News - The Daily Lobo

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Vandals target new buildings and maps

Kevin Forte | August 30

The first week of classes at UNM saw an unprecedented spike in the amount of vandalism on campus, University maintenance officials said. They said windows were broken and more than four UNM buildings and 10 new campus maps were tagged.The College of Education building was tagged with graffiti every day last week, said Gary Smith, associate director for environmental services, maintenance and operations at UNM.

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IT: SafeConnect glitch-free, don’t uninstall

Chelsea Erven | August 30

Two members of UNM’s Computer science department wrote a letter to the Daily Lobo claiming to have found a security glitch in UNM’s network, but UNM IT said the problem has been fixed. Research assistant Jeffrey Knockel and assistant professor Jed Crandall said the problem lies in SafeConnect, a software UNM requires to be installed on both Windows and Macintosh operating systems before they can connect to University networks, including the LoboWifi network.

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Staff health care costs on the rise

Lorena Saenz | August 29

In July, UNM’s Division of Human Resources issued a sudden change to the staff health care plan, requiring members to pay hefty out-of-pocket charges.UNM employee Tom Rolland said the changes will move UNM’s health care to a “consumerism model,” which is really just a cost-shifting measure. “To do this they have added in co-insurance, this is on top of co-pays,” he said. “It’s a new way to get more money out of the people who actually get sick or injured.”

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Mock trial no laughing matter

Lorena Saenz | August 29

UNM has its first competitive undergraduate mock trial team thanks to two comparative politics students. In last winter’s comparative politics intercession class, senior Hannah Russell and junior Terri Harwood hatched the idea of a mock trial team, which recently registered with the American Mock Trial Association to begin regional competition by February 2012. “Terri essentially brought it up to me, and I loved the idea, since I hadn’t heard of any mock trial teams on campus,” Russel said.

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UNM intent on faster internet

Charlie Shipley | August 29

UNM joined 29 universities and colleges across the country taking part in Gig.U, a high-speed online infrastructure program designed to create network speeds several hundred times faster than current capabilities permit.The project’s goal is to attract new technology-driven companies in high-tech industries such as engineering, physics, health care, computer science and mass media to UNM and other participating universities by creating a community fostered by an advanced infrastructure.

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College students prone to DWI

Hunter Riley | August 26

According to a New Mexico Department of Transportation study, college-aged drivers made up about 24 percent of total DWI citations in 2010.Robert Archuleta, the enforcement bureau chief for the New Mexico Department of Transportation traffic safety bureau, said college-aged drivers are the target audience for anti-DWI campaigns because of their frequent risky behavior, like drinking and driving.

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Lobo Village halts Party Trolley

Hunter Riley | August 26

Last Friday and Saturday, Lobo Village officials barred the Party Trolley from entering its gates to pick up customers who had made a reservation for transportation from Lobo Village. Party Trolley’s founder Paul Aitken said he was driving the bus on Saturday night when a security guard told him he could not enter the facility. “I told him ‘I am turning around.’ I told him, ‘I’m sorry there was a problem.’” Aitken said.

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Elderly driver steers car through Smith Plaza

Kevin Forte | August 26

An elderly driver took a “wrong turn” in his car Thursday. The wrong turn caused the car to go down a staircase east of Zimmerman Library and onto the plaza, police said.Lieutenant Robert Haarhues said the man, 83, got lost while trying to find the Heart Hospital. Students who witnessed the incident said he drove through Smith Plaza and ran into a dead-end.

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Catholic mass draws protests

Chelsea Erven | August 26

A UNM student said he plans to protest “Mass on the Grass” to be held at the Duck Pond Aug. 28, calling it a violation of the separation of church and state. UNM’s Catholic student group, The Aquinas Newman Center, planned the mass to “kick off” the school year, the Center’s director of Campus Ministry Brother Gabriel Dault said.

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Carpenters protest restaurant

Luke Holmen | August 25

Labor union Carpenters Local 1505 has protested since Monday outside new, family-owned Asian restaurant Fan Tang, which opened in Nob Hill two weeks ago. Fliers from the union claim Fan Tang owners hired contractor Lone Sun Builders Inc., which the union alleges does not meet area labor standards, to complete construction on the building.

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Gov. branch trains freshmen leaders

Charlie Shipley | August 25

Emerging Lobo Leaders, a facet of the undergraduate student government organization ASUNM, allows freshmen to participate in student government and pursue leadership opportunities as they begin their college experience. Hannah Russell, the group’s director, said the program presents a unique opportunity for freshmen. “Typically you’d have to be appointed to a position as a director of an agency, hired by the president as staff for one of the agencies, or elected,” she said.

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Station gives students air time

Hunter Riley | August 25

Lobos can growl a little louder this semester with the debut of Lobo Growl, an online radio station made up of student DJs. The group’s president, Billy Ulibarri, is a graduate student in sociology and was on the board of directors for KUNM. “I had more of an interest in student access to communication channels,” he said.

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BUS brings children to greener pastures

April Gutierrez | August 24

UNM Biology students spent a week with fourth- and fifth-graders in the South Valley this summer, teaching them that science and conservation can be fun.

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UNM looks to add honors college

Miriam Belin | August 24

A task force at UNM put together to keep the state’s brightest students in New Mexico hopes to turn the University Honors Program into a degree-granting college.

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Scandal doesn’t deter PoliSci

Luke Holmen | August 24

Despite the loss of one of their most prominent scholars, faculty at the Department of Political Science have risen to fill some big shoes in the upper administration. The department faced hardships this summer when one of its foremost experts on Latino politics, F.

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MIP claims were exaggerated

Chelsea Erven | August 23

Rumors of dozens of Minor in Possession charges handed out at Lobo Village swirled across the apartment complex last week, but UNM Police Department said no MIPs were given. UNMPD Operations Commander Christine Chester said UNMPD had responded to six calls at Lobo Village since Aug. “The final [call] was a loud party call that involved minors in possession, but no citations were issued or arrests made,” she said.

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MatLab free, without piracy

Miriam Belin | August 23

For this month only, MatLab is free for students and faculty. The software will allow easier access to computing, math and science calculations, said Vanessa Baca, an IT spokeswoman. “Having MatLab provides an interactive link between math and science, students and faculty, allowing students to do computations and interact with programming languages like Fortran and C ,” she said. A combination of student fees, the Office of the Provost and Vice President of Research, IT and several academic departments funds UNM’s site license for the MatLab software Previously, students had to buy the software in CD format from the UNM bookstore for $99.

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Cashless meters spur change

Luke Holmen and Victoria Cardenas | August 23

Parking and Transportation Services has converted all of UNM’s paid parking to a cashless, card-based pay system, but not everyone is excited about the change. Student Micayla Botwin said her main concern was cost.

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Lobo Village: Trouble in Paradise?

Luke Holmen | August 22

Students moving into Lobo Village Aug. 17 enjoyed a pool-side barbecue, ice cream trucks and a DJ. Lobo Village’s grand opening week also included a false fire alarm, a power outage, drinking and smoking in unauthorized areas and minor-in-possession charges by the dozens, residents said. “There were a ton of people drinking on move-in night,” resident Alissa James said.

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UNM’s future set up by master plan

Chelsea Erven and Charlie Shipley | August 22

New Mexico’s population is expected to reach more than 3 million by 2035, and members of Lobo Development said UNM needs to grow to accommodate the population increase. That’s where UNM’s Consolidated Master Plan comes in, they said. The Master Plan is a 10-15 year development plan that aims to change UNM from a commuter campus to a “24/7 campus,” said Dale Dekker, who is in charge of planning for Lobo Development.