Working with church beneficial

by Richard L. Wood

Guest columnist

The UNM regents recently approved an endowed chairperson in Roman Catholic Studies. The person hired for this position will be a professor within the UNM Religious Studies program. In response, Ken Carpenter wrote in the June 18 Daily Lobo with serious concerns about the church influence at UNM. Given that the endowment is to be funded with money raised by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe, which covers most of northern New Mexico, including Albuquerque, Carpenter raises legitimate concerns - but concerns that have been carefully contemplated and addressed in the endowment agreement.

The hiring process for the new chairperson will be firmly in the control of the University. A search committee will be formed jointly, with nominations to serve on that committee shared between the dean of Arts and Sciences and the archbishop. Thus, as the donor, the archdiocese will have substantial representation on the search committee. But the final say on appointment of search committee members will be in the hands of the dean of Arts and Sciences, and all members must have earned terminal degrees in an academic field.

The hiring recommendations of the search committee are advisory to the director of religious studies and the dean of Arts and Sciences. Thus, true control of the hiring process remains firmly within standard University hiring procedures.

The endowment agreement states explicitly that the chairperson will be "subject to University policies and procedures, including but not limited to those policies addressing academic freedom as described in the University Faculty Handbook." Thus, the chairperson will be free to express his or her views on controversial issues. Presumably, the person will also be able to accurately describe official church teaching on such issues, the complexities of church teaching about them, etc.

Once the endowment is raised, it resides wholly within the UNM Foundation and is disbursed by the University for salary, research and teaching expenses associated with this position. Thus, the chairperson will not be "dependent upon the archdiocese for financial support."

More broadly, an endowed chairperson of Catholic Studies makes enormous sense for the University. Catholicism represents one of the important cultural currents shaping human life, historically and in the contemporary world. Catholicism is an integral aspect of the Southwestern cultural heritage and the history of New Mexico, and forms part of the religious background of more than half of our state's population - especially heavily represented among those of minority and disadvantaged backgrounds, which the University, as a state institution, has a mandate to serve.

In any case, a first-rate university needs real expertise regarding all the vital cultural currents in society. Of course, this includes a variety of other religious and spiritual traditions, as well. In establishing the chairperson in Roman Catholic Studies, the UNM Religious Studies program launches an effort to bring multiple religious perspectives more firmly into university life and into dialogue with one another and with other scientific, humanistic and professional disciplines. We are already engaged in efforts to endow other chairpeople. The teaching and intellectual life of the University will be enriched by this effort - not because we will agree with everything taught by the traditions on which these endowed chairpeople focus, but because those traditions shape real human communities. In the process, they shape the future of our society.

Endowed chairpeople in particular religious traditions can protect the intellectual integrity of the University, enrich the intellectual lives of students, faculty and the wider New Mexico community and help make UNM a national model for debating the role of religion in public life.

Richard L. Wood is the director of Religious Studies program at UNM.