College of Santa Fe bill passes

SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) - Despite the state’s financial crisis that has led to deep spending cuts, on Monday the New Mexico House approved a bill that could clear the way for the state to take over the debt-ridden College of Santa Fe.

CSF, which used to be St. Michael’s College, is run by a Catholic teaching order and has recently fallen on hard times. The institution has accrued more than $35 million in debt.

Dozens of CSF students were in the House gallery as the proposal to save their school came up for a vote.

With a vote of 49 to 16, the bill passed the House.

“It’s amazing to see how many people have banded together in the face of this,” CSF junior Christina Quintana said.

“This is a legacy we need to keep on,” senior Gabrielle Vernon-Melzer said.

College faculty also showed up to support the school.

“In terms of my students and what this does for them, I think it’s really important,” CSF Professor Victor Talnadge said. “There’s been a level of anxiety in the school that’s not productive for any kind of creative growth at all.”

The bill’s sponsor, Santa Fe representative Luciano “Lucky” Varela, is a CSF alum and one of the most powerful money men at the state legislature.

During the debate on the House floor, he made a passionate plea to save the school.

“Help us, help us save this institution,” Rep. Varela said. “It’s not that there are winners and losers, when you invest in education, everyone is a winner.”

Opponents of the bill raised questions about the estimated $35 million it will take to buy the campus, how much money the state might have to put in for operating costs and how the school got into its multi-million dollar debt.

New Mexico Highlands University and a Texas firm have both expressed interest in taking over the school.

This bill does not say who should run the school, but it sets out procedures for a takeover.

The bill now goes over to the Senate where powerful finance committee chair John Arthur Smith is already raising questions about the money.

Without a state takeover, CSF is due to close at the end of the current semester in May.