Day: February 5, 2013

By: Linda Oldham, Retired Instructor of English School of CHSS

I am responding to Kathie Winograd’s letter accusing the CNM Chronicle of bias in its reporting on Steve Cormier’s termination by CNM [see vol. 18 iss. 19 pg 3]. A wiser administrator would have kept the silence she falsely claims to have been practicing for “many months” (see the February 28, 2012 issue of the Chronicle) and not prompted the observa­tion that it is ironic that in a letter that says President Winograd takes “allegations of aggression, intimida­tion and physical abuse very seriously,” she attempts to intimidate the Chronicle into silence about an issue it has covered since the day it arose.

I can claim no objectiv­ity in the Steve Cormier case. On the contrary. Steve and I have been a couple for almost 21 years. I know Steve better than anyone else does, and the inflammatory language Winograd uses about him applies neither to Steve gen­erally nor to the incident CNM used as an excuse to fire him. Steve is never vio­lent toward women. I ought to know.

As eleven eyewitnesses testified, “physical abuse” did not happen. That the arbi­trator chose to ignore those eleven eyewitnesses does not mean that they were lying or delusional. I may not be objective, but I can still read, think, and evaluate evidence. I have seen all the evidence in Steve’s case, and I have read the arbitrator’s decision. That decision puts great weight on the testimony of the one witness who backed up the alleged victim’s ver­sion of events. That witness was a student in the alleged victim’s class who viewed the events from far across the room rather than from a few feet away like the other witnesses. The arbi­trator decided that all the witnesses backing up Steve’s version of events were biased, but somehow saw no poten­tial bias in the testimony of a student from the alleged victim’s class. Students are never influenced by their teachers it seems.

Continue reading “Letter To The Editor: Response to Vol. 18 Iss. 16 ‘Terminated instructor continues fight to clear the record’” →

By: Jonathan Baca, Senior Staff Reporter

Taz Kassam, Nursing

“Probably an elephant, because it could just crush me and it would be done.”

Michael Gameros, Business

“I would have to go with a lion because it is a majestic creature. It’s the king. I’d be killed by a king, sure.”

 Nabahe Abeita, Civil Engineering

“I would like to be killed by one of the black bears around here, because we are taking all of their habitat. They should get revenge.”

 Stephanie Eiting, Nursing

“Maybe a whale, because it would swallow you whole. It would be worse to be eaten by like a lion. Let’s just get swallowed!”