a strong lead accountant at each campus.

“At the end of the day,” Smart said, “it will probably save the system a couple hundred thousand dollars.”

• Pyle raised concern on system goals for general obligation bond plans, and questioned a focus on Harding Hall.

The university is seeking general obligation bonds to renovate the hall and give the university swing space. Pyle said the Student Academic Services building, slated for work in 2024, could move up the priority list and stand a better chance of funding. The system, Pyle said, should look into tearing Harding down instead of keeping it for swing space, and prioritize updates to buildings for the colleges of business and education.

Smart noted Harding is an important asset to potentially house the university police and the ENMU Foundation, and that the college no longer had Bernalillo Hall as a swing space option.

Pyle advocated the creation of a master plan to give regents and the public better direction on building priorities.

• The next meeting is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. May 14.