Antihate Task Force

UNM Hate Crimes Policy: President Schmidly has requested GPSA’s review and recommendations based on the report of the task force.

Report of the “Hate Crimes” Task Force
The University of New Mexico is committed to creating a rich educational environment,
with robust intellectual discourse, debate and conflict that is free from hate. But, this is
not always possible; there are times when “hate speech” may occur in an open
environment such as a university community. Of course, the University of New Mexico
is committed to supporting academic freedom and supports freedom of speech. Thus, we
believe that the University’s responses to "hate speech” and “hate incidents" should
involve education and processes rather than censorship and punishment. We believe that
the University of New Mexico can accomplish this with the creation of an office charged
with addressing these issues through education, counseling, research and transparency.
Thus, the following are our recommendations:
The administration should create a "Campus Climate Office” that will:
1) provide a "first response" to inappropriate incidents of hate speech or
conduct. (Any conduct that violates criminal laws or UNM policies or codes of conduct
will be referred to the appropriate authorities such as, for example, Campus Police, OEO,
or the dean of students);
2) work with individuals and groups to resolve incidents of hate speech and
conduct appropriately;
3) counsel victims of hate speech and conduct and others concerned about these
issues;
4) educate the University community about first amendment and academic
freedom principles as they apply to the University environment;
5) educate the campus community about appropriate intellectual discourse and
conduct in a pluralistic environment; and,
6) conduct research and publish an annual report about hate speech and conduct
on campus to assess the University climate.
This office should report directly to the president (or his designee) but may be physically
located in the dean of students’ suite. The office will have authority to flexibly resolve
conflict in which hate speech or conduct is involved using a variety of techniques. The
office should be well trained in anti-racism, sexual harassment, ageism, gender
discrimination, gay & lesbian issues, bi-sexual, transsexual and Queer and Questioning
issues, disability and religious and cultural intolerance.
There should be an ongoing commitment of financial and administrative resources to
support the work of the office. The following is a suggested budget for the salaries
required for the office:
Director:
$90,000.00
Support staff:
$50,000.00
Counselors:
$70,000.00
Annual Research Budget
$30,000-$40,000
Submitted Jan. 23, 2007 by Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, Chair