President David Schmidly, who seems only to write for the Albuquerque Journal in response to something negative, claims the huge and expensive expansion of the administration has resulted in big gains, mentioning an increase in National Merit and National Hispanic scholars. The implied understanding is a strong administration equals a strong university, and managing an institution of 20,000 employees and a $2 billion budget requires "executive leadership."
Well, considering the increase of 71 percent in administrative compensation in the last six years (this figure does not include other administration monies), we got those 25 new scholars for about $164,000 apiece, a definite bargain. Indeed, some might use the word "bloated" rather than "strong," and the $500,000 allegedly saved in other areas might be better applied to instruction and activities more central to the University's true mission. It might also be noted that the Athenian democracy, with no bureaucracy and no experts, managed to run a state of a quarter million inhabitants and control an Aegean empire with an administration considerably smaller than that at UNM.
Schmidly once again supports his "big administration" position by pointing out this expansion and pay is in line with what other universities are doing. True, but other universities, including our peer institutions, also pay their faculty and staff much more. And, in any case, the inevitable bloating of administration structures, which is occurring everywhere, is, in the minds of most non-administrative types, not necessarily a good example to follow. If your friends all jumped off a cliff, would you?
The alleged enhanced communication with the University community is also a bit hollow. Appearing before committees and introducing the faculty to new vice presidents is hardly a big communications breakthrough. And while the weekly Monday e-mail to the University community is a capital idea, Schmidly's epistles are pretty much all happy talk, eschewing any discussion of serious problems or embarrassments to the University. Considering that administrative defenses of the University only appear in the Journal, could it be that what New Mexicans think about the institution is more important than what the University community thinks?
If Schmidly really wants to get in touch with the faculty, students and staff, perhaps he could try some seriously innovative actions. He could try living in one of the older dorms or attending classes in, say, the College of Education, or try to get an audience with one of our more highly paid professors. How about operating out of a faculty office in Mesa Vista or trying to get a grant through the impenetrable bureaucracy or living on a faculty or staff salary? And of great importance to everyone else at the University, why not see how he would like it without a guaranteed parking space?
"Faculty governance" is, of course, as it has always been, a complete joke. Faculty is put on presidential search committees, but this has always been window dressing, and the regents have inevitably chosen the person rated last by the faculty. Being part of a strategic planning committee is simply a waste of time for faculty and staff, since these plans are totally meaningless.
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Diversity is an accomplishment trumpeted by the administration, which would be positive were it intellectual or even true cultural diversity, but what is meant of course is ethnic diversity, which is intellectually meaningless and simply perpetrates racist ideas. And we must not kid ourselves concerning motives: The University is desperately afraid of discrimination lawsuits and losing federal funds. Turn down the federal "request" for a campus Office of Equal Opportunity, which most faculty consider akin to the Spanish Inquisition or German Sicherheitsdienst, and the University loses money.
If the administration truly wishes to improve the quality and retention of undergraduates, who are the real heart of the University, then perhaps they, and not administration and research, should be the focal point of University resources. There is of course another simple approach to achieving this goal: raise admission standards. Oh, I forgot, that would be racist and elitist and raise a howl among the politicians, ethnic activists and sundry ignoramuses throughout the state. I guess it is our job to continue the educational fraud perpetrated on young people by the public school system.
But perhaps I press Schmidly too hard. He must, after all, be the creature of his bosses, the regents and their friends in Santa Fe. I try to see the humor in all this.
Richard M. Berthold is a retired professor of classical history at UNM. He is the author of Rhodes in the Hellenistic Age.
