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UNM Basic Needs Project grows into statewide study

Annya Loya | February 6

 In 2020, the University of New Mexico Basic Needs Project released a study that revealed that over a third of UNM students were food insecure, and nearly two-fifths were housing insecure. This year, led by principal investigator Sarita Cargas, the team will begin a year-long study that researches these insecurities at a statewide level. The statewide survey, which went live on Feb. 1, will run until March 15. The research teams hope to get a minimum response of 10% of each institution’s population including students, faculty and staff, according to Frederick.

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GPSA to introduce amendments to Graduate Scholarship Act during legislative session

Annya Loya | January 30

 On Monday, Jan. 30. the Graduate and Professional Student Association of the University of New Mexico will present the “Amending the Graduate Scholarship Act” bill during the New Mexico 56th legislative session to the Senate Education Committee. With this bill, GPSA hopes that they can provide a scholarship that could cover up to 100% of tuition fees for all graduate students throughout the state, with priority given to New Mexico residents, according to Isaiah Torres, the GPSA political director and Shaikh Ahmad, the GPSA president.

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City opens warming center due to freezing temperatures

Elizabeth Secor | January 30

 Due to harsh cold weather, the city of Albuquerque opened a warming center in Mesa Verde Community Center on Monday, Jan. 23. The hours of the center ran from 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Katie Simons, the public affairs specialist for the Department of Family and Community Services, wrote to the Daily Lobo about the danger low temperatures can bring. “The city of Albuquerque activates daytime warming centers when the temperature is below freezing and there is high wind and/or moisture — conditions when life and limb are most at risk for people living on the street,” Simons wrote.

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ASUNM approves over $30,000 for student organizations

Gabriel Saiz | January 26

  The Associated Students at the University of New Mexico distributed $31,545 among eight student organizations during a full senate meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 25. The senators also voted to allow themselves more flexibility on when to meet with their sponsored student organizations. All eight appropriations and the lone bill on the agenda passed unanimously, with one senator abstaining. ASUNM President Ian May told the Daily Lobo he intends to sign off on everything. Once per semester, student orgs can submit an appropriation – a request for travel funds and money for other one-time expenses, according to the ASUNM website.

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Community opposes potential structure at Elena Gallegos Open Space

Maddie Pukite | January 23

 The 640-acre Elena Gallegos Open Space, located in the foothills of the Sandia mountains, is currently the subject of concern among community members of the legality and consequences of a potential project from the Albuquerque parks and recreation department to create an education center in the space, according to Save the Elena Gallegos co-founders Viki Teahan and Katrina Sanchez. The potential educational center would be no larger than 5,000 square feet, according to Dave Simon, the director of the Albuquerque parks and recreation department. Since the 1960s, advocates have fought for protection of the park from development when the Albuquerque City Council began a tax to purchase the space in 1969, according to The Paper.

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City council continues to postpone decision on fate of zero-fare bussing

Zara Roy | January 23

 The Albuquerque City Council continues to stall the final decision on whether or not to continue zero-fare bussing and replace it with a pass system, deferring the bus pass ordinance for the eighth time on Wednesday, Jan. 18. This time, a third floor substitution was presented that combined the original pass system ordinance with two other ordinances meant to add additional security measures to the transit system. The newest floor substitution has since replaced any specific language regarding fares with a study on how to equitably distribute passes. If the ordinance is passed in its current iteration, the zero-fare pilot program would continue through June, after which a study on the program with recommendations on how to continue the program as well as a cost-benefit analysis of the creation of a fare box and distribution of bus passes shall be presented to the Council by September 2023.

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Protesters call for equitable abortion access in New Mexico

Maddie Pukite | January 23

 On Sunday, Jan. 22, dozens gathered outside of the University of New Mexico bookstore to call for reproductive justice on the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that established a constitutional right to an abortion under the privacy clause that was subsequently reversed in 2022. The rally was held in solidarity with the sister protest occurring at the same time in Clovis, New Mexico, according to Reyan Tuck, a UNM student and protest organizer. The intent was to call attention to the lack of abortion access in rural New Mexico, specifically Clovis, where the city commissioners recently passed a measure to restrict abortion access, similar to what has been done in other towns in rural New Mexico, including Hobbs, according to KRQE.

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UNM announces goals for 2023 legislative session

John Scott | January 23

 With the start of the 2023 New Mexico legislative session on Tuesday, Jan. 17, the University of New Mexico unveiled its priorities for the upcoming 2024 fiscal year. The priorities focus on research and public service project requests and general outlined goals UNM seeks to further and accomplish prior to the session’s closing at noon on Saturday, March 18. The more general legislative priorities, outlined by the University’s Office of Government and Community Relations, include recruiting and retaining current staff, faculty and health professionals; improving student support services as well as “workforce development, research and public service,” improving campus safety, retaining state-funded scholarships, improving health care and health care access, and promoting economic growth, according to the Office of Government and Community Relations.

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ASUNM to lobby for campus safety projects

Maddie Pukite | January 17

 The Associated Students at the University of New Mexico plan to lobby for their capital outlay projects during opening day of the 56th session of the New Mexico Legislature on Tuesday, Jan. 17. ASUNM hopes to secure funding for three projects, all of which are centered around safety on campus. They will be decided on by the administration, with limited amounts of student input, according to ASUNM President Ian May. Each year, ASUNM decides on a project that ASUNM legislative members will lobby for in Santa Fe via a capital outlay bill, according to May.

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Grad union reaches their first contract with UNM

Maddie Pukite | January 9

  The United Graduate Workers of the University of New Mexico’s first contract with UNM was ratified by the Union on Dec.16, 2022 and signed by Provost James Holloway on Dec. 22, 2022. This concludes bargaining that has been ongoing since early May, though not all are satisfied by the final agreement. The Union has been advocating for better working conditions for graduate workers at the University since 2020. After fighting for recognition as public employees from the Public Employees Labor Relation Board and having encountered numerous road blocks from the University, they were granted recognition and the right to unionize on Aug. 17, 2021.  

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UNM College of Nursing reintroduces accelerated BSN degree

Annya Loya | January 9

  Starting the semester of fall 2023, the University of New Mexico College of Nursing will be offering an accelerated bachelor’s of science in nursing as a second degree. The application period for the program began back on December 15, according to the Health Sciences Center website. This “new” pathway will allow individuals who currently have a college degree, preferably related to science, to acquire a degree in nursing at a faster pace: 16 months rather than the traditional 20 months. The pathway will provide access to all of the resources available at the college, “including state-of-the-art simulation and skills labs steps away from the College of Nursing building,” according to the Health Sciences Center website. 

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Graduating students share their fear of the unknown after college

Annya Loya | December 12

With fall graduation just around the corner, students graduating from the University of New Mexico and other universities alike may encounter a new set of obstacles upon completing their current college career. JahJett-Lyn Chavez will be graduating with two degrees: one in family and child studies and another in psychology. Chavez’s biggest concern after graduating is being able to pay for graduate school. Chavez intends to continue her education through the graduate program at UNM but worries about the lack of scholarships available for graduate students. She said she was able to pay the entirety of her undergraduate degrees through scholarships, but she won’t be able to do the same for her master's.

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UNM commemorates fall 2022 graduates

Annya Loya | December 12

On Friday, Dec. 16th, students graduating from the University of New Mexico will celebrate the culmination of their undergraduate careers at The Pit for the fall 2022 commencement ceremony. “It's something that (graduating students) should be proud (of) … It's a huge accomplishment,” Nancy Middlebrook, the University secretary, said. This semester’s ceremony includes the traditional welcome by UNM President Garnett  Stokes, as well as greetings from the Board of Regents, Associated Students at UNM President Ian May, and the Graduate and Professional Student Association President Shaikh Ahmad. The ceremony will finalize with a performance by Mariachi Tenampa.

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New ordinances stall future development of safe outdoor spaces for unhoused

Zara Roy | December 9

On Monday, Dec. 5, the Albuquerque City Council passed an ordinance on a 5-4 vote to effectively stop zoning privileges and new proposals for the creation of safe outdoor spaces, an initiative to create dedicated spaces for the unhoused to temporarily stay at and receive social service support. The Integrated Development Ordinance determines land use and establishes zoning regulations in the city of Albuquerque. This passage would remove all reference of safe outdoor spaces from the IDO, stopping future development of SOS in the city, though the two SOS that have already been approved and the three pending approval will still move forward.

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Officers detain demonstrators during protest on UNM campus against conspiracy theorist Charlie Kirk

Maddie Pukite | December 1

This story was originally published by Source New Mexico State Police in riot gear showed up at the Student Union Building at the University of New Mexico during a peaceful protest and detained three protesters of color on Wednesday, Nov. 30. The protest was held in response to Turning Point USA’s UNM chapter hosting a speaking event on campus with Charlie Kirk, the founder and president of the national conservative group.

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ASUNM senate calls for increased funding to UNMPD

John Scott | December 1

The Associated Students at the University of New Mexico voted to approve a resolution calling for an increase in funding for the UNM Police Department during their last full senate meeting on Wednesday, November 30. The approval comes in the wake of a deadly shooting that took place on UNM campus resulting in the death of two students.

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Vigil in Albuquerque honors people killed in Colorado Springs at Club Q

Maddie Pukite | November 28

This story was originally published by Source New Mexico The realities of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs were close to home for many in Albuquerque, and people gathered in Morningside Park on Tuesday evening to grieve the lives lost in the queer bar. Several people knew people at the club on Saturday, Nov. 19, and many at the vigil frequented it themselves. 

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City council passes resolution to donate animal tissue to UNM HSC

Zara Roy | November 28

The city’s Animal Welfare Department will now be directed to donate animal tissue from spay-and-neuter clinics to the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center for biomedical research, after a resolution unanimously passed during the Monday, Nov. 21 Albuquerque City Council meeting. This tissue will be used to create in-vitro culture models with the intention of reducing the number of animals used in laboratory testing. Dr. Xiaozhong Yu, a professor at the UNM College of Nursing, said that they have been working at UNM to develop and validate methods for using in-vitro models as a substitute for animal testing.

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OPINION: Now’s the time; let’s lose Twitter

Spenser Willden | November 28

Losers, rejoice — in a move sure to be celebrated by the worst men you know, Elon Musk completed his long-threatened acquisition of social media platform Twitter on Oct. 27, bringing with it changes that have prompted many users and staff members to finally call it quits. Verification overhaul, content moderation changes and more are all on the table and have already altered user experience nearly beyond repair. With Twitter going through rapid change, now is the time to leave it behind for good and move on to greener, less awful pastures. 

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UNM student killed, NMSU student injured in gunfight on campus

Annya Loya and Zara Roy | November 21

On Saturday, Nov. 19 a University of New Mexico student was killed and a New Mexico State University student was shot and injured in an altercation that resulted in a shooting at approximately 3 a.m. in the parking lot of Coronado Hall, a UNM dormitory. The shooting occurred when 19-year-old UNM student Brandon Travis and three other conspirators lured NMSU basketball player Mike Peake on campus to assault him. Travis then confronted Peake with a gun and shot him. Peake, who was also carrying a gun, then shot Travis, according to a press release from the New Mexico State Police. Travis was pronounced dead at the scene and Peake was taken to a nearby hospital, according to the Albuquerque Journal.