Mayor Keller’s Statement on UNM Regent’s Decision on Student Programs

August 17, 2018

"The decision to cut programs for students before the legislature had time to bring better options to the table is short-sighted and will have a negative impact on the broader community that UNM serves. Our decision to invest in soccer at the youth and professional levels will still have positive impacts for the City, but we’ll be missing an important piece of the pipeline for young people in our City,” said Mayor Tim Keller.

Yesterday, Mayor Tim Keller sent a letter to the UNM Regents urging them to allow the New Mexico Legislature to act on funding before programs for students are cut. The Mayor first expressed his concerns for the end of the program when it was revealed that Lobo Men’s soccer was on the short list to be cut. Since then, the UNM regents voted twice to cut Lobo Men’s Soccer and three other sports.

The UNM Men’s Soccer team is the cornerstone of building Albuquerque as a complete soccer community. The City has already invested to create a pipeline to success through soccer programs by increasing funding for middle school soccer programs and hosting a new professional soccer team at Albuquerque Isotopes Park. Building successful soccer programs from the youth on to college and professional levels will benefit the City’s economy, while helping kids across all incomes, genders and ethnicities.