UNM Faculty Senate members voiced their concerns about the top secret security clearance qualification for all presidential candidates at a Board of Regents meeting Monday.
Faculty Senate President Beverly Burris and Faculty Sen. John Geissman laid out their trepidations about including the top secret security clearance in the statement of qualifications for the presidential position.
In the second opening paragraph, the statement says that the "candidate selected will be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information."
The requirement was briefly discussed during the last Presidential Search Committee meeting and passed the committee's approval. It has been a requirement for all presidential candidates for the past decade.
Burris said she feels that prominently displaying the security clearance measure in the statement of qualifications would limit the pool of potential applicants. She added that no specific law actually requires the University president to have security clearance.
She pointed to UNM President Chris Garcia's statement in the Albuquerque Journal saying that he felt the requirement would discourage some people from applying.
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Burris said that the statement is "legal ambiguity" and it should either be clarified or candidates should be told about the security clearance after they have applied.
Burris emphasized it as "a relatively insignificant component" of the UNM president's job.
Geissman brought up a separate concern about the requirement, mentioning a report issued a year ago, titled "The Enemies Inside the Gate." He said the report was widely circulated around the University a year ago.
"It is a report calling for an investigation of administrative failures and misdeeds and material culpability and personally I worry that reports like this factor into some of this initiative," Geissman said.
The regents present, including Larry Willard, David Archuleta, Eric Anaya, Richard Toliver and Judith Herrera, via teleconference, passed the statement 5-0 despite Burris' and Geissman's concerns.
Reg. David Archuleta, chairman of the Presidential Search Committee, said after the meeting that he thinks the matter is a "non-issue" and that it's "not worth the concern." Archuleta doubts the pool of applicants would be lowered since any serious candidates would not be afraid to have a background check to pass a security clearance.
"I would be surprised if anyone applying doesn't already have one," Archuleta said.
