What exactly is going on with the CNM Chronicle?

Notice that I linked to the paper's page above? Here's what you should see (click the picture for a bigger view).

Then there's the fact that they've apparently stopped all delivery to the North side of the Main Campus -- there hasn't been a new issue up there since 3 February, which is over three weeks ago. I ended up walking over to the Ken Chappy Building to find a current copy.

Here's the comment I posted to CNM's Facebook page

No Chronicle for the Applied Technologies people north of Coal at Main Campus? I've noticed that the most current edition on the racks is the 3 Feb one, and it's over two weeks past that.

That was posted there by me on 18 February 2009.

Whatever will we do without our weekly dose of eco-fascism from the editors?

Is CCW (carrying concealed weapons) OK on CNM's campuses? The Administration says no, but read on . . .

According to  CNM's Student Code of Conduct, carrying weapons on campus is verboeten --

NON-ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT:
ALL STUDENTS
SAFETY VIOLATIONS
1. Unauthorized use, possession or storage of any weapon or explosive (including fireworks) on CNM premises or at CNM sponsored activities. [1]

Which is kind of amusing, because here's some other violations that I see on a routine basis --

• skateboarding
• dispersing litter on the premises (I don't actually see this one, but there's litter scattered around campus, and it's not getting there on its own . . .)
• drinking and eating in classrooms and labs
• parking bicycles outside of designated areas

There's even a situation where the Photonics Lab (N-21) was repeated entered by various persons after hours, resulting in various lasers being misaligned, mirrors monkeyed with, a staff member's bicycle taken for an unauthorized ride and returned with goathead seeds stuck all over the tires . . .

There's more from the "Safety" Department --

• Never bring firearms or other weapons on premises, including buildings, parking lots and vehicles.
• Fascination with guns or other weapons may indicate an employee at risk for violent behavior. Carefully consider such situations and, if appropriate, report it to your supervisor.

That second line there is particularly chilling -- "fascination with guns or other weapons" is a reason to report someone as a threat. So if a student or faculty member is reading a gun- or martial-arts-related book or magazine, the person becomes a "threat" ? Consider that the school's IT Department has the capability to monitor the web traffic of each and every user, student, staff and faculty alike. What's to stop the Administration from labeling sites concerning weapons as "suspicious," and to flag traffic to them for review?

Answer -- only the good graces of the Administration. Hell, even this blog posting could be considered "grounds for disciplinary action."

Now to the meat of this matter -- is having weapons on campus illegal?

First, let's stipulate the sheer idiocy of the question, in that anything -- car, book, rolled-up-newspaper, ballpoint pen, walking cane, chair, water bottle -- can be used as a weapon if used with the intent to harm another -- or defend oneself or others from harm. The "debate" here revolves around objects purposely-built to serve that intent -- guns, certain knives, batons.

More to the point, the Powers That Be and their lapdogs are especially worried about The Root Of All Violence -- The Gun.

Is having a gun on campus illegal? Yes and no.

YES, in that the hoplophobic prohibition against them is in the rules that students and faculty agree to upon signing up, which is "backed up" by State Law, considering that CNM is property of the State of New Mexico, and such. Especially if you get caught with one in your pocket, purse or on your belt. (Cops excepted, of course.)

NO -- As a public institution, CNM is (or should be) obliged to follow the State Constitution, which states --

No law shall abridge the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms for security and defense, for lawful hunting and recreational use and for other lawful purposes, but nothing herein shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons. No municipality or county shall regulate, in any way, an incident of the right to keep and bear arms. (As amended November 2, 1971 and November 2, 1986.) [2]

But who am I fooling here? I have no expectations that the Administration or Governing Board will care in the slightest that students and staff are functional, rational adults, with all of the expectant rights, privileges and immunities. Still, you should be OK IF YOU KEEP YOUR WEAPON LOCKED IN THE TRUNK OF YOUR CAR. See this letter to UNM's Daily Lobo --

Having a concealed weapon in a vehicle on campus is legal
Issue date: 1/28/09 Section: Opinion
Editor,

I am writing this in response to Larry Tarvin's confusion on whether a weapon can be in a vehicle at school, and I want to assure you that the dean of students is correct that a person can have a loaded, concealed weapon in his or her vehicle on campus.

This is because in New Mexico, a car is considered an extension of your dwelling and is private property. As such, anything you can legally have in your home, you can legally have in your vehicle, even if it is parked on city or state property. There are some exceptions, however. The Air Force base and public schools are different as they are either federal property or, in the case of schools, federally funded. But if you remove the weapon from your vehicle -- even just to move it from the front seat to the trunk -- you would be in violation of the law and committing a fourth-degree felony.

I know this because I have a concealed-carry license and this was explained to us during the training course. Like it or not, property laws are why people can have a weapon in their car on state or city property. In fact, you do not even need a license (concealed-carry or otherwise) to have a loaded weapon concealed in your vehicle just as you don't need a license to have it concealed in your house.

James Taylor
UNM student

Finally, let's examine another "gun free school zone" -- Virginia Tech. We know all too well about how much Seung-Hui Cho complied with Vriginia Tech's weapons-prohibition rules, don't we?

That's the reason that such codes are more properly referred to as victim disarmament codes.

NOTES

1. Student Code of Conduct, bottom left of page 3
2. Article II -- Bill of Rights, Section 6 -- Right to bear arms
3. Related organizations -- Students for Concealed Carry on Campus and the CNM Shooting Club

I recently received this email from the administration via MyCNM --

To be in line with CNM's goal to become more environmentally friendly, the CNM Financial Aid and Scholarship Services office will phase out paper letters and will begin sending e-mail correspondence.  Please check your myCNM account for information from our office.

Sorry, folks, I'm not willing to join the cult of Gaia, nor pay homage to it, just on their say-so. When given a choice, I don't recycle. If the proponents of the practice truly want people in general to adopt it, then they should make it so everyone involved profits from the deal, as opposed to us simply giving our empty bottles, cans and outdated newspapers away upon demand.

See here for the other side of recycling, or here. If you want it in a more colorful fashion, here's the relevant episode of Penn and Teller's Bullshit!

This week's CNM Chronicle announced the selection of the school's first official mascot -- "Sol the SunCat."

What exactly is a "SunCat?" OR a "suncat," for that matter?

The Google searches that I linked to above yielded more results for collegiate library systems than any sort of mascot. Nor do any of the searches yield anything to do with CNM unless you put CNM in as a search keyword. When you do that, you get a link to the school's Facebook page, where the page owner put up a "Wall" post directing people to vote in the selection process.

For that matter, why exactly does CNM need any sort of mascot?

That question is best answered by Kathy Bercaw, who was a student participant in some sort of marketing focus group back in October, 2007. (See the bottom of page 3 of the PDF document I linked to there.)

Kathy Bercaw stated through the student Strategic Planning Forums the students are craving recognition for CNM. They mentioned that they want a CNM mascot —- something that identifies us as in the community is important. They want to be competitive with surrounding community colleges and universities.

That's funny -- I signed up with CNM before any sort of mascot for the school was devised. What attracted me to sign up?

The answer -- I was convinced of the opportunities that would become available to me after my completion of the Photonics program.

If the administrators are truly concerned about making CNM competitive with UNM, NMSU and other schools, there's two things that they can do that will be much more effective than a mascot --

1. Offer courses that prospective students can't get anywhere else.
2. Offer those courses at a lower price than what UNM, NMSU, etc., charge.

And I always thought that mascots like "Sol" were oriented around sports teams, such as the UNM Lobos and Albuquerque Isotopes. CNM doesn't have anything resembling an athletics program on the scale that UNM has. Is this a portent of the future? Is CNM destined to employ varsity basketball and football coaches who demand raises every year, despite already making piles of cash?

Let me sum up the story here:

On 2 October 2008, then-Chair of the Photonics Department, Dr. Gordon Bennett, was called into an administrative hearing at around 3:00 PM. He wasn't permitted by the party conducting the hearing to have anyone as a witness. Nor did he record the hearing. At that hearing, he was placed on "administrative leave" for padding the classes he was instructing in the Photonics program. Immediately after Dr. Bennett's hearing was concluded, his boss, Dr. Robert Hall, was called in and similarly placed on leave.

For the next six weeks, those of us in the Photonics courses instructed by Dr. Bennett wondered what was going on, what his status was, that sort of thing. When some of us went to the administrators above Bob Hall with questions and concerns about Dr. Bennett and the program's future, we were given the run-around. Compounding this was the fact that Drs. Bennett and Hall were officially forbidden from contacting any CNM-affiliated students, faculty or staff from 3 October onward.

On 20 November, Dr. Hall sent an email to various staff members detailing the circumstances behind the situation between Dr. Bennett and himself versus the higher-ups.

All through this, Kevin Ryan, the Photonics Dept. Lab Aide, was stuck with the job of instructor for Dr. Bennett's classes (Optics, Intro to Lasers, Intro to Biophotonics, and Intro to Fiber Optics), but wasn't listed as the instructor-of-record on the my.cnm course listings until after the semester was concluded.

And this is the part where it gets interesting.

At the close of the semester, I had heard that Dean Diane Burke had said in an faculty/staff meeting that they couldn't fill Dr. Bennett's slot until his grievance hearings were concluded. (Dr. Bennett has also said that he's pursuing related litigation on the basis of hostile work environment, among other things, and that the Employees' Union was involved on his side.)

At the same time, the instructor listings for the affected Photonics courses took a turn for the weird. Despite being fired about two months ago, Dr. Bennett remains listed as the instructor, alongside Kevin Ryan and a Michael W. Cranney.