{"id":10076,"date":"2009-12-08T23:06:58","date_gmt":"2009-12-09T06:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=10076"},"modified":"2009-12-09T11:21:04","modified_gmt":"2009-12-09T18:21:04","slug":"private-giving-is-critical-to-nmsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/12\/private-giving-is-critical-to-nmsu\/","title":{"rendered":"Private giving is critical to NMSU"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

The Zuhl Library on the NMSU campus.<\/p><\/div>\n

On Monday\u00a0of this week, Mr. Haussamen posted a column<\/a> regarding the clause in new NMSU President Barbara Couture\u2019s contract giving her a bonus from private individuals should she stay for five years. This is a continuation of Haussamen\u2019s quest to try to get the NMSU Foundation<\/a> to require that the identity of all donors be made known to the public.<\/p>\n

There is a valid point here. He points out that, especially in light of recent issues with state government, an appearance of pay to play can exist if high-level donors have the possibility of influencing university policies behind closed doors using donations as a lever. As a former board member of\u00a0Common Cause New Mexico, I agree that this could happen, and I support the efforts of Rep. Cervantes and AG King to open up records of donors who also seek contracts with the university.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, NMSU could do more to include the public in its governmental process by webcasting regents\u2019 meetings and adding a public input section to their agendas.<\/p>\n

Two sides to the coin<\/h3>\n
\"Bill

Bill McCamley<\/p><\/div>\n

However, in regards to private giving at NMSU, there are two sides to the coin. As someone who has been involved at NMSU for the better part of the last 13 years, including stints as student government president and College of Arts and Sciences development officer, I can tell you that some donors enjoy having their name put on something (a scholarship, professorship, room or building) as they\u00a0want to leave a legacy of their giving. Many, however, wish to give anonymously for a simple, reasonable motive.<\/p>\n

Nonprofits, foundations and politicians all need donations to run their respective organizations. If someone shows a willingness to donate to the university, and his or her name is made public, that willingness to give will be picked up on by other organizations, and they will try to contact the donor and ask for his or her support.<\/p>\n

\"Guest<\/p>\n

In the case of very large donors, this worry will extend to their families. The consequence is that many potential donors will decide against giving to avoid the situation, therefore depriving the university of vital resources needed for its functions.<\/p>\n

There are three general funding streams that NMSU utilizes for its operations: appropriations from the state Legislature (the largest), tuition from students and private giving. In the current economic climate, state funding will stay stagnant at best and probably decrease. Tuition can only be raised so much before regular\u00a0New Mexico residents\u00a0become unable to afford to afford a higher education (see the recent\u00a0California student protests <\/a>as an extreme example).<\/p>\n

Combine these restrictions with record enrollment and you get a problem: many more students with a lot less money to provide for them. The only solution is to find private donors who can supply resources for different areas of need.<\/p>\n

Seeking stability<\/h3>\n

Regarding the president, it hurts to have presidents leave after three or five years on the job. Constant changes in that position result in a lack of consistency in other personnel, budget policy, educational goals and targets for new facilities. In addition, as we have seen, the upheaval caused by a year-long process of finding a new president has its own issues.<\/p>\n

In all honesty, if Couture does well there will be nothing stopping a bigger university (most which have much bigger private donor bases than NMSU, and use them) from trying to attract her away and then buying out her contract.<\/p>\n

But the positives that come from having a steady, quality leader make it worthwhile for the institution to try to retain one. And, as we have seen, the only method for that right now is private giving.<\/p>\n

Donations, however, don\u2019t just provide for administrators. They are used for everything from large-scale\u00a0building projects\u00a0like the new arts complex to smaller areas like endowments to help purchase
\nequipment, provide scholarships for students, and help attract and keep quality professors. The last is quickly becoming important, as other states with peer institutions — schools with similar sizes and
\nmissions as NMSU — are working to increase pay for quality faculty and, therefore, lure them away from NMSU.<\/p>\n

In fact, private giving is so critical that the role of president shifted at NMSU in 2001, during the term of Jay Gouge, from being that of a day-to-day administrator, now taken up by the provost position, to one who is in charge of overall policy and, more importantly, chief fundraiser.<\/p>\n

The difference between universities and political candidates<\/h3>\n

Some may argue that if transparency of donations to political candidate is a good thing (which it is), how is the university different? The answer is simple: Political candidate are not responsible for the education of nearly 17,000 students, research into vital areas that affect the region, nation and world, and\u00a0extension services\u00a0to every county in the state.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, NMSU does have a responsibility to make itself as transparent as possible in a number of areas. However, especially with the state facing its current\u00a0budget crisis, moving to make information\u00a0regarding all donors available to the public could have dire consequences to resources that are, now more than ever, necessary in improving quality to make sure that the residents of\u00a0New Mexico\u00a0can\u00a0receive the finest education possible.<\/p>\n

McCamley<\/em><\/a> is a former\u00a0Do\u00f1a Ana County commissioner\u00a0and a current candidate for the Public Regulation Commission. By way of <\/em>disclosure<\/em><\/a>, he and Haussamen are friends.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NMSU does have a responsibility to make itself as transparent as possible in a number of areas. However, especially with the state facing its current budget crisis, moving to make information regarding all donors available to the public could have dire consequences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,19],"tags":[133],"class_list":["post-10076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-mccamley-columns","tag-nmsu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}