Opportunity, challenge for Highlands' Aragón

Cynics will say the fix was in: From the moment Manny Aragón tossed his mortarboard in the ring for presidency of New Mexico Highlands University, ex-Gov. Toney Anaya and the rest of the regents made a charade of their "national search" -- and the mandamás of the state Senate was packing his belongings for a move from Albuquerque to Las Vegas.

But we don't think it was that simple.

When he gave the bum's rush to Sharon Caballero, who had the thankless job of cleaning out the Augean stables the school had become under some previous presidents, Anaya set himself an enormous challenge: Finding the ideal academic leader from the scholastic wilds of New Mexico.

For appearances' sake, if nothing else, his president-seeking task force looked around the country, but the heat was on Anaya to find not only an ideally qualified Hispano, but also an Hispano from here.

That, it turned out, wasn't easy. Even with the help of the nationally distinguished Dr. Manuel Pacheco, the best applications from nearby were those of Aragón and another state senator, Dr. Pete Campos of Santa Rosa.

Two candidates from farther off -- Rodolfo Arevalo of the University of Texas system and Leonard Valverde of Arizona State University appeared more promising. But the new president, Anaya figured, must be intimately familiar with Highlands; its history, its problems, the distinctive region it serves -- and the new directions the school is headed.

So, in spite of faculty support for Arevalo, and favorable impressions of Valverde, Aragón realizes his long-held dream of the Highlands presidency.

Now comes the hard part: keeping the college on the fiscal-reform path Caballero put it on and restoring the school's academic reputation while meeting all the implications of being an "Hispanic-serving institution."

He comes to the job admirably equipped: Aragón, like his University of New Mexico counterpart Louis Caldera, holds a juris doctorate. In many countries, that merits being called "Dr. Aragón," over a certain amount of grumbling from the medical and Ph.D. ranks. What he won't be anymore is "Senator Aragón," and all that meant to someone who for three decades was a Roundhouse force to be reckoned with.

He leaves lots of friends in the Legislature -- and, despite formulized sharing of the appropriations pie among our state's six universities, Aragón should prove persuasive as he sets about filling Highlands' long-ignored needs.

Of course, he comes with baggage: Thirty years of lawmaking means millions of favors received -- and favors owed. Do those obligations accompany him on the trip up I-25? We don't think so; let his lobbyist pals gravitate to his successor in the Senate leadership -- and let him also walk on campus unencumbered by sinecure-seekers from Santa Fe and the South Valley.

And that goes for the governor's office: Anaya may be Bill Richardson's point man on the Highlands board of regents, but the governor should resist the urge to meddle in small-campus politics. Anaya and Aragón will have enough to do smoothing ruffled feathers among profs feeling sullied by polítícos poaching in the groves of academe. Let the governor keep his distance until commencement-address time next year -- by which time, we hope, there'll be dozens of achievements for which to praise President Aragón.

Among those accomplishments must be diplomas worth more than the paper they're written on; degrees leading to good jobs here in el norte for bright youngsters.

Highlands already is making excellent steps in that direction -- but they're only a beginning. Sen. Aragón, at 57, has the opportunity -- and the challenge -- of turning the 3,000-student school, in its delightful setting, into a multicultural magnet.

He's legendary in New Mexico politics. Now, by unleashing his prodigious energy while reining in his patrón instincts, he's in position to leave our region a truly wonderful legacy.

We wish him godspeed on his academic journey.