UNM Diversity Council hears KIVA Club’s concerns on campus climate and funding
After presentations made by KIVA Club representatives, the UNM Diversity Council agreed on resolutions to support the club and its leaders and strengthen the campus climate.
During the presentations, the three representatives for KIVA Club — Demetrius Johnson, Jennifer Marley and Tiayrra Curtis — noted an uptick in campus violence and cited concerns regarding its budget.
The club recently proposed an $8,000 budget for 2017 at the annual ASUNM student organization budget hearing. Johnson, the club’s president, told the council that the budget committee “prodded” about the club’s budget, which is a break from the norm.
For the past four years, the committee had approved all aspects of the club’s budget request, Johnson told the Lobo. However, ASUNM budget figures suggest that is not the case. For example, in 2015 the club requested $15,647, but only received $7,960.
After these figures were brought to Johnson’s attention, he admitted that he might have been mistaken.
Johnson also added in the Council meeting that a drop in ASUNM funding could necessitate more fundraising.
The Nizhoni Days Pow-Wow, organized annually by the KIVA Club, costs $10,000, and the $8,000 the Club requested would go toward the event.
The Nizhoni Days Pow-Wow has been held annually at UNM for 61 years.
The presenters asked for the Council’s support in the March 8 ASUNM Senate meeting that will determine the Club’s funding, and the Diversity Council promised their support, saying efforts would be made to have a representative in attendance.
“This is an opportunity to support the perspectives of the KIVA Club in terms of framing the (Nizhoni Days) Pow-Wow as an important UNM tradition,” said the Vice President of the Division for Equity and Inclusion Jozi de Leon.
In addition to funding concerns, the KIVA Club reiterated their concern of the changing campus climate.
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“People have become emboldened to outwardly express hate crimes,” said Marley, KIVA Club vice president. “There’s an overall sense for students of color and marginalized students that the University of New Mexico has become more hostile. We, as KIVA Club, do this because we fear for our lives, health and safety.”
“We realize our leadership is needed,” Johnson said. “We feel we need to tell the administration ‘we’re here, and our voices need to be heard.’”
Diversity Council Chair Mario Rivera addressed the presenters, saying their concerns had been heard.
“We stand with you,” Rivera said. “We need to follow-up; we need to act.”
To address concerns, the Council pledged to create a statement to implement campus-wide action and demonstrate ways the Council and UNM value diversity.
A six-person group was designated at the meeting to outline the statement early next week.
Council endorses Prefered Name Initiative
At the Wednesday meeting, the Diversity Council also unanimously approved a policy to allow a student’s preferred name on Lobo ID cards and in UNM systems.
Janice Devereaux, the Transgender Inclusion Specialist from the LGBTQ Resource Center, made the presentation to the Council, where Devereaux focused on issues transgender students face.
“(The current policy) has caused a lot of issues for trans students,” Devereaux said. “When the name they go by doesn’t match their student ID, that’s a problem.”
According to the LGBTQ advocacy website Campus Pride, 159 universities have implemented similar policies.
Devereaux noted that changes would include names on class lists and ID cards, but not to official transcripts, tax forms, health records or other on document when a person’s legal name is required.
The Diversity Council approved the policy, urging “the University of New Mexico to look at structural changes to institutionalize the initiative.”
While the council’s approval does not implement the policy, it will be formally proposed to the acting Provost, Craig White.
After, it will be further considered by administration and once adopted, coding changes will have to be made to UNM systems to accommodate the change.
Brendon Gray is a news reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @notgraybrendon.
