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News

‘Expertise matters’: UNM combats misinformation with Election Experts website

Addison Fulton | September 30

In anticipation of the presidential election, University of New Mexico Communications relaunched a website that features election experts who can help people find answers to their political questions. The website, called UNM Election Experts, showcases experts from UNM departments including economics, psychiatry, law, communications and political science. Beginning in 2012, the program has been launched every four years in accordance with the presidential election cycle, according to UNM political science professor Michael Rocca, who is an election expert specializing in policy and campaign financing. The website is meant to help streamline the process of finding experts for those looking to learn more about a given topic, he said.

News

ASUNM passes nine appropriations

Marcela Johnson | September 30

The Associated Students at the University of New Mexico passed nine appropriation requests, failed one appropriation request and passed six bills during their full senate meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 25.

Culture

Full steam ahead: New Mexico Heritage Rail celebrates Railroad Days

Lily Alexander and Addison Fulton | September 30

On the weekend of Saturday, Sept. 28, the New Mexico Heritage Rail hosted the second annual Railroad Days event, showcasing a restored 80-year-old steam train. The star of the event — held at the Albuquerque Rail Yards and adjacent Wheels Museum — was the ATSF 2926. According to the New Mexico Heritage Rail website, the train was originally built in 1944 and retired in 1956. From there, it was left abandoned in Coronado Park for decades, according to Ed Burggraf, a volunteer with the restoration.

News

Bernalillo County begins issuing automated speeding citations

Maria Fernandez and Marcela Johnson | September 30

On Wednesday, Sept. 25, Bernalillo County’s automated speed-enforcement cameras began sending citations to drivers caught speeding. The cameras were installed nearly a year and a half after Bernalillo County commissioners passed an ordinance to bring a software company to the county to curb speeding, according to the county website. When the cameras first started operating in August, they sent warnings through the mail to drivers caught speeding. They were not yet charging fines or sending citations, according to the website.

Opinion

OPINION: University Stadium needs a spiffier name

Addison Fulton | September 30

The football stadium at the University of New Mexico is located at 1111 University Blvd. It seats 39,224. Why do I tell you this? It’s to distinguish University Stadium from the countless other stadiums associated with universities, because the name isn’t doing that for me. I start this by confessing that I don’t know a lot about sports. I’ve tried, at several points, to get into basketball, baseball or football, just for the sake of school spirit. No avail. All too often, I find sports confusing at best and boring at worst. That said, I know about entertainment. I love wow-factor and branding. And, despite my difficulty getting into sports, I have always loved the iconography around UNM sports.

News

REVIEW: ‘Fantasmas’ obliterates boundaries

Elijah Ritch | September 27

In June, Max premiered the show “Fantasmas,” created by Salvadoran American writer and director Julio Torres. A surrealist comedy, it tells the story of a fictionalized version of its creator as he navigates an alternate — yet no less wacky — version of New York City. The show follows Julio through two main storylines: his attempts to circumvent his need for Proof of Existence — a dystopian type of identification — and his quest to recover a lost diamond-encrusted oyster earring. The earring would allow him to get a biopsy of a birthmark that he’s convinced is cancerous, seeing as both things are the same size and he can prove the birthmark has grown if he finds the earring.

News

City Council postpones vote on controversial sidewalk obstruction bill

Leila Chapa and Paloma Chapa | September 25

At a meeting on Sept. 16, the Albuquerque City Council decided to defer voting on a bill that would prohibit obstructing sidewalks, including with signs or banners. Community members spoke against the bill — and held a protest two days after the meeting — citing potential negative impacts on the unhoused community and concerns about First Amendment rights. The bill will be held to a vote on Oct. 7. Council bill O-24-42 is sponsored by City Councilor Joaquín Baca. He represents District 2, which encompasses Downtown and other parts of Albuquerque.

A UNMPD officer stands behind a police cruiser on Sept. 23, 2015.

News

Suspect arrested in Santa Fe after student was stabbed repeatedly

Lauren Lifke | September 24

On Saturday, Sept. 21, the University of New Mexico Police Department found a victim who had been stabbed at Lobo Village following an altercation at a party. A LoboAlert was issued to the community an hour later. The suspect and his girlfriend fled to Santa Fe, where the Santa Fe Police Department detained both of them, according to the police report for the incident. The suspect was later taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center, and his girlfriend was released.

Sports

Football: Lobos remain winless after loss to Fresno State

Rodney Prunty | September 23

The University of New Mexico football team matched up against the Fresno State Bulldogs on Saturday, Sept. 21. The Lobos struggled to find their rhythm on both sides of the ball, which ultimately led to them losing the game 38-21. The defense struggled to get off the field early, which led to Fresno State wearing down the defense and managing the clock for the majority of the game. The offense was not helping matters either as players came out flat, turning the ball over and getting off the field early into drives. Adding to all that, the Lobos were penalized a total of 17 times in the game — a tie for the most penalties in the program's history.

News

OPINION: What does Hispanic identity mean in New Mexico?

Lauren Lifke | September 23

If you’ve spent time in New Mexico, chances are you’ve met somebody with a Spanish last name who doesn’t speak a lick of the language. If you ask about their background, they might just say they’re Hispanic without mentioning a connection to any specific Spanish-speaking region. I’ve been one of these people. Growing up in Albuquerque, I never felt the need to elaborate any further than “Hispanic” when describing the ethnicity of my mom’s side of the family, and it wasn’t often that people inquired any further.

Sports

OPINION: New Mexican Hispanic athletes who defined their sports

Nate Bernard | September 23

Throughout its history, New Mexico has continued to enchant athletics by raising the best and brightest to compete both nationally and internationally. They bring to the table unique experiences gained from their upbringing in the diverse state. Sixteen athletes with ties to New Mexico competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Their success exemplifies our athletic tradition carried on from generation to generation. Though it would be impossible to showcase all of the incredible Hispanic New Mexican athletes, here are some whose impact can still be felt today.

News

Santa Fe obelisk trial awaits final decision

Maria Fernandez | September 23

The two-day trial to determine whether a controversial toppled obelisk will be returned to the center of the Santa Fe Plaza concluded on Sept. 13. A final decision has not been made as of Sept. 22. The obelisk displayed a plaque at the bottom that contained derogatory language toward Indigenous people. This caused outrage over the years and ultimately led to the toppling of the monument by protesters on Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 2020. The plague originally read, “To the heroes who have fallen in various battles with savage Indians in the Territory of New Mexico,” though “savage” had been scratched off over the years, according to National Geographic.

News

OPINION: Defiance in definitions: Reflections on the southern New Mexican identity

Marcela Johnson | September 23

I will be the first to admit I grew up confused by the New Mexican identity because it is a mixture of so many different heritages and experiences. Trying to understand myself and my community through the lens of a Mexican American from southern New Mexico feels like a full-time job. I grew up in Silver City, New Mexico, in a very proud Mexican/Midwestern household. My siblings and I were lucky that we were never told to deny our heritage. While I was allowed to be proud of my Mexican heritage, this was in part because I am also white and don’t have racist views directed toward me. Not everyone has that privilege.

Culture

In the green: Meet a New Mexican green chile roaster

Addison Fulton and Elijah Ritch | September 23

In all of its varieties, chile is a staple of New Mexican culture and cuisine. Chile composes iconic dishes such as chile relleno and posole; ristras are strung up everywhere; and even the state’s official question, “Red or green?” references New Mexicans’ deep love for their peppers. Jhett Browne is a chile roaster and seller whose family has been in the chile business since 1962. Roasted green chile did not become popular until around the 1980s, though Browne’s family began roasting its chile in 1977.

Culture

Keeping traditional New Mexican Spanish alive

Maria Fernandez | September 23

You may have never seen this hidden jewel in New Mexico, but there’s a chance you’ve heard it: a dialect of Spanish native to the Land of Enchantment. Traditional New Mexican Spanish is a dialect developed nearly 400 years ago as medieval Spanish blended with Mexican Spanish and the languages of the Indigenous peoples of northern New Mexico, according to the Associated Press. This fusion of language formed a local parlance not found anywhere else in the world.

Culture

Lobos y Lowriders: Cultura y comunidad on campus

Marcela Johnson | September 23

The second annual Lobos y Lowriders event on Sept. 18 was one of several events that kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month at the University of New Mexico, bringing New Mexican car culture and community to campus. Sponsored by the Chicana and Chicano studies department and the Student Activity Center, the Cornell Mall held twice as many vehicles as last year. Valerie Chavez, a CCS doctoral student, organized the event — which consisted of 12 cars — for the second time. “My main goal with throwing the event is to have as much representation of the lowrider community as possible,” Chavez said. “So the more people from the lowrider community I can get here, the better.”

Culture

REVIEW: The brilliance of the ‘Bless Me, Ultima’ film adaptation

Kelsa Mendoza | September 23

With an overwhelming amount of European witchcraft being depicted in both film and literature, “Bless Me, Ultima” is an arresting representation of curanderismo and Spanish folk magic in our very own New Mexico. Originally a novel published in 1972, Rudolfo Anaya’s “Bless Me, Ultima” is a coming-of-age story about cultural identity, faith and forgiveness. It would later be adapted into a movie in 2012, written and directed by Carl Franklin.

News

Rudolfo Anaya: Padrino, profesor y autor

Marcela Johnson | September 23

Prolific writer Rudolfo Anaya has deep ties to the University of New Mexico. Known especially for his first book “Bless Me, Ultima,” Anaya received three degrees from UNM and served as a professor emeritus in the English department before his death in 2020. Anaya is a foundational figure in Chicana and Chicano studies, English department associate professor Melina Vizcaíno-Alemán said. “He really put Chicano literature on the map — and I would say even more specifically New Mexico — in the larger national literary scene,” Vizcaíno-Alemán said.

News

UNM neuroscientist’s research could impact future brain injury studies

Arly Garcia | September 20

Understanding brain function is crucial to the world of science, but we can’t always get the full picture from a healthy brain, according to Jeremy Hogeveen, a cognitive neuroscientist and UNM professor. “If we’re doing our studies only on healthy subjects using brain scans, we tend to run into this causality problem where you can’t really infer that the brain is causing the behavior you’re seeing,” Hogeveen said. Overcoming the causality problem — coupled with his experience studying brain injuries as a postdoc at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago — sparked Hogeveen’s interest in the relationship between brain injuries and psychiatric function, he said.

News

Campus crime: Week of Sept. 9

Lauren Lifke | September 18

From Monday, Sept. 9 through Sunday, Sept. 15, there were 32 individual entries of crimes reported on or near the University of New Mexico campus that were entered into its daily crime log. Red paint poured on statue On Friday, Sept. 13, officers located a damaged statue, according to the crime log. The lobo statue that faces Central Avenue on the corner of University Boulevard had been covered in red paint. It was also adorned in a keffiyeh, according to a photo posted to X. A keffiyeh is a symbol of Palestinian liberation, according to NPR. As of Sept. 15, the keffiyeh no longer appeared on the statue, but the red paint remained.