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‘Common Ground’: UNM hosts campus tree celebration

On April 1, the University of New Mexico hosted a campus tree celebration with speakers, live-music, a seed-swap, tree-shaped cookies and a live tree-planting demonstration. The event corresponded with the beginning of April as Earth Month. For the first time, UNM was recognized as a higher education “Tree Campus” by the Arbor Day Foundation. To qualify for the designation, an institution must meet certain criteria — including having a campus tree advisory committee, a campus tree-care plan, dedicated annual expenditures for trees, annual Arbor Day observance and a service learning project that encourages student engagement, according to UNM Director of Sustainability Anne Jakle.

Guild Cinema April preview

Here are some of the films Albuquerque’s Guild Cinema — a short distance from the University of New Mexico campus — will show in April. From April 8-10, the Guild will screen the 1980 film “The Elephant Man” as a part of its continuing tribute to David Lynch, who died in January. The film is a fictionalized account of the life of Joseph Merrick, a 19th-century Englishman with severe facial deformities. Played by John Hurt, he is discovered in a freak show by a doctor, played by Anthony Hopkins, who rescues and takes care of him. 

OPINION: Bobbleheads of the week — UFC Fight Night edition

Where there’s a victor, there’s a loser, and sometimes certain athletes contribute to their team’s or their own shortcomings. These athletes are favorably called bobbleheads. This week in the UFC, we had firework fights and lackluster fights. Here are some athletes who fell off.

Isotopes get a sting in their swing after loss to the Bees

On Thursday, April 3, the Albuquerque Isotopes played the Salt Lake Bees for the third game in the series. Both teams battled for the win, which led to a fairly close game with a 5-3 Salt Lake win. This loss marked the second for the Isotopes in the series. It was a tough 15-1 loss for the Isotopes on Tuesday, April 1, but they quickly recovered for Wednesday's game, winning 17-2. Thursday’s game was a challenge for both teams and it was tough to make runs, making the game one of the longest in the series so far.

Bulls and cowboys ride into town for Ty Murray Invitational

Even though basketball season has ended, there is still noise, excitement and a lot of dirt in The Pit. But this time, some of the athletes are of a more bovine variety. From March 28-30, The Pit hosted its annual Professional Bull Riding Ty Murray Invitational. Over the three days of action, Albuquerque was home to some of the top bulls and bull riders in the world, and The Pit was packed with a sea of denim, turquoise jewelry and cowboy hats. The riders are fighting for a chance to go to the PBR world finals, which the top 40 riders are all invited to.

BODYTRAFFIC brings high-level contemporary dance to Popejoy Hall

On Friday, April 4, contemporary dance company BODYTRAFFIC will travel from Los Angeles to perform at Popejoy Hall. “Led by Artistic Director Tina Finkelman Berkett, BODYTRAFFIC is known for its stunning performers, diverse technical mastery, and commitment to dynamic repertoire that is captivating for dance lovers and dance newcomers alike,” a Popejoy press release reads.

Isotopes rebound from rough opener, crush Salt Lake behind explosive fifth inning

After a brutal 15-1 loss on Tuesday, April 1, the Albuquerque Isotopes flipped the momentum completely. They dominated the Salt Lake Bees in a 17-2 blowout at Isotopes Park on Wednesday, April 2. The Isotopes struck early and never looked back. In the bottom of the first inning, Adael Amador stole home on a wild pitch to open the scoring, and a Salt Lake error brought in two more. Ryan Ritter extended the lead with a solo home run in the second, and by the time the fifth inning rolled around, the home team was up 5-0 and still heating up.

Isotopes drop first game of the series against the Salt Lake Bees

The Albuquerque Isotopes had a 15-1 loss against the Salt Lake Bees on Tuesday, April 1. This was the first game of the series between the Isotopes and Bees. To add insult to injury, this was also the Isotopes home opener for the season — one they will look to forget. Pitching and batting were the two biggest issues for the Isotopes all night. The weather for the game could have been a factor in the Isotopes’ struggle, as the wind was intense. But it cannot be used as an excuse, considering the Bees played in the same conditions and scored 15 runs.

What is the difference between antisemitism and anti-Zionism?

Last month, University of New Mexico Honors College Interim Dean Leslie Donovan sent an email to all Honors College members reporting that antisemitic messages were found written on a whiteboard in the Honors College building. According to Donovan’s email, the messages on the whiteboard said that “folks with Zionist perspectives are not welcome here.” Donovan asked recipients of the email to "immediately report information if they know who was responsible for writing the messages.” UNM anthropology professor Les Field told the Daily Lobo that antisemitism and anti-Zionism are completely different — and outlined the distinctions between the two.

LETTER: Liberal university administrators are fascism’s most eager collaborators

On March 8, the Department of Homeland Security forcefully disappeared Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student who was a prominent figure in Columbia’s Palestine Solidarity Encampment and their movement for divestment from Zionist apartheid. DHS came to Khalil’s apartment building, which is owned by Columbia University, and forced themselves into his home. They arrested Khalil and threatened to arrest his wife when she asked who they were. DHS arrested Khalil by claiming his “student visa” had been “revoked.” When Khalil stated that he was not in the U.S. on a student visa but was in fact a permanent legal resident, DHS officers said they had “revoked that too.”

UNM releases draft changes to affirmative action policies

The University of New Mexico released prospective changes to its affirmative action policies on Friday, March 28. The draft policies — which largely remove references to affirmative action — are available on the UNM Policy Office website for the campus community’s review and commentary through Friday, April 4. Affirmative action at UNM seeks to promote race and gender diversity in employment by recruiting qualified women, minorities, people with disabilities and protected veterans, according to UNM Compliance, Ethics, & Equal Opportunity.

A society collapsed: PATS gives up on ticketing

University of New Mexico Parking and Transportation Services recently announced that it will entirely give up on handing out parking citations, ushering in a new era of vehicular chaos unprecedented in modern society. Patrick Patterson, director of PATS, said the organization has been officially “wrecked.” “PATS has always been a proud and definitely fair organization. We kept the peace. We maintained order. Now, we’ve fallen apart due to internal pressures and public mockery. So you win, you animals. We give up,” Patterson said. “You’re all on your own now. Let’s see if you like the world you wake up in when you wake up without a citation on your window.”

Comic, March, 31 2025

UNM to deliver LoboAlerts Paul Revere-style

The University of New Mexico announced it would switch its LoboAlert method to echo historical figure Paul Revere after students complained about delayed notifications of campus crime. Now, in the event of anything from arson to feathered hat theft, students will hear calls of “RUN, HIDE, FIGHT” and the clomping of horse feet across campus. In a statement to the Daily Lobo, UNM Police Department spokesperson Robert Newman wrote that the department hopes the new system will help students protect themselves — and stop complaining. “It was clear that we needed a change,” Newman wrote. “And who better to inspire us than Paul Revere, arguably the most effective messenger in history?

Duck exodus at UNM begins as Stokes surrenders to divine feathered wrath

After weeks of campus chaos brought about by divine poultry intervention, University of New Mexico President Garnett Stokes reversed her decision on the ducks’ exile to UNM Championship Golf Course. The ducks will soon return to the Duck Pond on main campus. Quackses, the former personal duck of Stokes, has emerged as a leader among the duck resistance. In protest of the new policy, Quackses waddled to Stokes’ desk outside Scholes Hall and presented his demands, which Stokes swiftly rejected. “Let my ducklings go” Quackses quacked to Stokes.

UNM takes neutral stance on its investment in toilet-removal companies

A disclosure of the University of New Mexico’s investments reveals that it holds shares in three companies directly involved in forcibly removing toilets from buildings, leaving bathrooms with nothing but an exposed sewage pipe on the floor. Some holes have not been properly covered, leaving a sewage gas smell in bathrooms. The companies, which are responsible for removing and destroying millions of toilets from buildings worldwide, include Flushed 04, Sludge and Tefflawn Toilet. According to the companies’ websites, toilet vanishing is indiscriminate, and “any property can be next.” As of publication, the university has not had any reports of missing toilets.

Who is cherry and silver and under the sea? The Lobo football team!

The University of New Mexico football team could be shipped to play in Bikini Bottom if the Lobos suffer another losing season, according to a whistleblower in the University’s Athletics Department. After a lackluster finish last season, the Lobos are under pressure to deliver a winning record or face a total rebrand. Anonymous sources within the department say officials are in “preliminary talks” with the underwater city to negotiate a team relocation deal should the program flounder again.

Ducks vs. turtles: Duck Pond renovations spark $42 billion gentrification feud

As life should be returning to the University of New Mexico Duck Pond, a drained concrete tub sits lifeless. The Daily Lobo has uncovered a secret document that details renovations at the Duck Pond that will create duck suburbia — a project that is more than $42 billion over budget. “First we deal with swan gentrification, and now this,” Shelly Tortuga, one of the lead Duck Pond turtles who helped stop the 2023 swan gentrification, said. Tortuga feels that the ducks have turned on their neighbors, she said. Before the renovations began, the ducks would tip the turtle logs as they slept, Tortuga said.

LoboAlert system becomes too responsive

Following complaints of delayed and missing campus emergency alerts, the latest cadence of LoboAlerts sent by the University of New Mexico Police Department has students rolling — though depending on who you ask, that could be either the disapproving kind or the laughing kind. “I mean, come on: ‘RUN, HIDE, FIGHT: Jessica Simmons just walked into the SUB and her new Spring outfit is KILLING IT’?” UNM student Cheese Louise said, reciting an email he received last week when the weather began to heat up and students began to dress down.

Culture editor wins Daily Lobo Fight Night Championship

Prize-fighter and Daily Lobo culture editor Addison Fulton recently claimed another victory in the Daily Lobo office’s weekly fight. The student paper hosts a Fight Night each week to build community and foster a sense of shared trauma, which every newsroom needs. The winner of the fight receives a commemorative belt and extra designated space in the newspaper for their articles. The fights have only one rule: The last one standing gets to decide what goes on the front page. The fights started at the end of last semester, when Fulton beat sports editor Rodney Prunty in the first-ever Fight Night, establishing a tradition that is expected to last centuries. The inspiration came from Fulton’s claim that hitting a baseball isn’t that hard, to which Prunty took offense. This started a feud between the two, prompting Fulton to initiate the first attack.