Schmidly isn't focused on academic excellence

Editor,

President David Schmidly's guest editorial Feb. 20 asking for the help of the UNM community to improve the school clearly showed that he does not understand the central issues plaguing UNM. Or, it showed he has no desire to deal with these issues. I fear he cares much more about public opinion than about education, and that he will not reverse the downward spiral this University has been in for a very long time.

He hit upon what he thinks is the key to making UNM a great school: "Making diversity, equity and inclusion central priorities of this institution, as important as any other mission." He could have chosen words like excellence, high standards and selectivity to describe the central priorities of UNM, but instead, he chose words that, in reality, imply the opposite of these values. His goals have nothing to do with academic excellence, but with winning popularity.

What UNM needs more than anything is higher standards. For decades, UNM has prided itself on being a school for the people and by the people. Loyal to this principle, UNM has been admitting all who can spell their names and making sure they graduate. It does so by providing middle school-level classes, Mickey Mouse majors and inflated grades. This has led to a feeling among New Mexicans that all state residents deserve a college degree, are capable of achieving it and have a use for it. These sentiments increase pressure on UNM and state officials to lower academic standards in order to ensure that all New Mexico high school graduates have an open door at UNM, regardless of competence or ability.

What is now needed is an overhaul of how we think about education and what we think of a university's role in providing it. A university's function is not to grant degrees. Rather, it is to provide an environment in which students can earn degrees. It is the students' responsibility to earn those degrees by living up to the university's standards; it is not the university's responsibility to lower standards so the dregs of humanity can take a degree home to show their parents.

UNM has almost all that is necessary to become a great school. It has enough money, ample facilities and good faculty. All that is missing are students with the ability and desire to be educated and an administration with the courage to abandon the idolization of diversity. As long as Schmidly's populist approach to education rules supreme, UNM will remain a mediocre school at best.

Or Amit

UNM alumnus