Northern New Mexico University will continue to be considered a college by state legislators, as they did not have enough time, by the end of this year’s legislative session, to pass a bill aimed at formalizing the institution’s recent name change.
Despite being on the Senate calendar for two weeks before the end of the March 21 session, Senate Bill 603 wasn’t debated on the floor, leading to its death.
Bill sponsor Carlos Cisneros, D-Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe and Taos counties, said the bill died because senators were not able to get confirmation before the session’s end, that the state’s Higher Education Department gave Northern officials the authority to change the institution’s name.
“We postponed the action because we actually wanted to hear from the Higher Education Department that they have indeed approved the transfer of name,” Cisneros said. “So, we elected not to pursue the measure until next year.”
The bill mandated that, “except for financial transactions, the use of the name Northern New Mexico University is permitted in lieu of Northern New Mexico State School, for common convenience.” It did not aim to change the college’s name in the state Constitution, which is Northern New Mexico State School.
Northern’s Board of Regents unanimously approved the name change at the Board’s Jan. 27 meeting.
The change only affected Northern’s name, but it still has not attained university status.
Administrators claimed at the Board meeting, after inquiring with the state Higher Education Department, they were told that because they were only seeking a change in name and not in status, the Board has the power to approve a name change before announcing it publicly.
They needed legislators’ approval to make the change official.
Cisneros said although it seems Northern officials followed the proper procedure for the name change, senators wanted the Department’s confirmation to be safe.
Although with the bill’s death, legislators will have to refer to Northern as a college in statutory matters, Northern administrators can keep calling the institution a university.
“It does not change the action by the Board of Regents and it still remains Northern New Mexico University,” Cisneros said.
Northern Vice President of Institutional Advancement Ricky Serna said although administrators were initially hopeful senators would have enough time to hear the bill, they realized this wasn’t going to be the case as the session approached its end.
“It (the bill) needed to be heard in the House also,” Serna said. “That takes a long time. There was a point when we realized we’re not going to have enough time.”
He said the regents are set to discuss the bill’s outcome at the Board’s meeting Thursday (3/26).
They can possibly decide whether it would be best to keep the institution’s new name or revert to its previous name, Northern New Mexico College.
Serna said he wants to see a similar bill again next year.
Cisneros said he plans to introduce the bill during the next legislative session and doesn’t expect to have a hard time.
He said he’s also considering pushing to change Northern’s constitutional name.
“The other thing we’re considering is if we need to do a constitutional amendment to change the name embedded in the Constitution,” Cisneros said. “That’s another consideration to be made. It will be again addressed next year. There’s no real obstacle other than confirmation from (the Department).”