UNM Pres. met with tough questions

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - New University of New Mexico President Bob Frank says he faced what he described as tough questions for a rookie during his first student forum.

Frank tells the Albuquerque Journal ( http://bit.ly/zSNEqV ) the hour-long forum Monday night at the Student Union Building proved students are engaged at UNM.

Students fired questions at Frank about diversity on campus, which Frank said was a priority, and about retention and graduation rates.

But Frank was taken to task for his lack of knowledge about a campus shoving incident Feb. 23 involving female protesters and at least two elderly men.

At least one-quarter of the 20 or so students who asked Frank questions focused their attention on that incident and others in which student protesters have been arrested on campus, such as the (un)Occupy protests on the Albuquerque campus this summer.