Grad student vote centers on athletics

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Starting Monday, University of New Mexico graduate students will get to voice their opinion about last fall's controversy in the school's athletics department.

UNM's Graduate and Professional Student Association called for a special election to state their confidence or lack there of for the athletics department after an incident between two of the school's football coaches.

On the ballot:

• A proposal to reallocate student fees to academic programs instead of the athletics
• A push for UNM's Board of Regents to order an independent third-party investigation of the incident between coaches Mike Locksley and J.B. Gerald
• A no confidence vote for Vice President for Athletics Paul Krebs and the way he handled the incident

"The whole point of this vote is for student's voices to be heard. So we wanted this opportunity to make sure that the graduate and professional students—every single one of them had the opportunity to weigh in on this issue," GPSA President Lisa Knudsen said.

About 6,000 graduate students are eligible to vote.

Voting will last from Jan. 25 to Jan.28.