Santa Fe Community College mulls lawsuit over higher education center

From the Santa Fe New Mexican.com - by Robert Nott - All sides seem to be digging in their heels on the issue of whether Santa Fe Community College requires legislative approval to open its Higher Education Center on property adjacent to the campus of the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. The state's Higher Education Department maintains that the move requires the Legislature's OK. The community college disagrees and — bolstered by a recent advisory letter from the attorney general and the support of several legislators — is contemplating litigation. The community college has been spearheading an effort to create the center, which would allow Santa Feans to pursue bachelor's and master's degrees without leaving the community. The center, funded with $12 million from a summer 2010 bond election, actually opened in autumn in the west wing of the college's campus on Richards Avenue. It serves some 550 students and has three partnering institutions — The University of New Mexico, New Mexico Highlands University and the Institute of American Indian Arts — which offer courses. The college had planned to build a new, 35,000-square-foot facility to house the center, giving it room to provide enrollment and financial aid offices, computer labs, classrooms, tutorial space and other amenities to handle up to 800 students. But in mid-November, Jose Z. Garcia, secretary of the state's Higher Education Department, told SFCC President Sheila Ortego that his understanding of the state's Learning Center Act indicates the college requires legislative support for the new center. Later that month, Garcia appeared at an SFCC board meeting and told the assembly that Gov. Susana Martinez does not want more colleges or learning centers created in the state until she receives an account of how the existing ones are working. Read more
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