In this week’s show, our LINE panelists weighed in on the controversies still swirling around the UNM campus.  From a no-confidence vote in the athletic department, to some rough findings in an audit of the biology department, it seems the only good news coming from UNM these days is on the basketball court.  The panelists spent a great deal of time in the segment talking also about the state senate’s confirmation vote of Regent Jamie Koch.  The final vote was 31-5, despite some strong opposition from members of the faculty and staff.  UNM President David Schmidly issued his own reaction to that vote in a letter to the UNM campus.  Here’s what he had to say:

President’s Message to the UNM Community

The Recent Past
As most of you know by now, confirmation hearings were held last Monday
in Santa Fe for Governor Richardson’s three nominees for UNM’s Board of
Regents.  The confirmation process was carried out according to the
Constitution of the State of New Mexico and resulted in all three of
these individuals – Gene Gallegos, Jamie Koch, and Cate Wisdom – being
confirmed by the Senate.

As part of the process, several faculty, students, and staff
participated in the hearings.  There was a lot of passionate
discussion, both pro and con, and I want to commend and thank everyone
who took the time to participate.  These UNM colleagues did a great job
of presenting their ideas and viewpoints with clarity and
thoughtfulness.   The process was a real-time example of two of UNM’s
Core Values in action:  Everyone who participated was able to exercise
her or his freedom of speech, and diversity of opinion that is
absolutely essential to a strong society, both on campus and in the
larger community.

The Present
And now, with the confirmation hearings behind us, we must turn our
sights toward the future.  Since I came to UNM nearly three years ago,
we have encountered challenges, many of which could not have been
predicted.  We know that we will be moving into the future with some
burdens that no one asked for, and no one deserves.   And everyone in
our community has been touched in some way by these challenges.  

We know that the burden of the economic meltdown is leaving us with
fewer resources to meet growing needs.  We have been chastised for low
graduation rates and questioned about our allocation of resources.  We
have been criticized for the size of our administration, challenged
about our teaching loads, and called to question over our governance
practices.  Taken individually, these challenges are difficult, yet
manageable.  Taken all at once and we find the very ground upon which
we are standing no longer feels secure.  Some have become fearful,
while others have become angry.  Yet fear and anger, while
understandable, will not provide a strong platform upon which to build
for the future.

There is no question in my mind that the reality in which we find
ourselves has changed us, demands much of us, and dictates that we
cannot move forward doing more of what we did in the past.  Rather, we
must find new ways to understand our differences and invite all of our
talents to the table.  We must engage in new conversations, entered
into with respect and in the spirit of building unity.  I write to you
today knowing that we must resolve to help each other to move past our
fear, and to only use our anger as fuel for creativity, innovation, and
a fresh determination to work together for the sake of those I am
convinced we all hold dear:  Our students.

The Future and Call to Action
So as we move forward, I ask all of you to join me in a renewed
commitment to focusing on our mission and to nurturing the authentic
and collegial relationships with each other that will be essential if
we are to effectively navigate the challenges that still lay ahead.
Indeed, we will shortly be taking a serious look at how we can reduce
our expenses in order to protect and invest in both faculty and in the
classroom.  We will also be working to improve processes to better
ensure the accuracy, clarity, and communication of all
university-related information.  Finally, we will investigate new ways
to support a culture in which the open and constructive sharing of
aspirations and ideas becomes the norm. 

During a speech delivered in Philadelphia during his campaign,
President Barack Obama told his audience:

“We cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them
together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may
have different stories, but we hold common hopes…We all want to move in
the same direction – toward a better future for our children and
grandchildren.” 

I believe we can successfully address our challenges, but that doing so
will require the will to work on them together and remembering every
step of the way that we do, indeed hold common hopes.

At the beginning of this message, I referenced freedom and diversity,
two of UNM’s seven core values.  As I close, I would like to highlight
two additional values that I believe will be crucial touchstones for
the UNM community in the coming months.  The first, respectful
relationships, will be key to our ability to build the trust and
teamwork required to see us through the challenges ahead.  And,
integrity must be at the heart of all we do, serving as a constant
reminder that we are accountable to our students, for managing our
resources wisely, and for doing everything possible to honorably
fulfill the promise of our mission.

Thank you.

David J. Schmidly

This entry was posted on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 8:00 pm and is filed under New Mexico inFocus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.