Apr. 24--Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino owner Stan Fulton gave $2 million to New Mexico State University in January, a donation only recently announced by NMSU.

The donation was unrestricted, meaning Fulton didn't designate it for a certain program or purpose.

NMSU President Michael Martin said $1.2 million of the donation will go to the graduate school to provide financial assistance and other support for graduate students. The money is important, he said, because the university offers much financial aid to undergraduate students, but "we haven't invested a lot of our outside money in graduate students."

Martin said the university waited so long to announce the gift because he wanted to see where the university could most use the money, and that depended on how much funding the university got from the Legislature. He also wanted to present his choice to use most of it for the graduate school to the board of regents, which he did at their last meeting, he said.

Fulton said he gave the money to the university "because it's the right thing to do; it's supporting the community," he said. "I believe in education."

Linda Lacey, dean of the graduate school, said money from the gift will start an endowment to fund merit-based awards, called enhancement awards, for graduate teaching and research assistants. Fifteen students each received an enhancement award -- a one-time, $4,000 award -- this year, she said.

Without the $1.2 million gift, the graduate school wouldn't have been able to continue the awards next year. About 3,100 graduate students attend NMSU.

"This is very exciting," Lacey said. "What I'm trying to do is build recognition for graduate students � and their contributions." Some supporters of a casino proposed for the Anthony area have questioned the timing of Fulton's most recent gift to NMSU, saying it could be designed to influence public opinion about the issue. Fulton opposes the proposal by the Jemez Pueblo and developer Gerald Peters to build the off-reservation casino.

Former Las Cruces Mayor Rub�n Smith, a supporter of the casino, said he thinks the motivation for the gift is questionable.

"It's very poor timing on the part of Stan Fulton during this very tense time for the region," he said.

Fulton, 74, said the gift was not prompted by the proposed Jemez casino.

"I was giving (NMSU) money long before there was any talk of a casino," he said. "The implication that this gift has something to do with that is improper." Martin said he has taken a neutral stance on the casino proposal, and he doesn't think the gift was related to the issue. "It was just part of his ongoing support to NMSU," he said. "Stan Fulton is a remarkable man. I don't think you can question his motives."

Rebecca Dukes, vice president for University Advancement at NMSU, said Fulton has donated a total of $6 million -- including the most recent gift -- to the university since 2000. About $3 million of that went to the Stan Fulton Athletics Center, an addition to the football stadium that was completed last year, she said.

NMSU will get half the stock and net profits from Fulton's Sunland Park racetrack operation when he dies, if another casino is not located in a 50-mile radius of Sunland Park at that time. Fulton added that last condition to his will after finding out about the Jemez proposal to build a casino in Anthony, a move that opponents claim could cause the racetrack to lose business.

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