UNM politics puts students 2nd

by Richard M. Berthold

Daily Lobo columnist

I recently did something I expect few others have: I read President David Schmidly's "A New President's Vision," his set of goals for the University.

Such documents, which are apparently designed to demonstrate that the University has that vision thing, are regularly issued by UNM presidents and regents and, apart from creating new administrative structures, rarely result in

anything.

They do, however, reveal the image of the University held by the author, and Schmidly, for all that he actually has a real degree in a real academic field, essentially accepts the technical-vocational, social-action, politically acceptable, business- and sports-friendly model that has characterized such plans for the last 30 or so years.

This model inevitably involves inherent conflicts among its goals, which is only to be expected when outside social and economic concerns are allowed to reshape the traditional understanding of the University. It is difficult to see, for example, how a commitment to improving "access" (low admission standards and remedial resources) and "diversity" (recruiting ethnic minorities and seeing the University as a collection of racial groups) dovetails with a commitment to academic excellence and the individual. Is a higher-quality faculty built by seeking members of "under-represented groups" who tend to command higher salaries, rather than simply hiring the best available talent?

Because UNM is a state institution - and, more importantly, because its governing board is typically made up of attorneys, businessmen and sundry political figures - immediate social and economic utility has become

dominant in the mission of the University, displacing the traditional goal of the discovery and dissemination of truth. Schmidly speaks, as those before him, of "providing civic service and volunteerism to improve the quality of life" and being a "significant player in the economic development of New Mexico." Well, a real university does indeed do these things, but not in the direct and immediate fashion that the president and regents envisage.

The relationship of the university to society has traditionally been indirect: seeking truth and creating educated citizens who might then directly serve society's interests. Training professionals in the arts and sciences is, of course, a major component of the University's educational mission, but far more important is providing the undergraduate with a traditional liberal (or general) education, an area where not just UNM but the American university is failing badly. Any legitimate college graduate should have attained a basic understanding of the universe, of the human experience and of himself, and acquired the intellectual tools to explore further and satisfy the basic - and to many, dangerous - urge that led to the discovery of rationalism: curiosity.

In providing such a liberal education and a commitment to the truth, the university does, in fact, provide a return on financial investment, but one that is diffuse and long-term, and thus difficult for politicians and businessmen to understand. To demand otherwise, to insist on curriculum and programs that have immediate economic and social utility to the state, is to create an institution that may be of benefit to the community, but which is no longer a true university. And allowing the tendrils of outside interests into the University will inevitably corrupt it. Schmidly surely has it wrong when he states, "As the state's flagship university, our first responsibility is the citizens of New Mexico and their children." No, the University's first and only responsibility is to the truth and to its

students.

The university is not so much a business or thing or even a place as it is a concept - that of the free exchange of ideas. The campus and its buildings are not the university, but only a support structure. The staff, from secretaries to president, is not the university, but only its attendants, convenient for its functioning. Insofar as the university is a physical entity at all, it is the students and faculty, and all others serve the single purpose of facilitating the dialogue between these two groups.

Finally, basic to Western culture is an idea discovered by the Greeks - the notion of the individual. This curious idea that the individual human has a value and dignity quite apart from the group and from heaven is in theory a defining element of our culture, yet it is under increasing assault. Sadly, the American university is playing a leading role in that assault, and precisely the environment in which above all the individual ought to be judged solely by his character and intellect is becoming one in which he is judged by superficial characteristics and group affiliation. Social adjustment and correctness triumph over truth.

Richard M. Berthold is a retired professor of classical history at UNM. He is the author of Rhodes in the Hellenistic Age.