Richard M. Berthold Columnist

Opinion

Column: Smoking ban? Just ignore it

Richard M. Berthold Columnist | April 24

The Nanny State, the government that wants us to avoid alcohol and drugs and wear a seat belt and be nice to one another, has come to UNM. Beginning with the fall semester, all smoking will be banned from campus, except in designated areas. Actually, liquor has long been banned from the University, but such is due to the administration's fear of lawsuits, not the Nanny goal of protecting us from ourselves.

Opinion

Column: Speech is free, even if it's offensive

Richard M. Berthold Columnist | March 25

Free speech is an incredibly delicate bloom, even in a society where it is supported by tradition and ostensibly guaranteed by the Constitution. There are, in fact, constant limits put on free expression in this country, and the sources of these assaults on our most fundamental freedom are manifold.

Opinion

Column: Faculty must keep pressuring admins

Richard M. Berthold Columnist | March 2

Atypically, I must commend the faculty, at least the 400 or so who showed up for the meeting on Wednesday. Not since the regents attempted to hire the utterly unqualified John Elac as president have I seen such anger and action from normally quiescent faculty.

Opinion

Faculty must be ones to raise red flag

Richard M. Berthold Columnist | February 6

President David Schmidly and company have accomplished something not seen since the regents attempted to hire the utterly unsuitable John Elac as president a quarter century ago: He has stirred the normally quiescent faculty to serious protest. He characterizes the outraged faculty circulating a petition for a full faculty meeting as a "small (and by inference, radical) minority," when given the long history of faculty apathy, yet more than 200 signatures are in fact an overwhelming sign of disgust with this administration.

Opinion

Column: View from the bottom

Richard M. Berthold Columnist | January 26

The following is a more honest rendition of President David Schmidly's Monday Morning Message. Good morning. I hope everyone had a pleasant weekend and is as excited as I am about the new semester. In these hard economic times, all of us will have to tighten our belts, but remember, we are a family at UNM, and when sacrifices need to be made, we in the administration will take the lead in making them.

Opinion

Long pushed players to succeed

Richard M. Berthold Columnist | November 26

I met Rocky Long in the late '90s when I was on the Athletic Council, a futile attempt on the part of the faculty to exercise some control over UNM athletics. Someone suggested we send a faculty liaison to each of the sports in order to, well, liaise with them.

Opinion

Schmidly UNM's worst president

Richard M. Berthold Columnist | November 6

I have been hassling UNM presidents since Ferrel Heady in the early 1970s, and I must say that President David Schmidly appears to be setting new records for maladministration. I used to believe that Richard Peck was the worst CEO the University has had in the last 36 years, but after only a year, Schmidly looks to be leaving him in the dust.

Opinion

Column: View from the bottom

Richard M. Berthold Columnist | October 10

As I have said before, the heart of the University is faculty and students, and all else is simply support - or in the case of the central administration, a very expensive illusion of support. In turn, the heart of that support and the physical center of the University is the library, for which reason I once got into trouble for mercilessly pillorying a former library dean who felt books should be put in storage in order to make room for more offices and meeting rooms.

Opinion

View from the bottom

Richard M. Berthold Columnist | September 18

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.

Opinion

View from the bottom

Richard M. Berthold Columnist | August 26

Having already spent almost $1 million in the past year, President Schmidly intends to spend another $4 million this year on improving the University's image. How perfectly American: Image triumphs over substance again. Rather than focusing resources on making UNM a better institution, the plan is to make it appear to be a better institution.