ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Some proposed policy changes at UNM are shaking the university community. The most updated draft of the university manual has done away with affirmative action and made some changes to UNM’s sexual assault policy.

“It is absolutely embarrassing that the university would try to shove this under the rug and out of sight for everyone when you know this has been on our minds, this has been a thing people have been concerned about since Trump took office,” said Sarah Morgan-Smith Myers, a student and organizer with UNM Students for Socialism.

“It feels like they are kind of rolling over and just accepting these things that are totally against what the community here stands for,” said Max Pagano, a teaching assistant & member of the United Graduate Workers at UNM Union.

Those were the sentiments towards UNM when KOB 4 asked them about the proposed changes.

“All of these kinds of protections have themselves been hard fought and won,” said Pagano.

A spokesperson for UNM said they had to make these changes based on the “technical requirements UNM must follow with respect to its employment practices” on the heels of President Donald Trump’s executive order canceling affirmative action.

“I knew that this struggle would come to our campus, I knew it would come to UNM. I wasn’t sure how they would respond, but these are those moments where there is intense struggle, and we find out where the backbone of our institutions is. Where our educators and the administration of our educators stand on these issues,” said Morgan-Smith Myers.

Another change they’re making is to their sexual harassment policy, replacing “sexual assault” with “sexual misconduct.”

According to the university, the change comes after “a federal court made changes to Title IX” from the previous administration.

“To refer to that type of incident with a lesser tone to ‘misconduct’ as opposed to ‘assault’ is a very dangerous call to make. It has the potential to deny people their experience of sexual assault and I think it is risky for the university to be broadening that definition and robbing it of the meaning that it has,” said Morgan-Smith Myers.

Students and staff we spoke to said they are frustrated at the timeline of these changes and only being given a week to submit online feedback before making the changes.

“I think it’s because they know these kids of policy changes would be very unpopular with the people who teach here, go to school here, work here, have been students here, etc. So yeah, we are calling for a town hall so we can at least have some kind of formal discussion about why these changes are taking place,” said Pagano.

UNM said hosting a town hall after policy changes is not part of their protocol, and they don’t plan on scheduling one.

Full statement from UNM:

“UNM is following our regular notification and posting of policies for public comment, although his one was abbreviated per UAP 1100.

The revocation of Executive Order 11246 (1965) – which established affirmative action processes in hiring for federal contractors – impacts the technical requirements UNM must follow with respect to its employment practices.  The goal of these policy revisions is to continue to ensure that UNM’s employment practices – including opportunities, hiring, promotion, retention, and pay – are equitable, fair, and non-discriminatory, and consistent with applicable law.

UAP 2740 (Aug.1, 2024) (Interim) policy changes are a reversion to the version of UAP 2740 that UNM had in place from 2020 through July 31, 2024. UNM reverted to the 2020 version of the policy after a federal court vacated the 2024 Title IX changes that had been adopted under the previous administration. UAPs 2720 and 2740 still will be further revised and improved in the coming months. All Clery Act definitions related to sexual misconduct, including sexual assault, are still articulated within the policy and have not changed.

We understand the concerns expressed in some of the public comments related to these policy changes and we appreciate the community’s engagement.  These comments will be carefully considered as we continue to assess any need for revision of university policies in accordance with law and our values.”