Editor,
David Schmidly, UNM’s discredited lame-duck president, seems committed to further dragging UNM’s reputation through the mud by denying basic democratic rights to the (un)Occupy movement this last weekend.
The University police literally “occupied” Yale Park solely to prevent a peaceful group of community activists, including UNM faculty and students, from entering the park to hold a teach-in and a statewide general assembly meeting.
These events occurred on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday and Sunday. Yale Park is virtually empty on weekends.
No University activities would have been impacted nor impeded if the activists had been allowed to gather in the park. Instead, all the workshops took place on a noisy sidewalk along Central Avenue. On Sunday, four people were arrested simply for sitting on the grass or entering the park.
The sorry spectacle of having 10 to 20 armed police in the park for three days — obviously costing tax-payer dollars for overtime — in order to deny freedom of assembly is shocking and outrageous. The campus police demonstrated unprofessional conduct with their display of unprovoked anger toward the activists and the excessive force they used during arrests.
This is clearly visible on the video footage that will be posted for all the world to see. No University administrators were present, so it was violent police action without any administration oversight.
Schmidly should immediately be replaced by the regents for his heavy-handed approach to the exercise of democratic rights at UNM. His incompetent, corrupt administration has already severely tarnished this institution’s reputation. I hope the faculty and students will work to restore respect for basic democratic rights at UNM.
Bruce G. Trigg, MD
UNM volunteer faculty
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