{"id":2993,"date":"2008-03-17T11:42:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-17T17:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/nmsu-president-must-back-up-apology-with-action\/"},"modified":"2008-03-17T11:42:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-17T17:42:00","slug":"nmsu-president-must-back-up-apology-with-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/nmsu-president-must-back-up-apology-with-action\/","title":{"rendered":"NMSU president must back up apology with action"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>New Mexico State University President Michael Martin<\/a> isn\u2019t one to generally admit any sort of weakness or mistake in public. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I was surprised on Saturday when he sent an e-mail to the NMSU community apologizing for comments he made that appeared to discount the hard work of students who were protesting the forced departure of two faculty members from the Department of Health Science.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A number of current and former students held a protest on Tuesday against the decision to not renew the contracts of John Moraros and Yelena Bird. The outgoing professors say months of racial and sexual discrimination led to their ousters. An associate dean and the department head have temporarily stepped down pending the outcome of a university investigation.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In a Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a> article published Wednesday, Martin was quoted as saying the investigations \u201care matters of faculty personnel, which we don\u2019t discuss at this stage in the process. \u2026 We don\u2019t ever have these conversations with students.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Then he said petitions that included more than 500 signatures gathered by the protesters had very little effect on policy, and said the number of students who gathered the signatures was small and seemed \u201cmore like a sewing circle.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI could get 8,000 names on a petition in the next weekend to turn Zuhl Library into a sports bar,\u201d the Sun-News quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That quick and insulting rejection of student activism has prompted outrage on campus, and an organized protest of Martin\u2019s comments this afternoon could draw hundreds, or even thousands.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Martin\u2019s comments have been the talk of campus for the last several days. Much of the anger isn\u2019t even about the current situation in the Health and Social Services college. It\u2019s about Martin\u2019s longstanding attitude that he\u2019s a big fish in a little pond. It\u2019s about what many believe is a patronizing attitude. It\u2019s about years of comments and actions many interpret as indicating that he believes he knows better than everyone else in the university community and doesn\u2019t need to listen to anyone.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2018I take responsibility for my words and apologize\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Martin apparently realizes he crossed a line. In the Saturday e-mail to the university community, he said he continues to have a strong sense of responsibility and dedication and commitment to the university.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIn particular, I feel the need to emphasize my high regard for student input on important issues at NMSU and I believe this is demonstrated by my record of working with students,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI regret that my recent statements in the Sun-News created hurt throughout our community. Let me take the first step toward bringing our community together. I take responsibility for my words and apologize for the pain these words caused.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cNow I invite others to join me in the healing process that this institution and our community deserve,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWe value the diverse opinions of our faculty, students, staff and community members. Fostering open and respectful dialogue is an essential part of the educational mission of NMSU.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Martin must now back up those words with action. Today\u2019s protest is going to happen regardless of his apology, and he must respect that. Then he and the Board of Regents must begin to foster a culture of openness and dialogue.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

They could start by easing the process for allowing public input at regents meetings, ending the current and archaic practice that I\u2019ve written about<\/a> before. They could also end the similarly archaic practices of not accepting e-mail as a valid form of requesting public records and of charging $1 per page for public records. Making government accessible is the first step toward empowering those it serves.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But the problems go much deeper than that. Great leaders listen before making decisions and bring others on board by sharing ownership with them. Martin has to stop acting as though he knows better than everyone in the university community. Saturday\u2019s e-mail was a strong first step.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

At the same time, the university community should give Martin a chance to back up his words with action. It takes a lot for any leader of a large organization to apologize to those who place him in that position.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 1:45 p.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

NMSU Regent Bob Gallagher said in an e-mail sent shortly after 1 p.m. that only about 40-45 people were in attendance at the protest.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, March 18, 9 a.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a> is reporting that roughly 100 people attended.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

The last three paragraphs of this posting have been reworded from their original version to clarify their meaning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Mexico State University President Michael Martin isn\u2019t one to generally admit any sort of weakness or mistake in public. That\u2019s why I was surprised on Saturday when he sent an e-mail to the NMSU community apologizing for comments he made that appeared to discount the hard work of students who were protesting the forced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}