by Richard M. Berthold
Daily Lobo Columnist
The New Mexico State
Legislature is confirming a suspicion
I have entertained for 30
years: its only serious interest in
the University of New Mexico is
that it provide winning football
and, especially, basketball teams.
House Bill 581, sponsored by
Rep. Daniel “Dumb As Me”
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Foley and approved by a 61-4
vote, would lower academic standards
for “student” athletes by
requiring that N.M. schools set
admission and eligibility standards
for athletes no higher than
those of the worst school that we
compete against. Among other
things, this would lower acceptable
transfer credits for athletes
from C to D at UNM.
Foley claims we are imposing
an “unfair standard” on our athletes
by setting the bar too high,
and UNM Senior Associate
Athletic Director Conrad Colbert
agrees that our higher standards
put UNM on an “uneven playing
field.” Demonstrating his com-mitment
to higher learning, however,
Colbert hastens to add that
UNM can provide a good education
for these D students. By
UNM he presumably means the
faculty, most of whom are paid a
lot less than Colbert, which I suppose
is an indicator of the relative
importance of Senior Associate
Athletic Directors and professors.
This proposal is of course
appalling in several ways, none
of which apparently matter to
most House members. Most obvious,
the bill not only lowers academic
standards, but does so only
for a single group of students,
creating a double standard for the
university. Now, it might be
argued that for the kinds of courses
taken by many athletes in the
high-profile sports there is really
not much difference between a C
and a D, and in any case we all
know that most of these people
are not really students anyway.
True perhaps, but the double
standard still makes the university
and New Mexico look ridiculous
and inevitably cheapens any
undergraduate degree awarded by
UNM.
Second, this inane piece of legislation
is a slap in the face of
every board of regents in the
state.
Of course, as political
appointees, most regents are clueless
about what a university truly
is and many seemingly agree with
Foley that excellence equals a
winning basketball team, but they
are nevertheless the ultimate governing
body of each institution of
higher learning in New Mexico.
With this bill the state political
apparatus is once again interfer-ing
(perhaps unconstitutionally,
but this is quite fashionable since
Sept. 11) in academic affairs and
threatening the autonomy of the
university and thus its existence
as a place of intellectual freedom,
a depressingly familiar scenario
in the relationship between government
and academe.
Closer to home, Foley’s silly
bill spits in the face of the faculty,
who have by long tradition set
standards and managed purely
academic matters. On the other
hand, UNM faculty are well
accustomed to being spat upon by
just about every group in New
Mexico and have never exercised
any real power over big time athletics.
In a burst of admirable
honesty, Athletic Director Rudy
Davalos once told me that with
the politicians, regents and boosters
on his side why should he care
about the opinions of the faculty?
Why, indeed?
Well, what can you expect from
the New Mexico Legislature?
Remember, these are the same
people who are currently considering
deregulating
telecommuni-cations
so that Qwest and Valor,
who have this legislative session
given over $15,000 to the politicos,
can raise our rates.
These are the same wise men
who are resisting a measure to
ban cock fighting, describing it as
a part of New Mexico’s cultural
heritage and wholesome family
entertainment. These are the same
public servants who have so far
this session accepted a quarter of
a million dollars in favors from
sundry businesses in and out of
New Mexico. (In America politicians
call this “lobbying”; most
normal people call it “bribery.”)
What can be done? Not much,
given the voters’ penchant for
electing the same bozos year after
year. Of course all the regents in
the state could threaten to resign
as a protest, but that is hardly
likely to happen. Most regents are
businessmen, boosters and political
wannabes, who are not about
to anger the political
establishment.
Besides, Gov. Bill Richardson, who is doing a
damned convincing imitation of a
Republican, would simply accept
the resignations (already pre-signed
and on file) and appoint
more of his own hacks — if he
actually happened to be in New
Mexico at the time, that is.
The UNM faculty could threat-en
some sort of serious job action
in defense of the university’s
autonomy and their own academic
authority. Yeah, right after the
Cincinnati Bengals win a Super
Bowl.
Then again, what does it all
matter? Who cares about what is
going on here in
Unwichtigstadt-am-
Rio Grande when Chancellor
Bush and his Coalition of the
Bribed and Threatened are about
to invade Poland?
