More than 230 faculty members have signed a petition that calls for a special meeting to address their "crisis of confidence" in President David Schmidly and other administrative officials, whose actions, they claim, have led the Legislature to propose sweeping budget cuts for UNM.
The petition says Schmidly, Executive Vice President David Harris, and President of the Board of Regents Jamie Koch have given the Legislature a negative view of UNM. They say the trio has done this through acts of cronyism, irregular hiring practices and using instructional funds to pay for administrative salaries.
The petition was circulated for a week, signed by about 13 percent of the Main Campus faculty and handed to University Secretary Vivian Valencia on Friday for signature verification. Faculty representatives are now working out a date to meet with administrators.
David Harris
Executive vice president
for Business and Finance
Harris, who declined an interview Monday, directed the harvesting of funds from campus departments to use in other areas where there were deficits. He said it is common sense to transfer funds from one department to another and that President David Schmidly has a standing order not to incur deficits in University programs.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"I know that there are a lot of people at UNM who practice whining incessantly, but, you know, when you have to balance your budget, that's where the rubber hits the road," Harris said. "I mean, it's unfortunate if somebody says that they had money transferred to cover someone else's shortfall, but, I mean, we are a University." -From an Oct. 13 interview
Jamie Koch
President of the Board of Regents
Koch said he's not concerned about the faculty meeting and will not attend to defend himself against complaints about his actions.
"I'm sure they'll have a very productive meeting, and I look forward to seeing the results.. I will not be there. I have no need to go there. I don't work for the faculty. I have no responsibility to the faculty to go to their meeting. I don't need to go. I mean, I have no reason to go."
David Schmidly
UNM president
Schmidly said he's always been forthright with UNM faculty, staff, students and alumni, and the outside community at large, even when he knew his message would be unpopular.
"I've tried to make myself accessible.. There's no doubt I've made misjudgments. Mistakes are inevitable, and the only shame is failing to own up to them. I've always tried to acknowledge and correct the ones I've made." -From Monday's open letter
