Lobos Basketball Tournament

Sports

Lobos drop third straight as Alford wins in Pit return

Joe Rull | February 19

The Lobo crowd gave former head coaches Steve Alford and Craig Neal a true Pit welcome Tuesday night, as the now-Nevada coaching duo were introduced to thundering jeers from 12,000 strong. "The Pit shouldn't be quiet," Alford said. "The Pit shouldn't be doing standing ovations or clapping for the opposing coach, no matter who it was. I was here for six years. I never saw that happen, so it's what makes The Pit very, very special." In the end, it was Alford and Neal — University of New Mexico's previous men's basketball head coaches directly prior to the current Paul Weir era — who ended up on top. Nevada led the Wolf Pack to an 88-74 victory and handed UNM (17-11, 6-9) its third straight loss.

Sports

Lobo baseball opens season at Sanderson Ford Classic

Spencer Butler | February 19

SURPRISE, A.Z. — The University of New Mexico baseball team played its first games of the season, taking part in the Sanderson Ford College Baseball Classic at Surprise Stadium in Arizona and splitting its games with two wins and two losses. UNM opened the season against 25th-ranked Oregon State, falling 11-4. This marks the third year in a row the Lobos have opened their season against the Beavers, with this installment getting away from the Lobos early as Oregon State ended the first inning with a 9-0 lead. Five of the runs came off junior pitcher Cody Dye, who was making his first start since 2018 after a season-ending Tommy John surgery and was unable to record an out before being pulled for sophomore Isiah Campa.

Culture

Zimmerman exhibit spotlights New Mexican women

Loreena Cain | February 19

Program Specialists Amy Winter and Mary Wise conceived and curated the digital exhibit "And Yet She Persisted: Women at UNM and Across New Mexico" for the Digital Initiatives and Scholarly Communications (DISC) office in Zimmerman Library. "And Yet She Persisted" is a web-based assemblage of nearly 1,000 records housed in Zimmerman. It highlights the accomplishments of women from the University of New Mexico and across the state. The digital exhibit uses sources such as graduation records, historical documents, biographies and interpretive essays from the library to show the role women have historically played in New Mexico.

News

Funding for Opportunity Scholarship comes through

Lissa Knudsen | February 19

After intense debate, the New Mexico state Senate approved $17 million for the Opportunity Scholarship for fiscal year 2021 on Feb. 19. With only a day and a half left in the legislative session, the only thing standing in the way of the funding being sent to the governor's desk is approval by the House of Representatives. If the bill — packaged into general appropriations legislation — is signed into the law, the money is set to be used for tuition and fee scholarships for students attending public postsecondary educational institutions or tribal colleges. The Senate also boosted the existing Lottery Scholarship fund by $10 million.

News

Parish Library to close permanently

Justin Garcia | February 19

For history undergraduate Keshell Mickens, the William J. Parish Memorial Library was part of her daily routine. "Sometimes I just want a break from Zim, and I like this library better," Mickens said. "It has a lot more outlets, and the study rooms are usually available." Mickens, who described herself as an introvert, said she comes to Parish to eat her lunch and study. She said Parish is empty and sparsely populated study spaces are quiet and calming — which is exactly the reason the library dedicated to business, economics, management and public administration will close this year.

News

Athletics takes million-dollar hit with new contract agreement

Justin Garcia | February 19

The University of New Mexico's Board of Regents unanimously approved a multi-media rights contract to replace the $4.4 million Learfield IMG deal. Athletics Director Eddie Nuñez estimated the new contract with Outfront Media will be worth around $2.9 million. The media rights deal, one of the Athletics Department's biggest cash cows, comes as UNM sports attempts to climb out of $4.4 million hole collected primarily under former Athletics Director Paul Krebs. Krebs is indicted on embezzlement charges. "Guaranteed contracts are not what they used to be. What the University of New Mexico had years ago was actually a really good agreement. But those opportunities have actually changed," Nuñez told the Board of Regents on Feb. 17.

Culture

Native American Studies turns 50

Beatrice Nisoli | February 19

University of New Mexico students and faculty gathered on Wednesday, Feb. 19 in the Student Union Building Ballrooms to celebrate 50 years since the Native American Studies (NAS) department's founding. In honor of its anniversary, NAS hosted its 16th annual Viola F. Cordova Symposium, which informed on the historical development of NAS, honored indigenous students and staff and promoted the cultural significance of Native American education. Tiffany Lee, the department chair with affiliations to the Diné and Lakota tribes, emceed the event.

Culture

Spring welcomes new edition of BSE

Annya Loya | February 19

Best Student Essays (BSE) returns to the University of New Mexico this April with their 2019-2020 spring edition. BSE is a nonfiction magazine student review of UNM and is published annually. It solicits nonfiction work including essays, photo essays, research, criticism, memoirs, foreign language with English translation, journalism, articles and more from UNM undergraduates and graduate students. The magazine, which has been part of UNM since the early 1980s, is meant to give students a platform to not only share their work but share new and different perspectives.

News

Alzheimer’s awareness tour to kick off in NM

Makayla Grijalva | February 18

The Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA) will kick off its 2020 national Educating America Tour at the University of New Mexico on Feb. 25. The event aims to educate New Mexico residents about the disease, brain health and caregiving for those with either dementia or Alzheimer's. The amount of people affected by Alzheimer's disease in New Mexico would be the largest town in the state outside of the Albuquerque metro area.

Culture

Vegans advocate for more vegans

Amanda Britt | February 18

Students don't often expect to see dead animals on campus sidewalks, but animal rights activists shocked passersby by displaying graphic footage of animals in the food industry last Thursday at the University of New Mexico. A vegan advocacy chapter, Anonymous for the Voiceless, set up two tents outside of Zimmerman Library — one with informational pamphlets and organizers giving information, the other with volunteers holding television screens depicting the horrors of animal cruelty, such as decapitating and skinning live chickens. "If I had known sooner what happens I would have gone vegan a lot earlier, but I wasn't exposed to this kind of footage," said Camille Severson, a recent graduate from Eldorado High School and vegan of seven months.

News

English integrated into engineering curriculum

Alex McCausland | February 18

The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering might not be the first place you'd expect to find English professor Catherine Hubka. Since the fall of 2017, Hubka has helped engineering students improve their writing and communication skills inside and outside the classroom. Hubka's presence in the department is thanks to a program called Formation of Accomplished Chemical Engineers for Transforming Society (FACETS) that brought her on as part of its writing program initiative.

News

ASUNM senator endorsements given green light

Alyssa Martinez | February 18

Student government senators and officials alike can now personally endorse candidates running for any Associated Students of the University of New Mexico position after the passage of Bill 3S on Feb. 12. Whether it be through social media posts or on-campus canvassing, student government officials can publicly support candidates as long as they keep in accordance with the University’s policy on political activity. Policy 2060 dictates that University employees cannot use UNM resources — such as logos or office supplies — to engage in any political activity without University approval.

News

Weekly Crime Briefs: Alleged sexual assaults and shoplifting

Annya Loya | February 18

Two reported assaults in two dates to UNM student: Shoplifting at UNM Bookstore by criminal trespasser: Subjected arrested for outstanding warrants

Sports

Lobos lose nail-biter to UNLV

Joe Rull | February 18

The freefall continues for men's basketball. The team has now lost seven of its last nine games after a nailbiter at home against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (13-14, 8-6 MWC). One of the nation's top free-throw shooting teams, UNM (17-10, 6-8 MWC) missed 7 of its final 11 shots from the charity stripe as the game slipped away. "It seemed like we just ran out of a little bit of gas," UNM head coach Paul Weir said."“We didn't seem to play with a ton of just energy tonight, to begin with ... it was probably the first time we felt just flat in a while."

Culture

UNM MFA student showcases new play 'Summertime'

Beatrice Nisoli | February 17

"Summertime | an interlude" chronicles the aftermath of a fatal store robbery through the tangled tales of four tormented characters grappling with the tragedy of individual circumstances coupled with a yearning to escape structural oppression. The urban stagnancy of a boiling summer day is punctured with a gunshot wound that leaves Red, an affable shopkeeper and mentor, fighting for his life. This cruel incident emotionally rocks the city to its core and proves an effective backdrop for four damaged characters' introspection. The plot unfolds through the deliberate actions and snippets of dialogue of two radio hosts, a convicted felon (David) recently released from prison and his sister (Windy), an anxious neighbor who bears the responsibility of owning Red’s shop (Syd) and a young father (Vince) struggling to satisfy the demands of hospital bills for his daughter, who is battling cancer.

News

Trans 101 breaks down transgender stereotypes

Lissa Knudsen | February 17

One of the most vibrant nightclubs in Albuquerque transformed into a community classroom Sunday afternoon, complete with a presentation and true/false interactive quiz questions. The Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico (TGRC) hosted the Trans 101 workshop in the Side Effex restaurant and bar. Adrien Lawyer, co-director of the TGRC, led the training, which included information about basic terms, definitions and concepts related to people who are transgender. "A trans person has an internal gender — what they know to be true about their gender on the inside — that doesn't match up with the sex they were designated with at birth," Lawyer said.

Culture

Professor emeritus writes series on German dialects

Daniel Ward | February 17

The University of New Mexico is now home to the first worldwide collection of research in German dialect literature in Zimmerman Library. UNM Professor Emeritus of German Peter Pabisch began writing his book "The History of German Dialect Literature Since the Middle of the 18th Century" in 2012. What originally was only supposed to be one book on the research of dialect turned out to be a six volume collection that took eight years to be published. One reason why Pabisch said he wrote the books was because the German language has such a deep background of sub-languages, and communicating between different regions is very difficult with the several different dialects of German.

News

Students voice safety concerns at homeless shelter forum

Alyssa Martinez | February 12

Talk of a $14 million Gateway Center on a vacant University-owned plot of land amassed a swath of student opinions at the Student Union Building atrium on Feb. 11. The undergraduate student government hosted the midday panel that included Associated Students of University of the New Mexico President Adam Biederwolf, Graduate and Professional Student Association President Muhammad Afzaal, two UNM administrators and the City of Albuquerque's Housing and Homelessness Deputy Director Lisa Huval. Huval said the Gateway Center may house around 300 people — based on how many people that the Westside Emergency Housing Center sees nightly — but said the number is not concrete.

Sports

Lobo football lands 23 recruits on National Signing Day

Spencer Butler | February 12

The University of New Mexico Lobo football team landed 23 new recruits last week — 22 being high school recruits. Of the recruits, 11 are for the offensive side of the ball, while 12 of the recruits are for the defensive side of the field, an area that the Lobos struggled in last season. For the offense, incoming head coach Danny Gonzales was able to ink five offensive linemen, three receivers, two tight ends and one running back.

News

ASUNM votes to raise student fees

Alyssa Martinez | February 12

A $5 fee raise is headed to the undergraduate student body for a vote during the March student government presidential and vice-presidential elections. 19 of the 20 undergraduate representatives voted for Bill 4S after nearly 30 minutes of public comment and debate over the strengths and weaknesses of each fee raise bill. This approval comes in the wake of what has been called a budget crisis within the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico body. John Cooke, Interfraternity Council (IFC) president and Sigma Chi fraternity vice president, returned to the full Senate to express his view on the importance of raising the student government fee during public comment.