University of New Mexico President Steve Goldstein hosted an introductory press conference at the Student Union Building on Wednesday, his first after joining the University in July to succeed Garnett Stokes.
Goldstein spoke to local media about a number of topics, including sexual violence on college campuses in response to a question from the Daily Lobo which referenced the national attention on Cornell University’s handling of rape allegations by a student in 2024.
“I believe the safety of the students is the first thing, that if you’re not safe, if you’re not secure, then you can’t … you’re not in an environment where you can pay attention to your studies,” Goldstein said when asked how he could assure students that sexual violence would be taken seriously by the University. “First and foremost is safety.”
In a lawsuit filed last month, a former student at Cornell alleged that administrators and the university’s police department failed to thoroughly investigate her claims that seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity had drugged and raped her for several hours, according to CBS New York. The victim’s former attorney, Thomas Giuffra, claimed that following an investigation into the allegations, two of the seven accused were expelled, and there were no arrests.
“It is critically important to pay good attention to security, and no campus, especially one that is open and in a metropolitan area, is without some risk, but the steps that were taken and are being taken — which is credit to everyone who was here before me — are incredibly powerful,” Goldstein said in response to another question about concerns of safety that may be held by parents and students following a fatal dormitory shooting at UNM in July 2025.
Goldstein was joined at the conference by a small panel of other campus administrators, including Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Teresa Costantinidis, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Barbara Rodríguez and Executive Vice President for the Health Sciences Center Mike Richards.
Responding to a question about a recent report that rogue OpenAI agents had unsuccessfully attempted to breach a UNM digital library in May, Goldstein said the University was “diligent about cybersecurity,” and called their response to the report “an ongoing process of vigilance.”
“I will point out that because we vet our vendors and our processes so carefully, even OpenAI was unable to get through the defenses, and that doesn’t mean you rest on your laurels,” Goldstein said. “You keep moving as the ball moves forward.”
When asked by the Daily Lobo about worries from those working in non-STEM programs at the University that his background in health sciences and research would lead to neglect of their areas, Goldstein said he “value(d) all parts of this institution.”
“Talking about the importance of non-STEM majors, there are any number of reasons to value them, not the least of which is that businesses are looking for people who know how to think, process, collaborate, and have creativity,” Goldstein said. “Our students are going to go out, and they are likely to have between 10 and 15 jobs in their careers, and be in three to seven different professions. That means we need students to learn how to be flexible, creative, and thoughtful, and that comes from all the different disciplines that we have here — including the STEM profession.”
During his introduction to the media, Goldstein announced that the University was “exploring” the idea of founding a New Mexico children’s hospital to ensure families wouldn’t need to leave the state for specialized care. The UNM Children’s Hospital in Albuquerque presently serves as the state’s only dedicated children’s hospital, according to the hospital’s website.
Goldstein is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and previously worked at the Boston Children’s Hospital and the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital.
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Goldstein said “it is a plan” to take a listening tour of the state, similar to the one Stokes took after she joined UNM in 2017, beginning with the University’s branch campuses. In her case, Stokes’ tour was taken in the Spring following her appointment to the president position.
Elliott Wood is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at editorinchief@dailylobo.com or on X @elliottinabq
