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UNM lifts COVID-19 vaccination requirement

Lauren Lifke | April 17

The University of New Mexico is no longer requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for its students and employees effective March 13, according to an email that the Office of the President’s communications team sent out last month. The announcement follows evaluation of public health guidance and a COVID-19 vaccination information session and Q&A, which was streamed via Zoom in February. The requirements are to be maintained for UNM Health and Health Sciences programs and clinical areas. “As our understanding of the virus and the ways in which we manage it evolve, we are continuing to adhere to the science-based decision-making process we have followed from the very beginning of the pandemic,” UNM President Garnett Stokes wrote in the statement.

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UNM avoids tuition increase

Zara Roy | April 17

 The UNM Board of Regents unanimously rejected a recommendation to increase tuition by 3% for the 2023-24 year. On Monday, April 10, the Board was presented with three fiscal recommendations drafted by UNM’s Budget and Leadership team. Ultimately, they approved recommendation 3, the only option which did not include a raise in tuition, with the only major, student-wide change being increases in student fees, which the other options also included. Regents’ chair Kim Sanchez Rael said that this push came from a desire to keep the University’s tuition affordable.

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ASUNM senate creates new checks on executive branch

Gabriel Saiz | April 14

 The president of the Associated Students at the University of New Mexico will no longer  be able to fire employees nor withhold their stipends after the passage of two bills during the full senate meeting on Wednesday, April 12. Bill 14S creates a three-strike system before an employee can be fired, also requiring the ASUNM president to send out written notices for each infraction. Previously, the president could fire employees at will and with no written record of the firing.

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Regents approve 3% increase in student fees

Maddie Pukite | April 11

  The University of New Mexico’s Board of Regents voted to increase the mandatory student activity fee by 3%. The fee for undergraduates taking 15 credit hours will increase by $23.88 and $21.52 for graduate students taking 12 credit hours. The Student Fee Review Board is a group of undergraduate and graduate representatives that allocate the mandatory activity fee that all students pay toward various organizations and resource centers on campus, according to their website.

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ABQ Biopark Zoo wants your old cell phones

Miyawni Curtis | March 30

  This spring, the ABQ BioPark Zoo asked the community to donate any old cell phones and electronics to help save chimps and other wildlife, according to the city of Albuquerque website. The ABQ BioPark will send outdated and old technology to be recycled through ECO-CELL, a company that focuses on recycling electronics. This is part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’  initiative “Gorillas on the Line,” according to Patrick Horley, ABQ BioPark aquarist.

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Pacheco and Chessman win ASUNM presidential and vice presidential elections

Elizabeth Secor | March 27

  Krystah Pacheco won the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico president-elect and Mikenzie Chessman won vice president-elect during elections held from March 8 to 9 for the 2023-24 school year president and vice president term. Pacheco and Chessman ran together and were both number two on their respective ballots: Pacheco won the presidency by 296 votes and Chessman won the vice presidency by 281. Pacheco touched on what she thinks helped them reach students during the election. “I think going to student organization meetings and not just presenting what our campaign was, but really opening it up for feedback,” Pacheco said.

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Senate Bill 53 blocks federal Nuclear waste storage facility in Southeast New Mexico

Gillian Barkhurst | March 27

  Legislation that blocks the proposed construction of a storage facility for the nation’s nuclear waste in Southeast New Mexico passed into law Friday, March 17 at the New Mexico State Legislature. The bill, formally known as Senate Bill 53, was passed 35-28 and was signed into law by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham the same day. The company Holtec International had planned to construct and operate the site that would have housed nuclear waste from commercial power plants around the United States, transported by railway into New Mexico. The bill states that no disposal facilities can be created without the state’s consent and creates a radioactive waste consultation task force to negotiate on behalf of the state on such issues with the federal goverment.

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Local gallery partners with Domestic Violence Resource Center to raise funds

Annya Loya | March 27

  Weems Gallery & Framing, a local art gallery, has partnered up with the Albuquerque Domestic Violence Resource Center to host a private fundraiser and raise funds to increase resources at the center. The event will take place in April, according to a press release. In the United States, almost 20 people are physically abused by their intimate partner every minute. In New Mexico, “37.6% of New Mexican women and 33.3% of New Mexican men experience intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner sexual violence and/or intimate partner stalking in their lifetimes,” according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

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Speculative works take center stage at Latinx Visions Conference

Miyawni Curtis | March 20

  From March 9 to 11, the University of New Mexico hosted a three-day conference where a diverse group of people enjoyed performances, art and panels created by around 70 scholars and artists at the Latinx Visions Conference. The primary focus of the conference was to highlight speculative works of art in all forms, according to Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez, event coordinator from the UNM Department of Spanish and Portuguese. The Latinx Visions Conference was free for the public to join the all-day panels, art displays and performances. The conference gathered people from the public, professors and students from around the globe.

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Protesters’ viewpoints clash during anti-war rally

Bella Frasco | March 20

  Protesters’ viewpoints clashed at the corner of San Mateo and Gibson Boulevards on Saturday, March 18 during an anti-war rally that called for an immediate end to the Russian invasion in Ukraine. The event was attended by over 100 people, many of whom opposed the rally’s message. This was not surprising to Jeanne Pahls, co-founder of Stop the War Machine and one of the rally’s organizers, said. “I was anticipating it. I’m not surprised to see that some people are here to say the opposite of what we’re saying,” Pahls said. “This is the U.S. People have different opinions. People have a right to stand up for what they believe in.”

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Albuquerque looks to Santa Fe to help set up rules to purchase and redevelop Walmart property

Maddie Pukite | March 9

  This story was originally published by Source New Mexico City officials in Albuquerque want to purchase the Walmart property set to close on March 10 near San Mateo and Central. It’s unclear how much it will cost for the city to acquire the property, which is still owned by Walmart. The company has yet to offer to sell it, according to City Councilor Pat Davis, who said he is working with Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller’s office to design plans to purchase the property. Davis said that the city could reallocate money to fund a purchase, but it is seeking other funding opportunities through the state legislature as well.

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Stokes highlights University achievements in broad strokes during State of the University Address

Maddie Pukite | March 2

  This past Wednesday, March 1, University of New Mexico President Garnett Stokes delivered the State of the University address during her sixth year in office. The speech highlighted achievements by the University over the past year, and its plans for future projects and goals. However, it failed to touch on several other events from the past year. Stokes talked about safety at the University and spoke about projects the University has worked on, including Wayfinder — a website to navigate support options after being harmed or harassed — keycard access to buildings, along with requesting money for more keycard readers and lights. However, she failed to mention the shootout that took place on campus in November 2022 that led to the death of a New Mexico State University student. 

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Aerial gunning of feral cattle is met with backlash

Zara Roy | February 26

  The National Forest Service began an aerial gunning operation in the Gila National Forest to kill the population of feral cattle in the area which descend from cattle that were abandoned on a grazing allotment within the Wilderness area in 1976. The operation, which started on Thursday, Feb. 23, comes in response to the damaging effects the cattle have on the habitat and water quality of the Park, though the operation has been met with contention due to claims of animal cruelty. This project is part of ongoing efforts since the ‘90s — both lethal and nonlethal — to remove the feral cattle population from the land. The first aerial gunning on the population was done in February 2022 in which 65 cattle were removed, according to Maribeth Pecotte, public affairs officer for the Gila National Forest.

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New technology at the Health Sciences Library hopes to innovate students' education

Annya Loya | February 26

  The Health and Sciences Library and Informatics Center at the University of New Mexico introduced an anatomy virtual dissection table, a 3D printer and three VR headsets into their program for student and faculty use, according to the HSLIC staff. The anatomy virtual dissection table, the only natural and thoroughly segmented 3D human anatomy system, was added in October 2022. It is the latest model (Table 9) by the company Anatomage, according to the Anatomage website.

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ASUNM wary of Opportunity Scholarship loan bill

Gabriel Saiz | February 24

  Free tuition at the University of New Mexico might need extra support during the state legislative session  in Santa Fe to remain as is, according to Associated Students at UNM President Ian May. The Opportunity Scholarship — which currently covers tuition for many UNM students — would become a forgivable loan if Bill 481 becomes state law. May said not to panic since the bill is highly unlikely to pass, but also invited the ASUNM senators to voice opposition to the bill during the ASUNM full senate meeting this past Wednesday, Feb. 22.

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Joint motion dismisses permit for asphalt plant due to health concerns

Maddie Pukite | February 21

  Earlier this month on Feb. 8, the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board approved a joint motion that dismissed a hearing for an air quality permit to build an asphalt plant in the Mountain View community in the South Valley of Albuquerque. The Environmental Law Center joined community organizers in the legal fight to get the asphalt site out of the community in 2018 when the Environmental Health Department issued a permit to New Mexico Terminal Services to create the plant, according to staff attorneys Maslyn Locke and Eric Jantz.

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New UNM course seeks to expand research among Black communities

Miyawni Curtis | February 20

  Celine Ayala, a doctoral student from the University of New Mexico, has created the new program “Black Research 101” for any UNM students who are interested in research with Black communities. The program is set to be launched in the 2023 fall semester. Black Research 101 is a cohort-based program where students will learn to create a research proposal that is specific to the study of Black diasporic communities. They will learn about different perspectives such as Black feminist thought and Afro-pessimism, according to the UNM Newsroom.

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Division for Equity and Inclusion prepares to release campus climate survey

Annya Loya | February 20

  Beginning March 1 and ending on April 23, the Division for Equity and Inclusion at the University of New Mexico will release a student climate survey for students across UNM’s main campus, the School of Law and branch campuses, according to the DEI website.  The goal of the research is to conduct climate surveys that represent the full diversity of the UNM community, according to Assata Zerai, principal investigator and vice president for the DEI. Campus climate is generally defined as “current attitudes, behaviors and standard of faculty, staff, administrators and students concerning the level of respect for individual needs, abilities and potential,” according to professor Susan Rankin from Pennsylvania State University.

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UNM considers COVID-19 vaccine mandate lift

Annya Loya | February 13

  On Feb. 6, the University of New Mexico’s Office of the President's communications team shared that the UNM administration is debating lifting the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students, staff and faculty via email. The debate on whether or not to lift the vaccination mandate was brought to light based on recommendations from the University’s Health Protocols Committee and a discussion with the administration. “While we know that COVID-19 is not over and that we must remain vigilant in protecting ourselves against the virus, it is transitioning into a more manageable endemic phase in our state and across the country,” UNM President Garnett S. Stokes wrote in the email.

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UNM celebrates Black History Month

John Scott and Zara Roy | February 13

  Feb. 1 marked the start of Black History Month, a time to reflect, honor and appreciate the history of Black people in the United States as to further incorporate these discussions into the broader mainstream discussion outside of the month of February, according to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. The University of New Mexico has a calendar full of events hosted by various departments to allow students to celebrate and enjoy the month.