Now Playing on CATS / Ch 17 @
6pm following
Democracy Now!
& on NMCCAT
affiliated stations

WNMU Update
WNMU Regents meltdown
On 15 May 2008 the WNMU Board of Regents met and in an unfortunate but unsurprising fit of pique & confirmation of their inability to respond to citizens, staff or faculty, lashed out at Faculty Senate President Tom Gruska and other faculty members and members of the public.

Citizens for A Better University
Read HM82
Manny Herrera's
effort to reveal
WNMU hiring
practices

The WNMU Board of Regents amended the contract for WNMU president John Counts to increase his compensation package to a level approching one million dollars over the next three years as follows...

• $600,000 annual salary

• $200,000 bonus if he stays through June 2010

• $126,000 anuity
  
  
• $926,000 though 30 June 2010
  
  Plus
  
• Unknown value of WNMU provided housing
• Unknown value of expense account
• Unconfirmed WNMU provided auto?
• Unconfirmed additional housing in Santa Fe?

The actions of the WNMU Board of Regents are unconscionable but not surprising as they raised Counts' salary from $139,000+ to $165,000 only two years ago.  The combined raises approach a 50% increase in salary alone.

All this while

• Enrollment declines
• Recruitment program an utter failure - $14k annual budget
• Graduation Rate 8.1% !!! per The Education Trust
• 23% across the board cuts in department budgets
• Faculty and staff overworked
• Undisclosed legal costs and multiple lawsuits settlements 
  due to of Counts failed policies and poor decisions
• Gross incompetence as fiscal agent for SEED / The Sirolli Project
• Poor services for students
• Substandard and dangerous student housing - toxic substances
• Counts and Board of Regents ignore citizen complaints and those of state legislator - See Manny Herrera's NM House Memorial 82 calling for an investigation of hiring practices.

And they are giving this guy a raise?

WNMU has a serious Bunker Mentality problem.  Information is very difficult to obtain from them.  RFS! is filing requests for public documents and will update the figures cited herein which are the best available at this time.

Click here to watch the RFS! coverage of the 1st Protest Vigil

Sign and Circulate the Petition!

Click here to download the two sided PDF.  Be sure to print both sides of a single sheet of paper with the letter on the front and grid for signatures on the back.

Gather signatures, make a copy, and mail the original to the address at the bottom of the signatures.

Contact Your Representatives and State Officials!

Act Now!