Editor,
First, boy, do I just enjoy the word evolution - a process of change in a particular direction! In the context of the unquestionably long and fascinating history of this fragile sphere we all call home, it means that change is simply a constant.
Ms. Lim¢n's editorial from Wednesday is so appropriate for a faculty confronted with many circumstances so totally unanticipated at the start of an academic year last August, including, but certainly not limited to, the reality of a substantial, decrease in the buying power of their take-home pay for the 2002-2003 academic year.
It is true that circumstances have changed - as always - and that faculty must - as always - recognize that students in higher education represent our future, and that their needs change.
In part, the answer to Ms. Lim¢n's insightful editorial is simple - the faculty are here because the students are here - but then it's not so simple. "Gee, if I don't finish these three manuscripts, so I can justify these two successful grant proposals I need to write to support these three new graduate students, to get tenure, to earn extra summer salary to meet my mortgage payments or send my daughter to college because average faculty salaries at UNM in real dollars simply continue to decrease as part of a two-decade-long trend, and ., and ., and ."
Second, although I cannot speak for every member of the UNM community, President Gordon will indeed be missed. Let us celebrate the fact that UNM had an intelligent, dedicated and articulate individual as president for four years!
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Third, although I do not always see eye-to-eye with opinions expressed in the Daily Lobo, I have thoroughly enjoyed my interactions with members of the Lobo staff during the past two and a half years as president of the Faculty Senate. Ms. Lim¢n, you and your colleagues are to be congratulated for your efforts in a time-consuming, sometimes overly complex and too-often thankless task!
Finally, to the many graduates this spring, thank you for being here and may you have the very best of fortune in the future!
John Geissman
Earth and Planetary Sciences professor and outgoing Faculty Senate president
