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Student Fee Review Board opts not to reduce fees

The University of New Mexico’s Student Fee Review Board (SFRB) voted to hold fees steady for fall 2021, despite calls for reductions amidst the coronavirus pandemic. On Sunday morning, Oct. 25, the SFRB — after more than 10 hours of deliberations — approved the fall 2021 student activity fee recommendations on a unanimous 7-0 vote. Student activity fees are charged alongside tuition to all students registered on main campus and at the Health Sciences Center. These fees are assessed per capita — as enrollment increases, the total budget expands, giving the board more money to recommend for allocation.

‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ is un-American propaganda

Sacha Baron Cohen’s new movie “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” is a perverted threat to the decency of America costumed in a loose-fitting gray suit and a highly unconvincing, distracting mustache. This so-called “mockumentary,” or whatever other new-age label it dons, is a gross and unfunny attempt by quasi-socialist director Baron Cohen to deliver a kiddie pool reflection of American society and politics following the election of President Donald Trump and the coronavirus pandemic.

Elections 101: An interview with elections expert Lonna Atkeson

ALBUQUERQUE — With the 2020 general election just over a week away, some voters still may have questions about the election process — particularly those for whom this will be the first presidential election in which they’ve been old enough to take part. To help guide voters through this momentous, era-defining election, the Daily Lobo interviewed Lonna Atkeson, a political science professor and the director of the University of New Mexico’s Center for the Study of Voting, Elections and Democracy. The first step of participating in an election is, naturally, ensuring you are registered to vote.

Progressive legislative candidates again push for repeal of anti-abortion law

With a half-century anti-abortion statute still on the books that has the potential to once again restrict women’s reproductive health care access were the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling overturned, New Mexico state legislative candidates weighed in ahead of the Nov. 3 election with their stances on decriminalizing abortion. Pro-choice advocates feel an increasingly more urgent need to decriminalize abortion in New Mexico, especially since the Sept. 18 death of former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who served as a safety net for abortion health care in the United States.

UNM cancels classes, remotely

The University of New Mexico will be closed today, Tuesday, Oct. 27, due to inclement weather conditions. “All classes (including online and remote delivery classes) on UNM's main campus and at the Health Sciences Center have been canceled for today only,” according to the UNM Newsroom website.  A powerful storm system will continue in Albuquerque through Tuesday night, bringing a predicted four inches of additional snowfall, according to the National Weather Service. In addition, record-breaking cold air will continue with widespread sub-freezing temperatures and bitter cold wind chills. 

Concerns about voter intimidation loom in election run-up

Albuquerque resident Eleanor Chavez was driving by the 98th and Central early voting site on Saturday, Oct. 17 when she passed a caravan of flag-waving Trump supporters who drove through the parking lot. Hours later, she went back and saw a man with a Trump flag on the back of his truck yelling at voters before the police arrived. “Who does that? I’ve been voting for a hundred million years, and I’ve never seen anything like that,” Chavez said. Chavez said she was planning to vote that day but decided to wait because of the activity she observed, which she called “threatening.”

Analysis: What to watch for on election night

With Election Day just over a week away, President Donald Trump’s odds are looking grim. In national polling averages, Joe Biden led by 9.2 percentage points as of the evening of Oct. 25. Traditionally red states like Georgia and Arizona have turned into fierce campaign battlegrounds. Biden signaled his confidence in a tweet on Oct. 19, telling his supporters “let’s finish strong” while Trump publicly mused about the likelihood of his defeat at a campaign rally just days earlier.

UNM students vote for first time during tumultuous election

It’s no secret that the 2020 election has been and will be unique compared to others in modern history. Amidst a pandemic and historic economic crisis, the issues facing voters have perhaps never been so varied and complex in living memory. An experience that is already stressful for many new voters is now even more complicated, so the Daily Lobo sat down with five University of New Mexico first-time student voters to get an account of their experiences. Sophomores Jordynn Sills and JahJett-Lyn Chavez both shared mixed views on the election.

Oct 26, 2020 Comics

Oct 21, 2020 Comics

UNM’s Project ECHO gets $237 million in federal funding

Project ECHO, the University of New Mexico School of Medicine’s tele-mentoring initiative for medical providers, has been awarded $237 million dollars in federal funding. An award of this size is unprecedented. In comparison, all of the Health Sciences Center’s awards for the 2020 fiscal year totaled $202 million, according to Mark Rudi, an HSC spokesperson. The program is designed to provide “remote-infection control training and technical assistance,” according to a press release from the UNM Health Sciences Newsroom.

Way OUT West film festival offers platform for LGBTQ+ community

In a world where LGBTQ+ characters in mainstream media have been historically resigned to minor storylines and “bury your gays” tropes, the Way OUT West Film Festival recently provided a haven for original, queer content. Festival manager Jake McCook explained it as “a festival for and by other LGBTQ+ filmmakers” because these creators don’t often get their content picked up by other festivals or streaming platforms.

Domestic Violence Awareness Month highlights abuse in Albuquerque

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and Albuquerque has seen a drastic rise in cases since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. When the coronavirus began to spread in the United States, there was fear amongst domestic violence resource centers for victims trapped in isolation, according to Caitlin Henke, a program specialist with the Women’s Resource Center (WRC) at the University of New Mexico. “This sort of shelter in place just left people, victims, so vulnerable and people were leaving their homes less frequently,” Henke said. “People who were considering leaving domestic violence suddenly couldn’t leave. And then if your perpetrator never leaves the house, you don’t have the opportunity to flee or even do the things that they were planning to do, like make safety plans, freely talk to an advocate in a way that didn’t identify it.”

GPSA announces support for graduate worker union

University of New Mexico graduate student workers are organizing a union called United Graduate Workers of UNM, with the support of UNM Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA), as was announced to all graduate students via email on Monday. Pay, benefits and working conditions, all of which would presumably be the focus of union contract negotiations, “are of material importance to the ability of our graduate and professional students to access a high-quality education, maintain good standing in their graduate programs and complete their degrees in a reasonable timeframe,” the GPSA email said.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrated in Albuquerque

In celebration of the second annual Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the Democratic Party of New Mexico (DPNM) hosted a virtual celebration over Zoom and live on Facebook on Monday, Oct. 12. Speakers included Native artists, New Mexico representatives Deb Haaland and Derrick Lente, New Mexico State Senator Shannon Pinto, Senate candidate Brenda McKenna, County Commission candidates Leah Ahkee Baczkiewicz, New Mexico Court of Appeals Judge Shammara Henderson and many other Democratic representatives.

Medical abortion available to New Mexico women through telehealth

New Mexico residents can now obtain abortion medication through the mail. Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains (PPRM) is now participating in a study known as TelAbortion, which provides telehealth medical abortion services. The process is the same through TelAbortion as that of a regular medical abortion, but does not require patients to physically enter an abortion clinic.

Oct 18, 2020 Comics

The past, present and future fight for LGBTQ+ rights

October is LGBTQ History Month, and many community members have reflected on people and protests that have fought for LGBTQ+ rights and took the time to reflect on their hopes for the community’s future. Frankie Flores, director of the University of New Mexico’s LGBTQ Resource Center, discussed the history of LGBTQ+ people who fought for the community’s rights and the obstacles they faced, specifically the freed slaves who began to perform drag in the 1800s. Flores said the word homosexuality “was a term that was created to criminalize ... trans and queer folks. We (had) folks who were fighting against that in the 1860s and 1870s.”

Campus organizations lobby for $12.6 million in student fee funding

The University of New Mexico’s Student Fee Review Board (SFRB) held its first of two student forums on Thursday, Oct. 15, with close to 50 attendees and board members participating via Zoom. This year, 30 programs have applied for recurring funding, with six asking for an increase of more than $100,000 over what the board recommended last year. The SFRB is a student committee — consisting of five undergraduate and two graduate student leaders — that meets annually to draft recommendations on how approximately $12.6 million in student activity fees should be allocated.

COVID-19 jail outbreak jeopardizes vulnerable populations

The Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) on the far west side of Albuquerque has seen a dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases this month. Between Oct. 12-15, the jail reported 139 new cases. In response, public defenders are calling for police to cite people rather than arrest them when possible. MDC bookings show that over the past week, dozens of people have been jailed for minor, nonviolent crimes like possession of a controlled substance, driving with a revoked license and criminal trespassing. Trespassing is a charge often leveled against unhoused people, as the Daily Lobo previously reported in July.