UNM and the State Legislature

I am told that I am one of those people who likes to stir the pot with a large spoon every once in a while. What they mean is that when I see an injustice situation I just have to say something about it.

Our state is faced with a large budget deficit and cuts to education are being made every legislative session as of late. Still UNM receives a large chuck of that money for salaries. The president and the coaches get huge salaries to bring in money for the university. One does have to wonder what all the negative press is doing to raise funds for that institution of higher learning.

The culture of misconduct is only too public at this point in time and nothing is being done to clean up the mess. Fans and supporters are expressing outrage and the university administration is trying to cover up and play down the embarrassment to the university and the state. Further investigations from outside sources are being stepped on hard by the board and for what reason no one can say.

With the January session of the state legislature coming up soon all eyes are turning to what the state will do to force a cleanup of this continuing mess from our state’s largest university. Some are suggesting removal of the university president and the football coach along with some of the board. This would give the state an opportunity to clean house and reduce current salaries to a reasonable amount which would save the state large sums of money better spent in the classrooms of UNM.

New leadership could set the stage for new attitudes about how employees are treated and new expectations for how athletes behave toward each other and other teams. The questions remains will the state legislature have the backbone to stand up and do something about this continuing mess or will they again complain about not wanting to micro manage a clearly publicly broken system.