Final Report of the

Political and Legal Subcommittee

prepared for the

Strategic Planning Committee

New Mexico State University

April 1997

Committee Co-Chairs

Joe Martinez, Community

David Myers, Associate Dean, Library

Committee Members

Miley Gonzalez, Associate Dean, College of Ag. & HE

Nancy Oretskin, Associate Professor, Finance

Elba Serrano, Associate Professor, Biology

Kim Seckler, Adjunct Professor, Government

Accountability

Statement of Force

Several issues in the area of accountability continue to affect NMSU. State and federal governments are demanding much greater institutional accountability. With tax dollars shrinking and demand for such other priorities as highways, prisons and health care growing, programs that cannot clearly demonstrate their efficiency and effective management will be endangered.

Already government entities are calling for a greater oversight function over higher education. Legislators and government officials want to see universities and their faculties place a greater emphasis on teaching. The role of tenure and promotion for faculty and the productivity of all university employees are being questioned more directly and more frequently. Legislators are challenging the cost of educating a student, while students and their families are questioning the cost-effectiveness of universities because tuition and fee costs have so outstripped consumer inflation. Governing officials are closely monitoring how much money actually goes into the classroom. The effectiveness of degree programs in ensuring jobs for graduates is also an important factor.

NMSU must also realize that many of these issues spill over into the legal arena. Both faculty and students have resorted to litigation much more frequently to resolve questions about tenure and promotions, recommendations for jobs and graduate school and even grades. Students and the courts have begun to interpret the syllabus as a legal contract that calls for specific performance by the faculty.

Issues

All components of the university must understand themselves in the context of the modern political and economic world. By ignoring calls for greater accountability, the university jeopardizes its authority and autonomy and invites much closer scrutiny if not direct state and federal interference.

The University needs to have a clearly defined and visible ability to solve its problems. Failure in this arena will lead to intervention and mandated solutions.

Educating students in the most cost effective manner must remain the University's highest priority. The University must be prepared to document the quality of its education and the cost-effectiveness of its operations, or invite interference that will result in the loss of autonomy.

Without attention to problems and to streamlining the bureaucratic channels, the University will appear unfocused and invite outside requirements for change.

Higher education must be able to establish its place among the growing attention demanded by social programs, health care, prisons, highways and K-12 education.

Opportunities

The University must use this opportunity to do a wide-ranging and indepth promotion of its institution. State legislators, government officials and federal delegations should be educated about NMSU's unique role in teaching, research and service. The University should also be prepared to provide regular updates.

Use the strategic planning process to identify the major public concerns and make a clear statement about what strategies will be used to resolve those problems.

Establish a campus center to resolve conflicts at all levels before they escalate into legal problems.

Establish a mechanism to provide for continuous quality improvement for student programs. Provide clear evidence that NMSU students are being better educated and that their education is providing better opportunities for rewarding employment.

Continue to use the concept that NMSU is New Mexico's university and make a clear statement that NMSU's job is primarily to educate New Mexicans.

Use this opportunity to continue building a well-paid talented staff who will serve as NMSU's best representatives in all of these areas.

Make a clear statement about tenure and about NMSU's evaluation process to show that tenured faculty are regularly evaluated.

Accessibility

Statement of Force

Access to higher education is a major issue for the nation and especially New Mexico. The Democratic Party used access to higher education as a major campaign issue in the last election. It has always been an important issue for the citizens of New Mexico, and, historically, NMSU has responded to that challenge. As the land grant university, NMSU has always held the responsibility for and succeeded in providing high quality accessible higher education to New Mexicans. The question of accessibility has become a multilayered question and problem that affects NMSU in several ways.

Students of all ages and backgrounds are demanding greater accessibility to some form of higher education. One major change is a call for much greater geographic diversity. More parents, students and legislators are calling for greater accessibility in local areas. Rather than moving to residence campuses, students want to use two-year schools and varieties of distance education to relieve costs and inconvenience.

Cost, of course, is clearly one of the major issues facing students and parents. During the 1980's, the cost of higher education increased 109%. Health care was the only component of the economy that increased at a greater rate. In large part, students and parents have been forced to deal with this continuing trend during the 1990's by relying more and more heavily on loans and grants.

The demand for more localized and cheaper education will continue to grow. At the same time, the demand on research universities to keep costs under control while providing accessible quality education will also grow.

Issues

Demand for affordable, quality higher education will continue as a major issue. Executive and legislative governing bodies will continue to scrutinize costs and fees to ensure that higher education is available to all New Mexicans.

The demographics and nature of students demanding access to higher education will continue to diversify. The 18 to 22 year old student will become less typical. Older students, working students, rural students and other types will demand greater availability (weekend and late night classes) and different requirements. These demands will be supported by governing bodies.

The changing student population will demand different forms of higher education. Continuing education classes, distance education and extended education will become a greater component of the university's mission. Failure to respond to the challenges will result in outside interference and strong competition from non-academic entities.

Opportunities

NMSU should aggressively publicize its success in providing high quality, diversified and accessible higher education to the citizens of New Mexico.

All these developments provide an excellent opportunity for the university to recognize the changing character of demand for higher education. NMSU should build on its past traditions and respond effectively to these demands.

NMSU provides a good education for a realistic cost. The university needs to evaluate carefully and justify effectively any increase in tuition and fees.

NMSU needs to work closely with several higher education entities (CHE, UNM, e.g.) to build careful and responsive articulation agreements with the two-year schools.

Civil & Academic Rights

Statement of Force

The university must be aware that there are a number of issues under the general umbrella of civil rights that have and will continue to have a significant effect on the conduct of business. These issues can generally be divided into two major areas: civil rights and federally mandated programs.

Under civil rights, several issues demand attention. The changing nature of affirmative action is a major issue undergoing fundamental change. Courts in Texas, California, Georgia and Washington are eroding requirements for a racially and ethnically diversified student body. These challenges at the state level, it is safe to assume, will provide national challenges as well. Requirements to develop and maintain a diversified faculty and staff, however, have not changed. That challenge still remains, and it seems clear will continue to be enforced.

Several issues likewise surround freedom of speech and academic freedom. Legislators and government officials are constantly challenging the right of faculty to enjoy the full range of free speech within the classroom and the academic freedom to teach in any manner they choose. Serious questions have been raised about content and style and whether in fact curricula should be imposed from the outside.

Again, under the general umbrella of civil rights, freedom of information raises vexing problems for lawmakers, government leaders and university officials. Faculty, librarians and students have been fighting an ongoing battle to ensure that scholarly knowledge and information is readily accessible and available to support teaching, research and service. Through copyright and fair use laws, publishers have gradually restricted the availability of reprinted materials and raised the cost of purchasing journals and monographs, as well as electronically produced scholarship, way beyond the general rate of inflation. These issues will, especially the cost, attract governmental attention and the copyright and freedom of information issues will be major litigation battles over the next decade.

Concomitantly, freedom of information raises other legal and political issues. Administrators, faculty and staff are being increasingly confronted with legal problems as employees and students challenge negative evaluations and recommendations. These developments threaten to tie university personnel up in deeper and deeper legal problems.

Other key issues that demand close attention include:

Age discrimination: Because there is not a legal retirement age, faculty and staff will continue to work longer periods seriously changing the nature of the university.

Gender equity: Recruiting a balanced faculty and paying all employees equally.

Sexual harassment: Harassment of students, faculty and university employees has led to long and costly lawsuits and is extremely detrimental to the university.

ADA: This is a perfect example of a federally mandated program that accomplishes much needed improvements for disabled students, faculty and university employees which guarantees their civil rights. The university must have a strategy to deal with these unfunded mandates.

Research

Statement of Force

Research is essential for NMSU to fulfill its mandate as an institution of higher learning for the residents of New Mexico. Research activities encourage scholarship, enhance teaching, and contribute to the intellectual life of a university at all levels. Most important, NMSU is one of the few post-secondary institutions in New Mexico that offers MS and Ph.D. programs. Research is essential for rigorous graduate training. Hence, if successful graduate programs are to be sustained and strengthened, research development must be a priority.

Research requires trained personnel, funds, facilities, and an institutional infrastructure to flourish. Therefore, continued success as a research institution will require continued investment in these areas and development of effective strategies that acknowledge the increasing competition for federal and state research dollars. University Research Centers will need to play a strong role in assisting faculty in coping with the new funding climate and in identifying and competing successfully for funding opportunities. The research and creative efforts of faculty in all disciplines must be supported, and their divergent needs addressed. For example, faculty in the humanities require library resources and travel opportunities. Lab sciences faculty need modern research labs, substantial Safety Office support, and external funding to varying degrees.

Issues

Funds for research that have traditionally supported NMSU, such as defense spending (DOD), have diminished and are likely to continue to do so in the future.

Fiscal and research accountability to funding agencies will increase in the future. Indirect costs will need increasing justification. Caps on indirect costs may be placed by funding agencies, and NMSU will need to cover more of the cost of research. Moreover, funding agencies are under pressure to shift grant emphasis from basic research to applied research.

Institutional resources to support research activities will play an increasing role in selection of projects by funding agencies. NMSU faculty will compete with institutions with more infrastructure and better facilities.

Some NMSU faculty have high teaching loads compared to faculty at other Carnegie I institutions and have less time to devote to research projects. Grant reviewers increasingly view high teaching loads as diminishing the researcher's ability to successfully execute the goals of a grant. Some balance will have to be struck between the goals of assuring that students are taught by tenure-track faculty and the pressure on those faculty to successfully compete for research or grants. Teaching loads within departments should reflect the research commitments of various faculty, and teaching and research need to be valued on an equal basis.

Laws that affect research activities exist, and it is likely that legal restrictions on research activities will increase in the future in areas such as genetic engineering and biomedical research. Negotiation of royalties from patents and copyrights between companies, funding agencies, NMSU and the researcher will become more controversial in the future.

Opportunities

Develop and strengthen the research programs that are flourishing at NMSU. Identify successful research programs and faculty and support their research. Encourage research that takes advantage of regional opportunities (LTER, Center for Conflict Resolution, NBIF)

Encourage interdisciplinary activities and programs that cross departments and colleges.

Encourage programs that place students in research or Co-op activities, either volunteer or salaried.

Private sector funds need to be aggressively pursued to replace declining federal dollars. This will require greater interaction between the Development Office and researchers.

Part of NMSU's mission is to maintain and develop graduate programs. Strengthening graduate education should be a priority. NMSU can play a key and unique role in developing a highly skilled labor force for New Mexico in the 21st Century.

To ensure continued legislative support:

MA, MS and Ph.D. programs that are in place should be supported and further developed. New programs should be centered around existing strengths and achievements of the faculty, rather than in areas where there is no expertise. Efforts should be made to increase the number and award level of graduate assistantships.

Student interest in research is high, and students will enroll in programs where they receive hands-on training. Faculty should be encouraged to include students (at all levels) in their research.

Develop aggressive placement programs for graduate and undergraduate students through the Career Center by networking with potential employers both within and out of the State of New Mexico. Include Alumni and professional organizations in this effort.

Publicize the research achievements of faculty and students widely and aggressively through all available media.

Granting agencies are soliciting proposals in areas where NMSU can be/has been competitive and where research and teaching goals can be met.

Funding for research programs that support graduate and undergraduate training is available. Proposals that include undergraduate, minority, and first-generation students in research are being solicited by many agencies and private organizations. NMSU faculty have an outstanding track record of competing successfully for these funds (NSF REU, AMP, BRIDGES, MBRS, MARC, McNair).

Support research programs that involve community college students and encourage them to transfer to NMSU (BRIDGES).

Develop technology transfer and outreach programs.

Even departments that do not offer advanced degrees are actively involved with research and their research activity should be encouraged, both for the direct benefits to the scholarship of faculty and the students they teach, and for the research opportunities made available to undergraduates.

Proposals that involve multi-institutional consortia and include national labs.

Continue to encourage individual principal investigator-initiated research, but recognize that many of the new opportunities for funding reside in collaborative projects.

Competing for Resources; Political & Legal Forces

Statement of Force

NMSU, as one of the state's three research institutions, must compete for a finite supply of state and federal resources. The political and legal factors affecting this competition are best divided into state and federal categories. At the federal level, the university must address the reduced availability of federal money for research projects, the continued presence of costly federal mandates and a federal judiciary that is increasingly hesitant to uphold university programs promoting minorities. At the state level, the university is and will continue to be affected by limited state budget growth, changing political demographics that impact legislative representation of rural and southern New Mexico interests and the uneasy triumvirate by which all New Mexico universities are governed.

Additionally, the state focus on higher education increasingly centers on Albuquerque and the University of New Mexico and the state's multitude of two-year institutions. When competing for finite resources, this focus away from other four-year institutions may be to the detriment of New Mexico State University.

Issues

Pressure to balance the federal budget will increasingly impact the availability of federal research money. Diversification of funding sources will become imperative in the near future. As state budgets become increasingly tight, diversification will require tapping into the private sector on an increasing basis.

The existence of federal mandates increase the operational costs of the university, diverting dollars that might otherwise be used for instructional programs.

In several recent decisions, federal courts have become increasingly unwilling to uphold the legitimacy of minority advancement programs, decisions which may ultimately impact the legal ability of New Mexico State University to obtain or devote resources for its sizeable minority population.

Despite a relatively stable state economy, competing demands on state budget dollars continue to jeopardize state appropriations for higher education. As funding becomes tighter, many state policy makers favor two-year rather than four-year educational institutions. The educational benefits and philosophy of a four-year education are increasingly taking a back seat to the cost and accessibility benefits of two-year institutions.

The changing demographics of the state has resulted in fewer and fewer state legislators being elected from rural and southern New Mexico, areas traditionally supportive of New Mexico State University. This trend is likely to increase momentum in the next ten years, particularly in light of legislative and congressional redistricting that will take place prior to 2002. As fewer and fewer representatives are attuned to the needs of a land grant, agricultural institution, competing for state resources may become more problematic. The university should make consistent efforts to educate the congressional delegation and state legislators regarding the mission and needs of NMSU.

All of New Mexico's four-year, post-secondary educational institutions are governed by an overlapping structure of the boards of regents, the commission on higher education and the state legislature. Unfortunately, boards of regents are increasingly competing with the CHE and, to a lesser extent the legislature, for control of the governance of the institution. NMSU stands a greater likelihood of retaining its autonomy and self-governance if it addresses internal reforms prior to the development of external restraints.

At the state level, NMSU must compete for funding and recognition with other New Mexico educational institutions. It is enough that NMSU compete with roughly 18 other institutions; NMSU should not compete against itself. Increased coordination between departments and projects is needed to prevent such internal competition.

Opportunities

The university should provide strong coordination of effort to develop resources from all sectors. Coordination is the key to ensuring maximum success.

The university must be able to make successful presentations at the federal level. Central responsibility and coordination are critical.

A vigorous and organized lobbying effort at the state level is essential in competing for resources. This must be coordinated with a strong public relations campaign establishing NMSU as a major state resource.

Issues Unique to NMSU

Statement of Force

A number of political and legal issues are unique to NMSU because of its geographic location and its mandated mission. NMSU's location near the border provides unique legal and political opportunities. Recently, New Mexico, in cooperation with the federal government, opened a port of entry that offers entry into the United States from Mexico and Latin America without crossing any bridge or paying any tolls. The success of NAFTA and MERCOSUR are strong indications that together with this new port of entry political and border issues are becoming increasingly important for NMSU because of the university's geographic location, its high Hispanic enrollment, and the cultural similarities it shares with Mexico and Latin America. We must also recognize that as the land grant institution, NMSU has a unique role in outreach through the college of agriculture and the county extension.

Issues

Lack of institutional and political commitment that focuses on this specific area such that allocation of adequate resources are a major hindrance and impede NMSU's ability to compete with other institutions.

Lack of institutional mission that focuses on this area so that faculty and student recruitment is impeded.

Insufficient marketing and other information dissemination about NMSU's ability to provide education, research and services in this area.

Multiple border projects need to be carefully coordinated to eliminate unnecessary duplication.

Opportunities

Increased need and opportunity for undergraduate and graduate courses in business, agriculture, engineering, etc. that focus on border trade, free trade and other specific international development.

Increased need and attention for research and other collaborative projects that focus on border, NAFTA and other Latin American issues.

Increased research opportunities (including projects related to conflict resolution) for multi-university consortiums that focus on border and Latin America

Increased opportunity for ESL and other intensive language programs for Spanish-speakers and/or English speakers to learn intensive Spanish.

Strengthen and publicize the university's outreach role to ensure wide continued support for the university.

Student Issues; Political & Legal Influences

Educating students is one of the cornerstones upon which the university is built. As such, student issues permeate all political and legal aspects discussed. However, the committee isolated several political and legal issues particular impacting students. These include articulation, accessibility, declining enrollments, faculty responsibilities and an increased desire for student governance.

Articulation is both a political and legal issue impacting students. Students attending two-year institutions prior to attending NMSU expect credit for similar classes taken elsewhere. Legislators and other policy makers look at articulation in terms of cost effectiveness. The university faces pressure from both sides over an issue it has only partial control over.

Declining student enrollments reduces the amount of state funding to the university, ultimately impacting the educational program offered to students.

As faculty are called upon to perform multiple roles, classroom teaching and accessibility to student suffers.

In recent years, student groups have advocated an increased role in the operation and governance of the university. Witness the constitutional amendment placing a student on the board of regents. Such a trend appears likely to continue.

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