Feb. 15: UNMPD was dispatched to the UNM North Golf Course in reference to a fight. According to the report, the victim told police that he was hit in the head with a golf club by the suspect. According to UNMPD officials the victim had a cut on his head, however, the suspect alleged he was defending himself and never struck the victim with a golf club. UNMPD submitted the case to the district attorney.
An English professor by trade, Finnie Coleman served as the Africana Studies Department’s administrator at UNM in 2005 before he became the dean of University College. Coleman has recently completed a book that is 10 years in the making. The book, which contains chapter titles such as “Am I White Enough For You?”, touches on a variety of subjects including hip-hop culture, authenticity, identity and post-racial America. As Black History Month nears its end, the Daily Lobo sat down with Coleman to talk about issues of race in America.
Members of the Student Union Building’s joint advisory board are in the early planning stages of what could become the SUB’s first major renovation in at least 10 years. Vice President of Student Life Walt Miller, who is spearheading the process, said the long-term needs of the SUB are their top priority. The current stage involves collecting data and conducting analysis of who uses the SUB and for what, to determine if a renovation is a part of those long-term needs, he said.
Parking citations are a universally disliked part of attending UNM, and most students have no idea where the money goes. Citations have gradually increased over the past two years, producing relatively substantial amounts of revenue for the Parking and Transportation Services Department. According to PATS, there have been 40,988 citations given out in fiscal year 2014 and 40,083 distributed in fiscal year 2013. At $20 to $25 a citation, the total fines for 2014 add up to $1,096,255. However, the actual revenue owed from the fines is $926,934 and about 85 percent of that is actually collected.
The Associated Students of UNM unanimously passed a resolution to further affirm its stance opposing possible lottery scholarship cuts. Resolution 5S comes in the wake of a New Mexico Senate bill that would remove the mandate ensuring the scholarship 30 percent of lottery profits. If passed, Senate Bill 355 will allow the 30 percent minimum to be done away with in favor of an increased amount of money going to the promotion of the lottery as well as lottery prizes.
As part of Wednesday’s National Adjunct Walkout Day, community members from CNM and UNM gathered at the corner of University Boulevard and Coal Avenue to protest proposed right-to-work legislation and, what the demonstrators called the exploitation of part-time faculty. The group, which consisted of around 30 people at the height of the protest, carried signs and informed passersby about the plight of part-time instructors. Those adjunct professors make up around 70 percent of the community college’s workforce, according to a press release issued by the protest organizers. According to the release, adjunct or part-time professors teach 63 percent of classes at CNM. They receive an average of $1,000 less for each class than full-time instructors, and adjuncts are only compensated for four hours a week per class, regardless of the total time they spend creating curriculum, grading assignments and helping students outside the classroom.
Dr. Pope L. Moseley, professor and chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at the UNM School of Medicine, has been named dean of the College of Medicine and executive vice chancellor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, according to a Health Sciences Center press release. Moseley, who joined the faculty at the UNM Health Sciences Center in 1995, is a School of Medicine distinguished professor, and he has also served at the UNM Health Sciences Center as an associate dean for research and chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, the statement said.
The Women’s Resource Center launched the first part of its Women and Leadership Series on Wednesday, which aims to help female students break through the glass ceiling and land the job of their dreams. The series debut focused on the importance of first impressions during a professional interview and allowed participants to practice their approach to creating a personal story.
UNM President Bob Frank delivered words of praise about the numerous financial donations and community partnerships between the University and Nusenda, the new name for the former New Mexico Educators Federal Credit Union, at an unveiling of the new sign at its Lomas location across from campus on Tuesday. UNM has maintained a partnership with Nusenda for more than 25 years, and the credit union has designed many programs to help students manage their finances, according to a press release. The credit union also has a location in the SUB.
While students and other New Mexicans continue struggle with food insecurity, UNM has programs to help students and members of the University community. The Lobo Food Pantry, which was initiated a year ago, offers a food bank several times a year. Headed by Lisa Lindquist, a student affairs specialist in the Dean of Students Office, the pantry has worked with Roadrunner food bank since February 2014. Roadrunner sends a truck to a mobile food pantry — usually once a month during the spring and fall semesters — to assist those students, staff and members of the UNM community who need help in stocking their kitchens, Lindquist said.
The UNM History Department is working to prove to students that the value of an advanced degree in history is not a thing of the past. In partnership with the American Historical Association and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the History Department will be putting on a two-day seminar titled “What Use Is History? Scholarship, Skills and Careers,” from Feb. 26-27.
UNM’s Office of Academic Affairs has appointed Robert DelCampo, aprofessor in the Anderson School of Management, as the director of Innovation Academy. Innovation Academy, the academic arm of Innovate ABQ, is scheduled to launch in the fall. The Innovation Academy will essentially consist of a program of ongoing classes across many different majors, with a focus on entrepreneurism, President Bob Frank said.
Kids often say they want to be astronauts when they grow up, but graduate student Zach Gallegos has never wavered from that dream. And now he’s closer than ever to getting that chance. After surviving two elimination rounds, he’s made it into the final 100 candidates for a mission to Mars. “It’s definitely a feeling of excitement and fulfillment. It’s like my life’s work, my life’s plan, paid off,” Gallegos said.
Amidst criticism from advocacy agencies, the Albuquerque Family Advocacy Center is defending its policy of requiring sexual assault survivors to undergo background checks, or safety assessments as they are now called, before being treated by specially trained nurses and receiving other services that only they provide. Teresa D’Anza, program director at Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, said she agrees with the policy, and that it has never come up as an issue for those who come seeking services. SANE, which is housed within AFAC, provides important medical services to sexual assault survivors, such as rape kits used to identify assailants.
In the wake of numerous deadly encounters between police and African Americans across the country, an intense national debate has been raging about the intersection of police brutality and race. Last week UNM students joined the conversation by inviting black police officers to share their experiences on the front lines of this battle. On Feb. 19 the UNM Black Student Union held a conference titled “Do You Know Your Rights?”, an event held in conjunction with Black History Month featuring a panel of African American police officers answering various questions about law enforcement issues and the difficulties of being both an African American and a police officer, or being “black and blue.” “For me, being a black law enforcement officer is one of the most challenging things I’ve ever faced in my life,” said officer Dajun Clark. “Just for the simple fact that when we walk into a room we don’t get the benefit of the doubt, and that’s one of the major things that I’ve noticed.”
Several impassioned students voiced their anger during Wednesday’s Associated Students of UNM meeting over the tabling of a resolution that would have encouraged the University to no longer recognize Columbus Day, and instead celebrate Native American resistance to colonization by the explorer. Emotions flared during the portion of the meeting devoted to comments from the packed gallery. Several students and some community members expressed their disappointment at the student governing body, hurling remarks such as “racist,” “evil” and “ignorant” at the senators and urging them to “change the damn name” of the federal holiday. Although members of the KIVA Club, which promotes Native American issues and identity, and other organizations criticized the student governing body for being ignorant, the backlash may have fueled by misunderstanding.
UNM’s Young Americans for Freedom rallied on Thursday to celebrate the recent failure of state legislation that would limit citizens’ access to firearms. The group also educated students on gun rights laws with the hope of gaining support for its organization. The Firearm Transfer Act, or House Bill 44, would have criminalized non-dealer firearm transfers at gun shows, according to the New Mexico Legislature website. The so-called “gun show loophole” currently allows any person to buy a gun from a private seller without undergoing a background check or being subject to other regulations.
A former UNM student who alleged that two New Mexico football players and a third man raped her last April filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the University, alleging violations of Title IX regulations. The lawsuit states it is “arising out of alleged willful indifference of UNM in the manner in which it responded, or failed to respond, to her report of a gang rape on and near campus committed by UNM football players.” Crusoe Gongbay and SaQwan Edwards, who were UNM football players at the time, as well as CNM student Ryan Ruff were arrested on charges of rape, which was alleged to have occurred in Ruff’s BMW. The charges against the three were dropped on Aug. 12.
New research on campus may widen UNM’s resources for a minority group – the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and intersex community. Kristopher Goodrich, program coordinator and assistant professor of Counselor Education in the College of Education’s Department of Individual, Family and Community Education, is researching how to add diversity within counseling sessions at UNM. The program focuses on understanding the best ways to counsel LGBTQI individuals. People within the LGBTQI group are an important part of the community on campus, he said.
A college degree can mean the difference between earning a livable wage and living paycheck-to-paycheck — but that degree hangs on academic honesty. Syllabi handed out at the start of each semester often include some reference to plagiarism and the punishment that stems from such writing violations, but the boundaries of what is and is not academic dishonesty are still unclear. Each campus department handles possible plagiarism differently, said Robert Burford, student conduct officer in the Dean of Students Office. Some departments have a specified policy teachers should use. Others let faculty decide for themselves. No matter who makes the decision though, the policy should match up with UNM’s Academic Policy, he said.
Solutions by The State News
