It was early afternoon on Saturday Feb. 18. People had been slowly gathering downtown near Central Ave and Seventh Street all day in the hopes that they would run into the often publicly discussed actor and activist Shia Labeouf.
Yale law professor Akhil Reed Amar visited UNM last week to discuss the Constitution and its continuing importance in American society. The Daily Lobo was able to sit down with her to discuss her book, as well as the first month of the Trump administration.
Students receiving the lottery scholarship can plan on an $800 tuition spike, pending the outcome of legislation in Santa Fe, according to Terry Babbitt, the associate vice president of the Enrollment Management Division. For nearly 10 years, the lottery tuition fund has received a third of its funding from the taxation on liquor sales in the state. June 2017 marks the end date for channel of funding, and without renewal, the scholarship will drop from 90 percent tuition coverage to 60 percent.
“The Constitution is more than just a text,” said Yale professor Akhil Reed Amar said during his speech at Thursday evening. Amar is a distinguished professor of law and political science at both Yale Law and Yale College, where he teaches constitutional law. “(The Constitution) is an act of ordainment and establishment,” Amar said. “It lets people speak, lets people vote, even before the freedom of speech and freedom of the press are put in the words of the First Amendment.”
A new student group is coming to campus, centered around enabling students to build leadership skills while bridging the gap between political parties to create a safe environment to discuss political issues. The Young American Leaders Initiative practically formed itself, when wave after wave of distraught students approached 21-year-old UNM student Christopher Haquani with concerns about the results from November’s election, resulting in one of the most surprising outcomes in election history. Many students didn’t feel safe and were worried about what was going to happen to them, their families and their friends, Haquani said.
The path to a cure for cancer and aging may be littered with beauty products and vitamins, but the true advances in this realm can’t be seen with the naked eye. Eric Prossnitz, a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Health Sciences Center, has spent his career studying the invisible and complex business of cell signaling. Taking place in his lab at UNM’s Comprehensive Cancer Center is a foray into the study of how one gene, GPER, plays an important role in the body. A recent discovery by Prossnitz and his team has found that this gene holds some of the secrets into the processes of aging and cancer.
“Our Glass Figures,” a show produced by the Mud&Wine theater collective, explores intersectionality, rape culture, empowerment, and the struggles and nuances of womanhood in contemporary America. The show ran for one week each at the Tricklock Performance Laboratory and The Cell Theater. “The show is a combination of dance, song, sketch comedy, poetry and personal narrative,” writer Caroline Graham said. “Its structure is cyclical and fragmented, and the content ranges from the darkly humorous to the deeply personal and tragic.”
What could improve Smith Plaza?
For friends and colleagues of UNM student Juan Romero, who passed away last week, the reality hasn’t sunk in. “I’m still partly in the shock phase. I haven’t fully accepted it,” said Armando Martinez. “I feel compelled to text him still.” When Martinez met Romero seven or eight years ago at a birthday party, he said the two became fast friends with a lot in common, including their musical tastes and a similar, “goofy” sense of humor. “He was a very loyal friend, and the type of person you only meet once in a lifetime,” Martinez said. “Definitely a character for sure.”
“Hello gorgeous world” was written in massive curly letters on a free speech beach ball in Smith Plaza Wednesday afternoon. The inflatable beach ball — standing taller than some students — was brought to Smth Plaza by the UNM chapter of Young Americans for Liberty as a way to remind students of the importance of free speech, and to create dialogues between different-minded groups, according to YAL President Jess Ceron.
Innovation Academy Professor Robert DelCampo, of Anderson School of Management, attended UNM’s Board of Regents meeting Tuesday morning to discuss The Innovation Academy, a new school program of which he is the executive director. The Innovation Academy launched in August 2015 with the intention to foster innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship among students. With over 541 students signed up across 31 different majors since its conception, the program has blown past the goal set by former President Bob Frank of 15 students enlisted per year.
Nursing, physical therapy, dental hygiene, emergency medicine and medicine students were all brought together Tuesday to learn about helping someone in a mental health crisis. The Interprofessional Education Office in the Health Sciences Center put together the two-part mental health first aid certification course and Amy Levi, director of interprofessional education, said they thought it would be a good tool to give students. “I don’t know that students often have the skills or the tools to say to a classmate, ‘I think you’re feeling a little stressed out’ or ‘are you feeling like you want to hurt yourself’ or something like that,” Levi said. “Those are taboo subjects unless you feel like you have the knowledge to be able to interact with somebody that is experiencing that kind of crisis.”
At UNM, there is a communication time delay regarding safety advisories between the University and the campus community. The delay — the amount of time from when an incident occurs until a LoboAlert is distributed — exposes potential dangers on or around campus that are cause for concern for some in the campus community LoboAlerts is the means of communication that lets the campus community know, via text message and email, when there is a safety issue on campus, typically related to a reported criminal act.
Battery at Casas Del Rio On the afternoon of Feb. 5, three victims arrived at the UNMPD station to report that their roommate at Casas Del Rio had been battering them for a few months, according to a police report. Victim One (who had a small red mark on the left side of his neck) said early that morning, the suspect asked him to turn down his already low music and began to yell at him. The victim said he asked the suspect to leave him alone when the suspect placed him in a headlock for around three minutes. Victim One said after the suspect released him from the hold, he stayed on the other roommates’ side of the suite until the following morning.
“I don’t know if I want to go to the very end, with a death from cancer,” said Aja Riggs of Santa Fe, addressing a room full of decision makers at the Roundhouse as she recalled the day she considered ending her life. Riggs’ testimony was in support of making assisted suicide legal in New Mexico. “I thought that if it came to choosing a more peaceful death I would have to do it all by myself to keep from implicating anyone else,” she said.
UNM acting President Chaouki Abdallah held his first town hall Monday in the SUB so students, touching on the current University atmosphere and its budget situation. The event only lasted about a half hour, and though only three questions were asked, Abdallah answered them all thoroughly. Abdallah outlined three specific goals he has as acting president: focus on student academic success, work to improve the campus climate and the level of trust between students, faculty and administration, and to work with legislators and regents on UNM’s difficult financial situation.
Former New Mexico House Speaker Don Tripp announced Tuesday that he will step down from his appointment to the UNM Board of Regents, due to a regulation in the state Constitution. Governor Susana Martinez announced the appointment of Alex Romero, CEO of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, to replace him on the board. Tripp was appointed to fill one of the two vacant seats on the board just three weeks ago, but in a statement released Tuesday, he said he was removing himself from consideration due to a section in the state Constitution that prevents legislators from serving in a civil government post during or within a year after serving in Congress.
During last week’s Associated Students of UNM Senate meeting, the UNM’s Women’s Rugby team was granted an appropriation of $17,347 for travel and uniforms, while ASUNM Student Special Events received $16,583 for the upcoming Fiestas event. The appropriation originally requested by the Women’s Rugby team was $29,534, which would pay for travel, professional services and new uniforms to replace the 5-year-old ones currently being used. SSE requested $20,000 for the Fiestas — one of the biggest events the group hosts on an annual basis — on the grounds that the money with help with booking a reputable musician for the event.
The University of New Mexico announced Friday that season ticket prices for the upcoming football season will be reduced by 10 percent across the board. Head coach Bob Davie said he has appreciated the support from Lobo fans and feels everyone should focus on the people that show up to see the team play, instead of trying to figure out why there are more fans in the stands. But he said he would surely welcome more filled seats, and the University is making a targeted effort to boost attendance.
Michael McGarrity is an award-winning author who has published 15 novels over the duration of an illustrious career. He wrote about law enforcement, the judicial system and psychotherapy before penning his first novel, “Tularosa”. With the publication of “Tularosa,” McGarrity turned to writing full-time, and many of his novels have been national bestsellers. He has been recognized with several awards for this work, including the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts in Literature, the Frank Waters Exemplary Literary Achievement Award and the Santa Fe Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, Literature. The Daily Lobo sat down with McGarrity to talk about his craft, student writers and the importance of literature.
Solutions by The State News
