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opinion editorialsThis editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by editorial page staff and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers
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Friday, November 13, 2009
UNM's Zipped Lips Simply Don't Cut It
Just because top University of New Mexico officials declare they're done talking about the Mike Locksley debacle doesn't mean the story's over for campus leaders, staff, Lobos fans and other New Mexicans.
UNM President David Schmidly and Athletics Vice President Paul Krebs announced they were done answering questions about the matter — even in the face of new disclosures that call the university's mishandling of the whole affair further into question.
Regents President Raymond Sanchez backed that position on Tuesday when he declared there would be no independent investigation into “Locksley-gate” — allegations the head football coach punched and choked assistant coach J.B. Gerald, and the university's subsequent bungling of the investigation that raises real questions of a cover-up.
Locksley admits putting his hands on Gerald but has said he wouldn't exactly call it a punch. Sanchez, meanwhile, says no new information has surfaced to warrant an outside probe — that despite the emergence of new notes from an interview with an assistant coach who said Locksley had threatened Gerald with physical violence in an earlier incident and that players felt responsible for Gerald being mistreated. Sounds a bit like kids in a domestic violence situation who think it's their fault daddy's hitting mommy.
These were notes of interviews conducted by Shannon Garbiso, the Athletics Department employee responsible for handling human resources functions for athletics. Garbiso's notes have a much truer ring to them than the subsequent made-for-litigation investigation conducted by the Human Resources Division brass and university lawyers.
The new information turned up around 5 p.m. Friday after UNM officials said they had inadvertently failed to turn over the back side of one of the witness accounts. They blamed it on a copying error.
The call for an independent investigation has come from several quarters, including the Journal and UNM Staff Council President Elisha Allen, who calls the matter “a local and national disgrace.”
Locksley, in an interview with KOAT-TV, didn't help the hunker-down strategy when he said, when asked about calls for an independent investigation, “The only comment I can make on that, you know, is that President Schmidly's comment on the investigation and the job that Vice President (for Human Resources) Helen Gonzales did was thorough and, ah, got to the result that they were looking for.”
Maybe Locks made a Freudian slip. Oops.
Schmidly and Paul Krebs deny they've cut a deal where Locksley bails out after the season. They seem to think silence will make it go away. Not likely.
Locksley-gate is now a national embarrassment. Perhaps this misguided strategy is based on the fact the situation has been mishandled in so many ways, from an initial investigation by the wrong department to the incredible shredding of Garbiso's notes.
This week we find out Schmidly had not read the witness statements, yet was able to decide he was satisfied with the university's investigation and Locksley's punishment — a 10-day suspension that cost the coach about $29,000 in withheld pay. A spokeswoman says that's not something he would normally do.
He does, however, reiterate he still has confidence in Locksley, Krebs and Gonzales.
Locksley's temper gave UNM a black eye, but university brass has turned it into a festering wound. It's shameful and a slap in the face of taxpayers who foot the bill and deserve forthright leadership of the state's flagship university.
A full investigation of the entire affair is in order.
As for Locksley, Schmidly and Krebs, they are paid a combined $1.75 million in public money. They should keep answering questions until New Mexicans are satisfied their answers are giving them their money's worth.
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