Northern Arizona University’s student voice since 1914 Vol. 114 Issue 7 | October 20, 2022 — October 26, 2022
NEWS
NAU President José Luis Cruz Rivera answers a question from the editorial staff of Senior reporter William Combs III listens to NAU President José Luis Cruz Rivera The Lumberjack during his visit, Oct. 10. Jacob Handley | The Lumberjack at the the Media Innovation Center, Oct. 10. Jonah Graham | The Lumberjack
José Luis Cruz Rivera’s Q&A with The Lumberjack THE LUMBERJACK EDITORIAL BOARD
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resident José Luis Cruz Rivera was officially installed as NAU’s 17th president in late September. After a year of work as president, Cruz Rivera visited The Lumberjack Editorial Board Oct. 10 to talk about the future of accessibility and other issues at NAU. Editorial Board: Now that the University Union Fieldhouse is no longer providing COVID-19 testing, are there any plans for what the building’s future could be? José Luis Cruz Rivera: The fieldhouse is part of the broader campus conversation we are having around the master plan. We haven’t done a master plan for the university since 2010. We launched one several months ago. It’s an 18-month process, so I believe probably summer, early fall next year we will have
— I’m hoping — a beautifully modern plan that will allow us to decide what is the best use for our space in general, but the fieldhouse, I know it has a lot of attention on it and there will be some options of what we can do with it. EB: Before COVID-19, there were plans of maybe bringing in a recreational ice rink and I know there’s other options as well. Have there been any preliminary discussions as to what those options could be? JLCR: I am not part of the committee that is working on this, but I will say that in addition to the recreation facilities, there have been conversations around one-stop-shop-type services for students. There have been conversations about [if ] is there an interesting way of converting that into student housing using some modern loft, buildingswithin-buildings-type architectural renditions.
We will be looking at what those options are. Of course, we want to make sure that whatever investments we make are widely consulted with students, faculty and staff, and ultimately that they make sense financially because we have great ambitions but we also need to figure out how to resource those ambitions. EB: Now that minimum wage in Flagstaff is going to increase to $16.80 on the first of 2023, do you plan on supporting an increase in on-campus minimum wage to accommodate the rising cost of living in Flagstaff? JLCR: We recently announced a $2.35 increase in the minimum wage, so we are now at $14.50. That required an investment of approximately $2.2 million from the university. We are not contemplating matching the city in January 2023, but we are keeping this topic front of mind with our newly
established University Budget Advisory Committee, because the reality is we have many aspirations and many things we want to do with student compensation, faculty compensation, staff compensation and benefits, but we have a limited pie in terms of the resources. So, the question to the advisory board will be, “These are all of the asks, if you will, on the resources that we do have, how do we prioritize and perhaps how do we stretch them over time so we can get to where we want to, even if it takes us a little longer?” That is where we are with the conversation. Of course, the city’s revenue base is very different than the university’s, and so we have to balance all that out.
FEATURES
See Q&A on PAGE 6
Flagstaff market retains community
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ZACHARY MARKEWICZ
t was one of the last Sundays in the season, and the Flagstaff Community Market was in full swing. A small sea of people slowly circled the rows of tents and stations, taking in the array of local produce and artists’ wares. Veteran vendors and long-time patrons have been returning each week this season despite a recent change that placed the Sedona Community Farmers Market on the same day and time. In May, the Sedona farmers market began its summer season. Traditionally held weekly on Fridays, the market began operating on Sundays — the same day as Flagstaff’s market. The markets are located about an hour from each other with Flagstaff’s lasting from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and Sedona’s lasting from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Consequently, vendors and customers who could not attend both were forced to choose between markets. With the Flagstaff market’s yearly season ending Oct. 30, the reasons regulars of the market have continued to attend are as varied as the people it attracts. The Flagstaff Community Market began in 2000 with the primary purpose of supporting small- and medium-sized producers who could offer an alternative to corporate food production. The market is intended to encourage people to grow Aguiar Farms displays locally grown vegetables for purchase at the Flagstaff more of their own food and connect growers to consumers. Community Market on Aspen Avenue, Oct. 16. Sara Williams | The Lumberjack See MARKET on PAGE 10