Happenin's at the University
Jan. 25th, 2006 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billeylerOn Saturday and Monday, there were articles in the local papers and the UNM paper that the Board of Regents was quietly and "secretly" meeting to discuss the fate of the University President, Louis Caldera, a favorite of our governor Bill Richardson.
Today, at 1pm, the President resigned after the Regents had met one last time. Through the rumors of the past few days, his office had "no comment." His hand-picked appointee in charge of Business, Dave Harris, is going to be interim prezorama until a new President is be-throned after what surely will be a protracted national search.
The problem appears to be that Caldera was trying to make the University run like a going-concern business, and that departments and department groupings would be responsible for maintaining a balanced budget. In his 2 1/2 years, apparently that either wasn't happening, or he rubbed way too many politicos the wrong way.
Ah, but is he REALLY resigning. Apparently, he's going to be on a one-year leave of absence and will return to the university as a law professor. His wife will probably be keeping her position as an occasional guest lecturer at UNM for $50,000 per year.
Interesting times.
Today, at 1pm, the President resigned after the Regents had met one last time. Through the rumors of the past few days, his office had "no comment." His hand-picked appointee in charge of Business, Dave Harris, is going to be interim prezorama until a new President is be-throned after what surely will be a protracted national search.
The problem appears to be that Caldera was trying to make the University run like a going-concern business, and that departments and department groupings would be responsible for maintaining a balanced budget. In his 2 1/2 years, apparently that either wasn't happening, or he rubbed way too many politicos the wrong way.
Ah, but is he REALLY resigning. Apparently, he's going to be on a one-year leave of absence and will return to the university as a law professor. His wife will probably be keeping her position as an occasional guest lecturer at UNM for $50,000 per year.
Interesting times.
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-26 07:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-26 02:09 pm (UTC)He's the 3rd prez since I started at UNM in June 2001. The in-office prez then was a quiet, unobtrusive former professor who decided to move on. The interim for a year after that during a national search was just that...interim.
From the little I heard from on high, many of the VPs were doomed to be forced to leave over time. The VP of Business and Finance 'resigned' about a year ago, and that's when Caldera placed Dave Harris in that position.
This is a time when the University is going through subtle upheavals with new systems being put in place, which I groused about incessantly pre-LJ. None of that was Caldera's doing; it was all in process beforehand.
I'll keep posted on any relevant stuff that Dave Harris, who I've heard also plays serious hardball, puts into motion. As well as what the Board of Regents (somewhat godlike people, I understand) gets into.