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APS school board election prepares to bring changes to the district

Detroit Kallunki and Milan Ortiz-Ruiz | October 23

On Nov. 7, Albuquerque Public Schools will hold an election for school board members. District 1, 2 and 4 each have representatives running for a spot on the school board. Community focuses and values have been voiced throughout fall 2022 within organized community meetings and numerous individual conversations. Consistent concerns regarding the need for schools to emphasize literacy, math, post-secondary readiness, and the skills, habits and mindsets that lead to success, according to APS Goals and Guardrails. 

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District 8 candidate guide

Kat Gomez | October 23

Current city councilor for District 8, Trudy E. Jones, will not be running for re-election, making her last term and 16 years in the position. Located in the Northeast Heights and Foothills this year, there’s two new candidates that are vying to assume the role: Idalia Lechuga-Tena and Dan Champine.

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ASUNM President presents a petition without Senate knowing

Karina Bolaños | October 16

After the failure of the bills proposed in hopes of increasing voter turnout, President Krystah Pacheco and Vice President Mikenzie Chessman soon after created a petition to do the same as the failed bills.   Bill 9F would have changed the constitution by combining Spring Presidential and Senatorial elections and Bill 10F would have been an extension of this bill to the ASUNM lawbook. Both failed at the Full Senate on Sept. 27. “Our priority is to let the students have a say on this decision with its placement on the ballot and at the time of elections,” Pacheco wrote in an email addressed to the Senate on Oct. 9. 

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Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller discusses homelessness at ASUNM meeting

Jaymes Boe | October 16

Mayor Keller presented future city plans and developments to the ASUNM Senate – offering information regarding Albuquerque’s unhoused population, mentioning shelter and treatment but  not addressing permanent housing solutions. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller appeared as a guest speaker at Associated Students at the University of New Mexico’s recent full Senate meeting on Oct. 11. The Gateway Center aims to be Albuquerque’s answer to fill the need for a 24/7 shelter and treatment facility. The facility is currently under work to take over the old Gibson Medical Center located near the intersection of San Mateo and Gibson and is planned to open in stages. “In the Gateway, this winter we’re expecting to open up a sobering center and a medical triage facility,” Keller said. Based on a feasibility report done for the sobering center, the initial staffing required would be 22 individuals, 15 being clinical staff.

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UNM releases annual crime statistic report

Lauren Lifke and Lily Alexander | October 9

The University of New Mexico released its Annual Security & Fire Safety Report (ASFSR) on Friday, Sept. 30. It includes 609 Clery crimes last year. There is no guarantee this number reflects all campus crime data. Pre-pandemic in 2019, there were 588 crimes. Hate crimes rose to 34 reported in 2022 compared to a reported two in 2019. 23 of these were thefts related to sexual orientation, according to the report.  For the annual report, Clery coordinator Adrienne Helms is required to reach out to local law enforcement agencies — including but not limited to the Albuquerque Police Department — to request data on crimes that occur in UNM’s Clery geography but outside of UNM Police Department  jurisdiction, she said. However, outside agencies are not required to provide any data.

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SHAC shakes down midterm woes: offers free mental health workshops

Jaymes Boe | October 9

Stress, anxiety and an existential crisis or two – feelings that college students are all too familiar with, Traye Holland said – a workshop leader and Mental Health Trainer & Development Specialist for Student Health and Counseling. As midterms approach, these feelings come crashing through campus once more. To combat these concerns, SHAC offers a free mental health workshop to students called “Surviving Midterms.” The workshop is “designed to teach students study skills and self-care tips,” according to their webpage. SHAC will continue to host free mental health workshops throughout the semester covering similar topics.

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ASUNM President and Vice President disappointed in Senate’s vote

Karina Bolaños | October 2

  “I am incredibly disappointed in the Senate as a whole,” Vice President Mikenzie Chessman said after the failure of Bill 9F on a 6-14-0-0 vote on Wednesday, Sept. 27 during a full Senate meeting. Proposed to combine the Presidential and Senatorial General Election, Bill 9F would have done so by an amendment to the Associated Students at the University of New Mexico’s Constitution. The bill was sponsored by President Krystah Pacheco, Vice President Mikenzie Chessman, Senator Alfred Achusim, and Executive Director of the Elections Commissions Heidi Garcia. Bill 10F, sponsored by the same individuals, goes alongside Bill 9F and would have done the same but would alter the law book instead of the Constitution. Both failed. 

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Artificial Intelligence course brings the future of AI to students

Elizabeth Secor | October 2

As the second round of eight-week courses arrive, the University of New Mexico Organization, Information, and Learning Sciences department offers an Artificial Intelligence literacy course titled Artificial Intelligence and Education: Future of Learning. As AI becomes more common in society with it appearing in the film industry and applications like ChatGPT, Leo Lo – Dean/Professor of the College of University Libraries and Learning Services (CULLS) – wants to bring AI to students in the classroom to teach them about the technology and its uses now and in the future.

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UNM is noncompliant with crime transparency law

Lauren Lifke and Lily Alexander | October 2

 Federal law states that higher education institutions must have five specific categories of information in their mandated daily crime logs, which provide campus crime data to students. The University of New Mexico has two of the specified categories. The Clery Act, signed in 1990, requires higher education institutions that receive federal funding to publish an annual security report, provide timely notifications when crimes threaten the campus community and maintain a daily crime log. UNM’s LoboAlert system and daily crime log fall under its Clery Act Compliance Policy.

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ASUNM Full Senate is briefed on the Integrated Campus Plan

Zaina Naru | October 2

 At the Associated Students at the University of New Mexico (ASUNM) Full Senate on Sept. 27, senators were briefed about the development plans for The Integrated Campus Plan (ICP). No decisions were made. The ICP aims to address all of UNM properties and guide the University’s decisions on the physical environment, including the character of each campus, safety, access, mobility and sustainability.

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Construction, remodel and loss of parking loom over Regents

Maddie Pukite | September 18

The University of New Mexico's Board of Regents gathered in Scholes Hall on Wednesday, Sept. 13 for a meeting where they discussed and heard presentations on upcoming decisions but made no formal choices. A majority of the time was spent talking about property development. The Board is in deliberations with SASAKI,  an architecture firm headquartered in Massachusetts that has worked on various universities with sleek, modern designs that often incorporate the surrounding environment. SASAKI is about to enter the third and final phase of an Integrated Campus Plan (ICP) for UNM, Teresa Costantinidis, UNM's executive VP of finance and administration, said.

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How the University can buy property and where the money is from

Maddie Pukite | September 18

The University's Real Estate Department was recently given permission by the Board of Regents to negotiate the price of property they wish to buy before the Board approves the purchase. The money that pays for the property is from the Regents Endowment Fund. This pot of money also goes towards scholarships. “It's still the same process, it just expedites trying to identify the funding source because the Regents authorized (us) to use that source subject to their approval on each case,” Thomas Neale said – Director of UNM Real Estate. The Regents Endowment is one of three endowments the Board controls. Each fund has specific stipulations of what the money can go towards. Amongst others, the Regents Endowment can go towards scholarships and property acquisition.

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Appointments, budgets, legislation (oh my!)

Maddie Pukite | September 18

 The Associated Students at the University of New Mexico began their meeting with under 20 senators. At the first recess, five newcomers were put under oath and voting representatives by the time the session came back together. All five new senators were first appointed by ASUNM Vice President Mickenzie Chessman and approved unanimously by the Senate after being asked two to four questions each.  The new Senators are Mutazz Jaber, Alexa Lucero, Luke Torres, Kiera Rosenfeld and Anthony Tomaziefski. The questions ranged from ‘What perspectives will you bring to the Senate?’ to ‘What are you most excited for this fall semester?’ They will all be up for election this fall if the Senators choose to run again.

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Unpacking the solutions to gun violence in New Mexico

Lily Alexander | September 18

  The Sept. 6 shooting outside Isotopes Park that left 11-year-old, Froylan Villegas, dead has prompted a statewide conversation about the solutions to gun violence. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a public health order on Sept. 8 prohibiting open or concealed carry in Albuquerque and Bernalillo county for 30 days. After a federal judge temporarily blocked the order, Lujan Grisham modified the order on Sept. 15 to only prohibit open or concealed carry in public parks or playgrounds. Gun violence is the second leading cause of death from injury in New Mexico, according to Dr. Richard Miskimins, Trauma Medical Director at University of New Mexico Hospital. The hospital encourages and distributes trigger locks as an intervention method, he said.

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Fatal shooting near South Campus

Lauren Lifke | September 11

  A road rage shooting near the University of New Mexico’s South Campus left a child dead on Wednesday evening, according to Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina. The incident prompted Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham to issue a 30-day prohibition of carrying guns on public property in Bernalillo County. “They’re being used on 11-year-olds. They’re being used on 5-year-olds. This is the fifth example of road rage killing somebody in our city this year,” APD Director of Communications Gilbert Gallegos said in a media brief on Thursday.

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ASUNM Senate discusses voter turnout and mental health

Milan Ortiz-Ruiz | September 5

  The Associated Students at the University of New Mexico held their first full Senate meeting of the semester on Wednesday, Aug. 30 and discussed ways to improve voter turnout and available mental health services for students. ASUNM represents the student body by being the first group the University’s ...

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Stanford and California leave Pac-12

Lily Alexander | September 5

  Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley left the Pacific-12 Conference for the Atlantic Coast Conference on Friday Sept. 1. This paves the way for the Pac-12’s two remaining schools, Oregon State University and Washington State University, to join a new conference or create their own. The MWC and the American Athletic Conference originally stood as the top two contenders to take Oregon and Washington State, according to CBS. Comments made by AAC commissioner Michael Aresco on Friday seemed to remove them from the equation.

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What is going on with college athletic conference realignments?

Lily Alexander and Maddie Pukite | August 27

  Listed to improve athlete welfare, the athletics department Research and Public Service Projects Funding request was increased by $3.5 million from last year. This increase comes amidst conversations about the potential realignment of the Mountain West Conference. “With the recent changes in membership composition in several conferences, the Mountain West is exploring all opportunities to strengthen the league, including through the addition of new member schools,” MWC Board of Directors statement from Aug. 9 reads, which President Garnett Stokes serves as the chair of. The MWC is one of 10 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conferences with some independent programs. Its uncertain future follows the reorganization of the Pacific 12 Conference, now left with four teams.

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The sky’s not the limit

Danielle Knox | August 27

  Recently, the University of New Mexico’s physics and astronomy department was granted  $750,000 from NASA. This grant is headed by associate professor, Diana Dragomir, who leads the research into exoplanets at UNM. “What we want to do with this grant is find a different kind of exoplanet. We want to find more of them. Especially those of a longer orbit,” Dragomir said. The benefits of this research for the average person, Dragomir said, is to help provide answers to the fundamental questions of life. Why is there life on Earth? Is there life elsewhere?

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Librarians advocate for alternative to textbooks

Maddie Pukite | August 27

  An alternative to requiring students to purchase textbooks, University Libraries have begun to develop programs and offer grants to help professors integrate Open Educational Resources into their curriculum. All resources on an OER are licensed as Creative Commons - free to use. Three librarians at the University of New Mexico – Holly Surbaugh, Jennifer Jordan and Leo Lo – conducted a study in July of 2023 on the impact of textbook cost at a Hispanic-serving institution UNM. 70% of the 315 UNM undergraduate students in the study reported the amount they spent on textbooks was “somewhat or extremely unreasonable,” and 102 said the cost of materials impacted their ability to purchase basic needs such as housing, food and transportation.