by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
Herman Lujan, presidential candidate for UNM, visited campus Tuesday to meet with faculty, students and staff.
Lujan is the provost and vice president for academic affairs at California State University-Los Angeles.
Candidate Robert McGrath will visit campus Friday.
Here's a look at Lujan's meetings:
Students
About 15 students attended the meeting with Lujan.
Lujan said UNM should not forget how important its students are.
"Without you, universities don't matter much," he said. "This great democracy is going to need leadership that is at least as good as the leadership that brought us to this place. I can't do this much longer, so you have to replace me. The better you are, the better off I am."
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Lujan said he would interact with students as much as possible, if the students put forth some effort.
"Invite me to your dormitories and your clubs," he said. "I'm cheap. I eat hot dogs."
Students should come to the administration with ideas and concerns instead of waiting until decisions have been made, he said.
"Come with your needs early in the process so we can all work and think about your needs," he said. "Don't wait and then boo me at the basketball game."
One student asked Lujan about his opinion on fraternities and sororities.
Lujan said he doesn't have a problem with them, as long as they follow the University's values.
"People have lots of different ways of getting together," he said. "On a university campus where we tolerate and desire variety, I think they're fine."
Another student asked what Lujan thought about government defense research being done at UNM.
Lujan said the University should not make value judgments about research.
"In higher education, we have to be able to look at things we don't like in order to find truth and knowledge," he said. "I have to make sure we don't choose one side or another. If this were a private institution, I might be saying something different, but this is a public university with public funding."
Lujan said New Mexico can keep more graduates in the state by creating unique jobs.
"What you need is to bring people with ideas here to build new kinds of businesses," he said. "You've got the desert, which is a good simulation of space or other planets. You have the spaceport. What are you going to do with this, make Mickey Mouse movies?"
Staff
About 80 staff members met with Lujan in the SUB.
Lujan talked about why he wants to be president of UNM, increasing the University's diversity and employee wellness.
Lujan said he wants to be president because of UNM's size and location.
"This is a research teaching institution that you can still get your arms around," he said. "It's right in a place where you have all the resources to accomplish great things."
Lujan said he would not come to UNM with a plan for the University's future.
"The role of the president is not to do that mission, not to do the vision, but to help you find it and the resources to accomplish it," he said. "The vision should never be the president's. We need to have conversations to build on the things on which we agree."
Lujan said the only way to increase diversity is to try new things.
"If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got," he said.
UNM could try recruiting more minority students by having freshmen talk to high school students about the University, he said.
"You can't beat peer interaction," he said. "It's the tops."
The University could recruit more diverse faculty by being polite, he said.
"You approach faculty you want to have the same way you would approach a Nobel Laureate you want to come here," he said. "You meet them at the airport. You don't make them take a shuttle. You make sure their hotel room is nice."
It is also important for upper-level administrators, such as the president, provost and dean, to meet with potential faculty, he said.
David Groth, president of Staff Council and the moderator of the meeting, asked Lujan what steps he would take to improve the work climate on campus, such as implementing flexible work hours and wellness programs.
Lujan said he has seen plenty of exercise equipment on campus that could be used for a wellness program.
"It's just a matter of getting supervisors to let employees have time to take advantage of that," he said. "I think wellness and a wellness clinic are incredibly important."
Flexible work hours are a human resources issue, he said.
"I'm not opposed to it," he said. "I think this is a topic where a campuswide discussion is necessary."
One staff member asked Lujan what he read on the way to New Mexico.
"On the airplane here, I read my notes," he said. "I learned a long time ago to do my homework."
Faculty
Lujan met with about 70 faculty members to discuss tenure, his vision for UNM and the role faculty and the president play in shaping University policy.
Lujan said UNM is a research university that values teaching and undergraduates.
"All of that is rooted and centered around diversity, access and distinction," he said. "This institution is ready to reach a whole new level, to be determined by all of us together."
Lujan said he will spend time finding out what faculty, staff and students want the University to be like.
"When all of this is done, we'll try to bring this University into a consolidated vision where we want to be in the next three or four years," he said.
Faculty and the president should work together to guide UNM, he said.
"Your role is to consult," he said. "My role is to consult. Together, we sculpt."
Lujan said he would attend Faculty Senate meetings whenever possible.
The faculty and administration would try to combine their ideas, he said.
"Hopefully, we'll gain trust that way," he said. "Working together then would become a whole lot easier."
Virginia Shipman, president of Faculty Senate and moderator of the meeting, asked Lujan what he thought about protecting tenure.
Lujan said tenure should be preserved.
"I am a professor," he said. "I am tenured. They ain't going to take it away from me."
He said tenure is important for the pursuit of knowledge.
"When people say they want to get rid of tenure, they don't understand how important that curtain is to scholarly work," he said. "Tenure is the mantle to knowledge that is true and viable."
Tenure should not be an excuse for faculty to stop working, so tenured faculty should be reviewed regularly, he said.
"If the Board of Regents is going to review me annually, you can bet that I'm going to want tenured professors reviewed," he said.
Lujan said a president has to be able to work with the regents in order to improve the University.
"Great universities have stable, sustained boards," he said. "I'm rolling the dice that the leadership here is that way, but these are honest people who care very, very much about this
institution."
