April 13, 2008
Albuquerque Journal
Time for Appropriate Reaction by Regents
Regents at New Mexico State University should call President Michael Martin to account for his administration's handling of sexual harrassment complaints at the College of Health and Social Services.
The administration allowed associate dean Larry Olsen to step down pending an investigation— despite rather clear evidence being presented that he had been using his NMSU e-mail account to send innappropriate sexual images to at least one faculty member.
"Appropriate action will be taken," school officials promised. "Appropriate" hardly describes Olsen's current junket to the national conference of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, where he is representing NMSU along with James Robinson.
Formerly head of the Health Science Department, Robinson is accused of not renewing the contracts of two faculty members in retaliation for their complaints about Olsen's e-mails.
These are NMSU's national representatives?
Olsen has written a letter of apology for sending inappropriate images on his NMSU account. That's too little, too late to undo the damage he has done to the unwilling target of his actions and to NMSU.
It's time for the regents to insist that President Martin do his job.