SENATE MEMORIAL 70

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2018

INTRODUCED BY

John Pinto

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO SUPPORT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR FACULTY HOUSING AT NAVAJO TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY.

     WHEREAS, Navajo technical university began as the Navajo skill center in 1979, was renamed the Crownpoint institute of technology in 1985, was designated by the federal government in 1994 as a land grant college and assumed its present name in 2013; and

     WHEREAS, Navajo technical university is an accredited and respected technical-vocational tribal university that offers a broad selection of certificate and associate's, baccalaureate and master's degree programs; and

     WHEREAS, the vision of Navajo technical university is to educate Navajo individuals, utilizing state-of-the-art technology, to enhance desirable character traits, such as integrity, self-discipline, loyalty and respect, which give the Navajo people hope, courage and the resiliency essential to their survival as a people, using the strengths inherent in the Navajo cultural values and traditions; and

     WHEREAS, Navajo technical university supports the beliefs that every student has the innate ability and intelligence to learn and acquire technical skills and that a disciplined learning environment, with innovative and viable community-based academic and vocational curricula, will produce a competent, educated and self-reliant participant of the Navajo Nation in the world of work; and

     WHEREAS, Navajo technical university has a current student enrollment of eight hundred eighty-three students at its Crownpoint campus; and

     WHEREAS, in 2017, Navajo technical university had fifty-three members of the teaching faculty at its Crownpoint campus; and

     WHEREAS, economic development and improvements in the educational performance of American Indian students at Navajo technical university strengthen the Navajo Nation and the state of New Mexico and provide a model for Native American communities throughout the United States; and

     WHEREAS, Navajo technical university seeks to increase its teaching faculty and attract new faculty members with varied backgrounds and areas of expertise from outside the immediate Crownpoint area; and

     WHEREAS, housing opportunities for new faculty members moving to the Crownpoint area are very limited; and

     WHEREAS, the provision of additional housing opportunities is essential to attract new faculty members at Navajo technical university's Crownpoint campus; and

     WHEREAS, as a tribal university funded primarily by the federal government, Navajo technical university does not have resources other than government funds to support new construction of any kind;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the United States congress be encouraged to provide additional financial resources to construct and maintain housing for faculty members at Navajo technical university's Crownpoint campus; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to members of New Mexico's congressional delegation, the secretary of Indian affairs and the president of Navajo technical university.

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