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Higher‑education CIOs ask committee to discuss cybersecurity in executive session
Summary
University and college CIOs told the Science, Technology & Telecommunications committee that cyber incidents can disrupt class schedules, housing and PII, and requested—successfully—a move to executive session to discuss specific threats and mitigation details; the committee approved the request without objection.
Dwayne Arrudi, chief information officer at the University of New Mexico, and colleagues from the CHECS group told the Science, Technology & Telecommunications committee that cybersecurity incidents at higher-education institutions are education-disruption and disaster-prevention problems, affecting transcripts, HR, housing operations and sensitive personal information.
Arrudi and other CIOs (including Michael Acosta of Western New Mexico University and Raja Sambandam, New Mexico’s chief information security officer) said major breaches can take campuses offline for days or weeks and incur substantial costs. Isaac Busch, chief information officer at the New Mexico Higher Education Department (participating online), framed cybersecurity needs as both operational and educational, and emphasized the value of HEI-driven group priorities rather than top-down mandates.
Because presenters wanted to discuss specific cybersecurity vulnerabilities and operational details, the presenters requested the committee move into executive session. Isaac Busch formally moved for an executive-session meeting; Representative Hernandez seconded. The chair asked for objections and none were raised; the committee agreed to go into executive session without objection.
Arrudi and colleagues characterized CHECS as a collaboration of higher-education IT leaders that identifies campus needs and channels targeted funds. Presenters declined to detail specific vulnerabilities in public; the committee complied with that request by approving the closed session motion.
