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It’s hard to argue with the goal: “Increase the enrollment of high-achieving students, contribute to economic development in New Mexico and improve the academic climate for students and faculty.”
After all, how long have New Mexico educators and businesses decried the “brain drain” that draws the state’s best and brightest students first to universities and then to careers in other states? A 12-member task force that has examined a University of New Mexico proposal to establish an honors college says “clearly, UNM is losing the recruiting battle for the state’s highest-achieving high school students.” That — and statistics that show Arizona universities attract a higher percentage of top-10-percent high school graduates — lend credence to interim Provost Chaouki Abdallah’s plan, which ultimately could invest $80 million in an honors college and facilities to “attract students who have a higher ability to succeed.” As officials have tried to carve out an academic identity for UNM, delivering on the promise of a college degree has been a struggle — the six-year graduation rate is just 45 percent. But there should be little question that attracting and delivering success should be an integral part of who/what UNM is. While Abdallah wraps up his plan — which has a two-year timeline starting with a draft by May, regents’ decision in the fall and opening of the college in 2014 — officials are checking to see if the state also needs to sign off on a new college. As UNM seeks to advance its academic mission, a proposal like this deserves serious consideration. This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
