Dear UNM-Taos students, faculty and friends:
It has come to our attention that the conservative advocacy group Rio Grande Foundation in Southern New Mexico is advocating closing no less than half of the community college branches in New Mexico in order to make up for budget shortfalls at the state level.
We believe this is a misguided and ill-informed proposal that ignores the enormous hardships our citizens would incur in comparison to questionable and at best short term cost savings. Not only would our local workforce be deprived of the training and skills they need to be competitive in a difficult job market, but at the same time communities would lose the very real, positive contributions community colleges make to the local economy. For instance, UNM-Taos students brought $2.6 million into Taos County in 2009 through federal Pell grants alone. UNM-Taos currently employs 260 faculty and staff serving over 1,600 students per semester in our service area, which includes two pueblos and nine high schools.
Although the Rio Grande Foundation survey is full of misinformation, we believe it is important that community members speak out as to the benefits of UNM-Taos and other branch campuses throughout the state. PLEASE respond to this survey and pay special attention to question seven, indicating your strong opposition to the closing and selling off of some of our most precious assets: our New Mexico community colleges.
Link to the survey:
Sincerely,
Kate O'Neill, Executive Director, UNM-Taos
Jim Gilroy, Dean of Instruction, UNM-Taos
