Polly Summar

Faculty members of the College of Santa Fe received some surprises in their campus mailboxes Monday afternoon: notice that the college will close down “on or about May 22” and there will be no provision for automatic transfer or reassignment if New Mexico Highlands acquires the school.

While the college’s Web site lists May 15 as the end of the spring semester, there had been questions if the school would have enough money to finish the semester.

Marcia Sullivan, vice president of administration and communications, confirmed that the letter had been sent but would not comment on it because, as official human resources correspondence, it was considered confidential.

“I’ve got six zombies,” said Amanda Eno, a freshman at the College of Santa Fe. “And I’ve got six ... characters?” said Nikki Martens, also a freshman.

The two were holed up with their zombies and pirates and lords and ladies just inside the Roundhouse doors Tuesday — students from the college’s Performing Arts Department — to rally in support for a state takeover of the financially troubled campus. The crew had been roaming the Roundhouse since 10:30 a.m. Tuesday to bring notice to the college’s 2 p.m. news conference in the Rotunda.

“We think it’s attracting attention,” Eno said.

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It’s one thing to lose a third of your 401(k) funds during this economic downturn. But what if you end up homeless?

St. Elizabeth Shelter has just received its 2008 statistics, and the numbers are confirming what the staff has been experiencing firsthand.

“In the past three months, we’ve suddenly started seeing first-time homeless people,” said Shane Lampman, case manager for St. Elizabeth Shelter. “They’re very confused about where they’re landing up. It’s about people not being able to find work.”

Numbers show that the shelter served about 19 percent more people in 2008 than in 2007. That’s some 3,120 people in 2008, compared to 2,630 people in 2...

As a snowstorm hit Santa Fe on Sunday afternoon, St. Francis Auditorium was warm with poetry. Seven high school students from throughout New Mexico gathered for the state Poetry Out Loud Final, in the national poetry recitation contest. Poetry Out Loud is a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation and state arts agencies like New Mexico Arts.

“The stranger, the listener, is where the poem lives,” said David Olson, artistic director of Theaterwork and one of three instructors who have been traveling throughout the state to work with participating high schools and poets. “I talk to the young performers a lot about making a gift of the work to...

State Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela, as expected, this week introduced a bill to authorize state acquisition of the financially troubled College of Santa Fe.

But the Santa Fe Democrat’s House Bill 577 makes no mention of New Mexico H ig h l a nds Un ive r s it y, the state institution whose regents have approved a plan to take over CSF.

Varela’s bill would authorize any “state university” to acquire the property that makes up the College of Santa Fe.

“We didn’t want to name a particular higher educational institution,” said Varela, explaining that by keeping the language open, “any institution that’s interested in participating, can. It doesn�...