After eight hours of deliberation at Saturday’s council meeting, GPSA approved proposed amendments to the GPSA constitution. Council Chair Megan McRoberts said 30 representatives worked to perfect the graduate student governing body’s constitution.
Daily Lobo: What do you see as the biggest issues facing the graduate community? Katie Richardson: Graduate research funding is a big one.
Student Chris Fullerton went to UNM president David Schmidly’s office March 23, hoping to talk about his flooded dorm. Instead, three UNMPD police officers escorted the student from Scholes Hall. Fullerton’s dorm flooded Jan. 3, after a pipe burst over winter break. Not satisfied with the University’s response, Fullerton said he decided to talk to Schmidly about the problem, but every time he asked to set up a meeting, he was told Schmidly was in a meeting, on vacation or at an appointment, he said. “I called about 15 or 20 times,” Fullerton said. Fullerton took matters into his own hands. He said he called Schmidly and told the office that he was Walt Miller, the vice president of Student Life. “They put me right through to him, and Schmidly answered 20 seconds later,” Fullerton said, Fullerton then told the president he was not Miller and asked to set up a meeting. Schmidly, Fullerton said, told him he was late for a doctor’s appointment and couldn’t meet.
The Board of Regents will discuss raising tuition costs, covering employee retirement benefits and work toward approving a 2011-12 operating budget during an open meeting today in the SUB Ballroom. On the table is a 5 percent tuition increase, on top of a 3.1 percent mandated by the State Legislature.
Traffic congestion will increase dramatically in the University area by 2035, according to a multi-county governmental agency’s projections. The Mid-Region Council of Government is accepting feedback on the 2035 Metropolitan Transportation Plan, said Terry Doyle, MRCOG Director of Transportation.
DL: What do you see as the biggest issues facing the graduate community? JC: The two issues that directly impact graduate students the most are the availability of research funds at the institutional and state level as well as the cost of attendance and the employment opportunities available to graduate students in New Mexico once they complete degrees. It hasn’t really been discussed by this University that graduate students here leave with more debt relative to their peers nationwide and encounter fewer employment opportunities in the state.
The odds a nuclear reactor will explode in Japan are minimal, and citizens there face slim chance of radiation side effects, according to the UNM section of the American Nuclear Society. “Everything indicates that the efforts to keep the reactors and spent fuel cool using sea water are succeeding,” ANS representative Margaret Root said.
A magnitude 9.0 earthquake and 30-foot tsunami hit the northeast coast of Japan on March 11 — and the aftershocks are affecting people as far away as UNM.
This summer, UNM students will travel to Central America’s poorest country to learn economics and lend a helping hand. Professor Matias Fontenla will take 18 students to Nicaragua in June for his Sustainable Development in Central America class.
The oversized soda can in the SUB is meant to demonstrate how small pieces of trash can turn into big problems, but the soda can is made of material that isn’t environmentally friendly. The soda can, which stands about 10 feet high, is made of Fiberglass and Styrofoam, said Adam Greenhood, the creative director of the Albuquerque-based Esparza Advertising firm.
Lobo Village plans to allow alcohol for of-age residents when the dorms open in August, but no one ran that policy past the City Council. “It was never revealed to anyone here,” Councilor Isaac Benton said. The City Council in November denied UNM’s requests for a liquor license at The Pit.
The GPSA presidential race kicked off Wednesday with the first of four debates, and candidates discussed student fee allocation, departmental cuts and student government transparency. Candidate Katie Richardson said GPSA should set an example as an open, inclusive government for the University.
UNM teachers may not receive a pay cut after all, since top UNM administrators are willing to take the cut on their behalf. The state Legislature passed a mandate that would force state employees to pay an extra 1.75 percent from their paycheck into their Educational Retirement Board (ERB) pensions. Faculty Senate President Richard Wood said Tuesday that the University could cover the ERB costs if the Board of Regents approves budget recommendations. “UNM proposes to cover the full 1.75 percent additional hit to salaries permanently,” Wood said. “Except administrative vice presidents and above will not be covered.”
How certain is professor Howard Kraye that his students have a keen business sense?
Albuquerque residents will soon have an alternative to calling a cab or designating a driver when drinking.
ASUNM senators held an emergency meeting Monday night about UNM’s $5.4 million budget shortfall and subsequent measures to bump up tuition costs. The Board of Regents is expected to recommend an 8-10 percent increase on top of a 3.2 percent increase mandated by the state Legislature, a tuition increase of roughly $300 per student.
Five students who needed transportation, or were tired of emitting pollution, got free bikes March 5 to use for the semester. Student Matthew Wilder developed LoboBike, an upstart program where he and his partner Richard Rivas fix bikes that would otherwise take up space at the landfill.
Conservation isn’t just for endangered species. It’s also for the diminishing funds of the Natural Heritage New Mexico Division, a program in the Museum of Southwestern Biology that works to identify and rehabilitate native endangered species, said Esteban Muldavin, the division’s curator. “They (other divisions of the museum) have fishes in bottles and stuffed birds,” he said.
A group of students spent part of its spring break demanding that the Board of Regents cut administrative pay and put the UNM salary book online. GPSA council chair Megan McRobert said at the March 16 meeting that administration doesn’t allow students to be part of budget-related decision making in a meaningful way. She said that decision-making groups should include students, and meetings should be advertised to the public.
The 60-day legislative session ended Saturday, and New Mexico legislators narrowly passed a $5.4 billion budget just before time ran out. Lawmakers allocated $730 million for higher education. Nearly $43 million, or 6 percent, was cut from higher education funds compared with last year.
Solutions by The State News
