Discussion, not demands, the way to change at UNM

A small but vocal group of University of New Mexico students is using the school’s official seal as a springboard for a number of demands they want university officials to meet.

Making demands is hardly the best way to start a thoughtful and respectful dialogue — which the current situation requires.

The students claim the seal is “racist” because it depicts a frontiersman and a conquistador. It is the latest iteration of a symbol dating back to UNM’s founding in 1889. It’s been changed infrequently over the years, with the frontiersman and conquistador first appearing sometime around 1910. A Pueblo-style bird also appears on the seal.

Protesters say the two armed men glorify the violent European treatment of natives and are indicative of deep-seated racism at the state’s flagship university.

Whether the university’s other 25,000-plus students agree — or whether they would support any of the 11 demands — is open to conjecture. But a discussion on the seal is worth having, though it shouldn’t be driven completely by a small group of activists.

The group’s demands range from the reasonable, such as the recognition of some Native American celebrations, to the overreaching, such as setting up a panel of tribal leaders “at the board of regents level.”

Some of the demands are unaffordable and, quite possibly, illegal, such as a “cluster” hire of native studies faculty, hiring more native administrators and waiving tuition for students who are members of federally recognized tribes.

Regardless, there is no better place to have these types of discussions than on an American university campus. And UNM President Bob Frank, whose office was briefly visited by about 20 protesters on Friday, is on record saying he’s willing to discuss the students’ concerns.