Students are getting involved in the controversy that has been raging for months between faculty, staff and administration.
Graduate student Carl Grover started a petition to remove President David Schmidly and posted it on Facebook and PetitionOnline.com. He said he never expected the petition to be so popular.
It now has 142 signatures, which have been electronically verified according to signers' e-mail addresses, Grover said.
The petition on Facebook is addressed to the Board of Regents and asks them to "remove Schmidly as president of the University."
Student Tyler Mound said UNM gives the president too much power and that students and faculty are upset.
"I don't think it's just Schmidly. I think it's also a problem with giving one guy that much power," Mound said. "I think we need a more cooperative effort. A system of checks and balances - I think that would be an important thing, too."
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Grover said he is most concerned with the way the administration is handling University finances.
"They did put out some press release saying that they wanted to start controlling their salaries because they were concerned about the economic crisis and that they were going to hire more tenured faculty," Grover said. "But then when they clarified it, it turns out that they were just deferring their salaries."
Student Charles Matthews said Schmidly and UNM are facing a small-scale version of what the country is experiencing and that Schmidly shouldn't have a petition against him.
"He is getting reamed for raising salaries and the way they are doing their jobs," Matthews said. "President Schmidly is nothing but the CEO of a university, and he is kind of the victim of the economic times."
Student Edgar Lira said there should be open communication between faculty and administration.
"I approve of the (upcoming faculty) meeting because I think faculty have the right to see what is really going on with the budget cuts," Lira said.
Mound said Facebook is a good medium to reach students who are concerned about the administration's actions.
"The Internet is popular to get involved with, and especially for politics, because for so long the government wasn't involved with the people, and it's allowing for a lot more involvement," Mound said. "A lot of kids don't read the newspaper every day."
