Governor Bill Richardson held a press conference at the College of Santa Fe this morning to announce the formation of a task force whose job it will be to find a financially viable way to keep the College of Santa Fe from closing its doors after the spring semester.

Before signing the executive order to create the task force Richardson’s Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Perlman, Cabinet Secretary of Higher Education Reed Dasenbrock, House Speaker Ben Lujan, Representative Lucky Varela and Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, all members of the newly formed task force, spoke to approximately 200 students, staff and faculty in the O’Shaughnessey Performance Space.

The task force comes after House Bill 577 was, according to Richardson, “drowned out in the last few days of a very difficult session.” Richardson also acknowledged how hard the CSF community rallied throughout the session, especially in the final days and said he is “extremely disappointed that we did not get a hearing” on the bill but that the steps forward will allow the college to “keep going in, perhaps, a stronger way.”

House Speaker Lujan spoke out in support of the Governor’s move and echoed the Governor’s dissappointment that HB 577 was held up in the Senate Finance Committe, pointing the finger at SFC chairman John Arthur Smith saying it is “undemocratic and unamerican for one person to deny the community to be heard.”

The task force, which includes politicians, educators, local business leaders and students includes Highlands University President Jim Fries, Santa Fe Community College President Sheila Ortego, University of New Mexico Executive Vice President and Provost Suzanne Ortega, New Mexico Cultural Affairs Secretary Stuart Ashman, Lensic General Manager Bob Martin, students Irina Zerkin, Keith Murfee and Adam New. Surprisingly the task force does not include any current CSF faculty though CSF President Stuart Kirk and Vice Dean Susan Marcus were named as members.

Immediately following the press conference the task force went to work. Its preliminary report is due on April 30 to Richardson, who acknowledged that many of the students and faculty have been actively looking for other institutions.

On Friday morning the Senate Education Committee allowed HB577 to stay alive. The unanimous vote followed more than an hour of lively discussion that bounced from strictly education issues to financial ones.

The bill, which would allow for existing state universities to submit proposals to acquire the College of Santa Fe, has already passed through Education and Finance committees in the House as well as a vote on the house floor. The bill next goes to the Senate Finance Committee early next week. A secretary in Rep. Lucky Varela’s office tells SFR the bill will come before the committee within the next two days (the Senate Finance Committee meets at 1:30 Monday-Saturday) and could be scheduled as early as tomorrow if things continue to move quickly.

In addition to supporters such as Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, Santa Fe Community College President Sheila Ortego and a lobbyist working on behalf of the New Mexico School for the Arts, students and faculty were on hand to offer the committee members first hand accounts of why the school is so important to them. Many focused beyond their own educational needs to look toward the larger community.

Many of the senators on the committee expressed concern about the economic impact of leaving the state capital without a four year university. (Santa Fe is home to St. John’s College, which has a strict focus on the liberal arts and offers only one program of study.)

According to Highlands University President Jim Fries, approximately 20 percent of Santa Fe’s economy is directly tied to the art and film industries. “It is very difficult to build the arts economy without a higher educational arts school,” Fries told the committee.

In addition to the focus on bringing and retaining young artists in Santa Fe, the committee and the bill’s advocates focused on the non-traditional students who attend CSF. Current student Adam New (disclaimer: New is a former student of mine at CSF where I am employed as an adjunct professor) discussed the problems working adults would face if they had to attend a university outside of the city; Santa Fe Community College does not offer four year degrees. SFCC President Sheila Ortego expressed her students’ desire to continue their educations within Santa Fe. “We have so many students who are getting a strong foundation at Santa Fe Community College and who want to finish their degrees in town” Ortego said.

Though Highlands University has played a pivotal role in advocating the acquisition and is currently the only university to publicly state an interest in taking over CSF, the bill allows any university within the state system to offer a proposal. As a result, many of the specific financial questions brought up in today’s committee, could be be hurdles in the Finance committee as so many of the numbers are speculative. Both Senator John M Sapien (D-Sandoval) and Timothy M Keller (D-Bernalillo) expressed concern about the retention of both the reputation and teaching staff at CSF. Though Highlands University professors are paid, on average, less than CSF pays its faculty, the financial problems at CSF have forced the faculty to take a 25 percent pay cut, making their current salaries less than Highlands’ current pay rates. According to Marci Sullivan, vice president of administration & communication at CSF, who attended the meeting as a representative for CSF President Stuart Kirk (who was absent to attend a quarterly board meeting), CSF faculty have been at the school for an average of 10 years. Because of the forced pay cuts many faculty have expressed to SFR their concerns that they will be unable to remain in Santa Fe and, though the faculty is dedicated to their students, have felt an immediate financial hit that makes getting through the semester a challenge. If CSF is taken over by the state, it is unclear how faculty salaries would be affected.

If CSF folds without a state acquisition, 110 employees and 58 full time faculty will join the ranks of Santa Fe’s growing unemployed population.

During my regular perusal of the Santa Fe Public Library’s blog today I found this post about the College of Santa Fe to be quite nice. It echoes the sentiments of of so many alums that I’ve heard over the last week but without the tinge of anger or fear that seems to be enveloping so much of the community.

By the way, if you don’t happen to check out SFPL’s blog on a regular basis you should. It’s not just for Existentialist literature nerds, it’s a fun little community resource that breaks down that stereotype of a librarian as a shushing lady with a too tight bun or, conversely, that porn star fantasy of naughty librarian.

Listen live here!

According to a report on Albuquerque TV station KOB’s Web site Austin-based company Inland Public Properties Development Inc. is showing interest in purchasing the College of Santa Fe.

According to Inland’s Web site the real estate company “intends to acquire existing special use facilities, which are then leased to the government, or to a private company engaged by the government to operate the property.” After starting up in 2005 as primarily a shopping mall developer Inland began to purchase land to build prisons that it would lease to the government.

The sale to Inland, of course, still requires legislative approval and, according to a report in the Santa Fe New Mexican, Highlands University President Jim Fries is concerned that the deal would cost the state more in the long run.

SFR has not yet heard back from representatives from Inland or the College of Santa Fe but will update the story as soon as more information becomes available.