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| Pulling the rug from rural New Mexico |
July 10, 2001 |
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Wilson demands answer from Education Department for UNM-Valencia campus
Fed Lawmaker disappointed with “rug-pulling” maneuverRepresentative Heather Wilson recently told a senior federal administration official that she is disappointed that $760,000 in federal funding was withdrawn from the UNM-Valencia campus in Belen, New Mexico and asked that the decision be reviewed and reversed.
Wilson expressed her concern to Cabinet Secretary Rod Paige of the U.S. Department of Education after a grant awarded to the campus was abruptly withdrawn—after the $760,000 grant had been publicly announced by the Department and by Wilson.
“After the Department of Education made its selection and publicly announced it, the rules changed. That’s not right, and we both know that’s not right,” Wilson told Secretary Paige in a two-page letter delivered last week. “I urge you to review and reverse this error.”
The grant in question comes from the Department of Education’s Student Support Services (SSS) program and offers support to low-income, first generation, or disabled college students. The $190,000 yearly grant, good for four years, was to provide opportunities for academic development, assist students with basic college requirements, and serve to motivate students toward the successful completion of their post-secondary education.
Campus officials estimate that as many as 200 students per year could be served with the funding. Wilson announced last May that both UNM-Albuquerque and UNM-Valencia, along with The Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, received the grant.
“The abrupt withdrawal of this grant has yanked the rug out from under the feet of hundreds of potential students in New Mexico,” says Wilson. “This is not the way the U.S. Department of Education should be run.”
“New Mexico’s high schools lose nearly a third of our students before they graduate. That is simply unacceptable. Many New Mexicans are dependent on programs such as this TRIO Grant.”
Wilson told Department officials that she expects to hear from them by July 24, 2001 so that campus officials can proceed with their plans for the next academic year.
The University of New Mexico Valencia Campus is located in Tome, New Mexico, halfway between Belen and Los Lunas, the two main population centers of Valencia County. The campus occupies 150 acres of rural land overlooking the Rio Grande Valley to the west, the Manzano Mountains to the east, and historic Tome Hill to the north.
The campus includes seven buildings designed in a modern, Southwestern style. UNM Valencia Campus received a prestigious award from the New Mexico Society of Architecture for its outstanding landscaping. As a branch college of the University of New Mexico, UNM Valencia Campus is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and secondary Schools. |
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