A group led by Albuquerque Republican Reps. Rob Burpo and William Fuller outlined why Professor Richard Berthold should not teach at UNM anymore during a news conference outside of Hodgin Hall Tuesday.
The group cited a violation of students' right to learn and allegations of improper conduct during his lectures as reasons for demanding his dismissal.
Berthold has come under fire since he made the comment that "anyone who can bomb the Pentagon has my vote" during one of his history classes on Sept. 11.
He has apologized to his students since then and wrote a letter to the editor in Monday's Daily Lobo apologizing to the University community.
Burpo said if Berthold did not resign, he would ask the Board of Regents to fire him at its next meeting.
Burpo said Berthold's conduct during his tenure violates the students' right to learn and breaks a trust with his students to encourage them to do the best they can.
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"That is where we exist - a teacher's First Amendment right to speech in a classroom that is paid for by taxpayers, that is attended by taxpaying students and who should receive a paid salary at the expense to the taxpayer has an obligation not to break that trust to the students," Burpo said. "Year after year after year, we believe that Professor Berthold has breached that trust to the students."
Berthold said in a telephone interview that he will not resign because it could lead to dangerous consequences.
"It would set a terrible precedent for the University and the faculty if people got fired or resigned because they make incredibly insensitive and stupid remarks," Berthold said. "Everyone in the state thinks I should be fired, but what about future cases?"
Fuller, who was a faculty member at Kansas State University and Oklahoma State University, said he would not have gotten away with a comment such as Berthold's at those schools. He said he would do his best to end Berthold's career at UNM.
Regent Richard Toliver, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, said during the press conference that he spoke with UNM president Bill Gordon and feels Gordon will take the appropriate action.
Gordon released a statement Tuesday that said UNM will vigorously pursue the incident through its internal disciplinary procedures.
Toliver said the strongest possible action should be taken to remove Berthold's influence from the classroom.
"Freedom of speech, the most basic of our rights, has a responsibility," he said. "Those who want to hide behind the blood-stained banner of freedom should understand the cost."
Sarah Hunt, a member of the College Republicans, said the student group supports Berthold's dismissal.
UNM student Melinda Yates, who said is in Berthold's Western Civilization class, said he has made lewd comments during his lectures.
She said that on the first day of the class, Berthold made it clear to the students that he has the freedom to say what he wants.
Yates added that Berthold said he could say "nigger" and "chink," and that if he didn't have tenure, he would have been fired a long time ago.
Yates said she was very disturbed by what he said and talked to History Department Chairwoman Jane Slaughter.
She said she documented other incidents that she thought were inappropriate, which included:
l On Sept. 4, Berthold was talking about swords when he grabbed his crotch and told the women in the class that "they wouldn't understand this."
l On Sept 5, he was lecturing about Greek plays when he said, "I would like to get dressed up in the costumes and run around the campus and streak people and say, `Hey, it's a Greek play.'"
l On Sept. 15, Berthold said that when Greeks make a deal, they shake each other's penises, which he called "physis." He then said, "So you see another man and say, `Nice physis.'"
Two of the dates Yates cited do not correspond with Berthold's classes, which are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sept. 15 was a Saturday and Sept. 5 was a Wednesday.
The Daily Lobo tried to contact Yates, but she did not return the newspaper's phone calls.
Berthold declined to speak directly about Yates' allegations, but said her version of events is distorted and misleading.
"All I can say is the personality traits exhibited during my lecture has drawn thousands of students into my class over the years," Berthold said. "The majority of them seem to be unoffended and entertained by what I say."
Some people at the conference questioned the group's motives, calling the process a witch hunt.
"Why didn't you guys say something about all the athletes who rape women and sexually harass women on this campus?" UNM instructor Bob Anderson asked. "You want to use this pretext of the bombing - now you're concerned about sexual harassment? There's no credibility to you."
Anderson also said the Pentagon was using the University for military research that is used to kill innocent civilians.
Fuller said he did not know about Anderson's claims, but that he tries to educate himself on the issues.
He said that people such as Toliver and himself worked in the military to preserve freedom of speech.
"You've got your opinion, I've got mine," Fuller said. "I respect your opinion. You bring me some solid, cold, hard facts like these women have, and I'll try to look into it."
