Santa Ana dorm residents will wear black today to protest the demolition of their dorm over winter break, but University officials said demolition is postponed. UNM Real Estate Director Kim Murphy said the dorm will be demolished May 2011 during the first phase of a master student housing plan to add up to 3,000 beds on main campus.
UNM’s push to make campus fully handicapped accessible is made more difficult by insufficient funding, University officials said. Leslie Donovan, University Honors Program associate professor, relies on a power wheelchair and said she experiences campus accessibility issues every day. She said handicapped parking is a major issue. “Almost all the places on campus are nominally accessible, but often in a very difficult way,” she said. “People who use wheelchairs have a hard time parking anywhere on campus. There are simply not enough spaces. If you can’t park in a handicapped space where you can get your ramp down, you end up having to go long distances to get where you need to be.” The University formed a committee in 1994 to transition the campus to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 guidelines for accessibility.
UNM gave community members a chance to recycle electronic waste for free this weekend at the Annual E-waste Recycling event.
What started as an annual film festival that showcased adult films has become a battle for self expression and free speech.
Journalist Gwen Ifill will stop by KNME this weekend to lend insight into Tuesday’s midterm elections. Ifill, host of PBS’ Washington Week, will also discuss politics and the state of journalism on the public access station Saturday. Joan Rebecchi, KNME communication manager, said the station invites celebrities throughout the year to boost donations, and event ticket sales have spiked, with VIP tickets sold out. “Any time we hold these events, our donor numbers increase,” she said. Gene Grant from KNME’s New Mexico in Focus, will ask Ifill questions to start the night, followed by audience questions, Rebecchi said. Afterward, she said Ifill will sign copies of her book, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, at the UNM Bookstore. In a 2009 interview with The New York Times, Ifill said her book focuses on African-Americans and the progress they’ve been afforded by past generations’ sacrifices.
ASUNM passed a resolution against the demolition of the Santa Ana dorms Wednesday night. The possible demolition would displace 177 residents over winter break, who would then be placed in other dormitories. Sen.
Students Paisley Palmer and David Davis said they were excited to vote for their first time. However, just days before election day, they noticed something was wrong when they still didn’t have their voter-registration cards.
By the end of November, Susie McCarthy will move the Star Barber Shop and Salon to her renovated garage from its location on Monte Vista Boulevard.
Start exploring career options at today’s career fair hosted by the UNM Office of Career Services. Jenna Crabb, Career Services director, said fewer recruiters will attend this year’s fair, because employers must now pay registration fees. During the past four years, the United States Office of Personnel Management covered costs, she said. Crabb couldn’t say how many fewer recruiters will be at this year’s fair, but that shouldn’t discourage students from attending the Public Service Career Showcase. “We have some great companies that are coming,” she said. “There are great opportunities that exist within these sectors for students.” Thirty-one employers will be on hand, including representatives from Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Drug Enforcement Agency, the National Security Administration, the American Red Cross and many others. To help students prepare for the career fair, the UNM Office of Career Services hosted workshops designed to improve students’ resumes and interviewing skills. Crabb said many of the companies attending today’s fair will conduct interviews Friday at the Career Services offices in the Student Services Center.
A rumor that has plagued Coronado Hall for years is just that — a rumor, according to UNM officials.
Deion Clark(e) is a junior majoring in journalism, with an eye on broadcast opportunities in the entertainment industry.
In an optimistic atmosphere, New Mexico Republicans watched poll results roll in, and supporters celebrated a national Republican takeover Monday night at the Albuquerque Hilton. Susana Martinez rode national momentum and defeated Diane Denish in New Mexico’s governor’s race. “Tonight we have made history,” Martinez said in her victory speech in Las Cruces.
UNM Hospitals, Information Technologies and the Health Sciences Center will merge GroupWise e-mail systems Friday. The merger will improve communication between UNMH and HSC and faculty and staff on main campus, said Sally Bowler-Hill, program operations director for Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center.
Since sustainability became one of its core values in 2008,UNM has pushed for a greener campus, but student apathy has hindered efforts. Mary Clark, program specialist at the Office of Sustainability, said UNM has an award-winning recycling program with a 40 percent diversion rate (the percentage of waste that is recycled). She said students think the department isn’t doing enough to encourage participation in sustainability efforts. “There’s still a lot of work to be done, and a lot of that is because we’re an ever-changing population, and we need to keep educating them,” she said. Linda McCormick, the resource conservation manager, said the recycling program that began in the early 90s didn’t involve students, but she has taken steps to curb the issue.
UNM graduate students are organizing to find another way of tackling budget cuts that have left many uncertain about their jobs. Graduate Student Liza Minno-Bloom is forming Graduate Employees Together, a committee that advocates for graduate and teaching assistants. She said half of all UNM classes are taught by graduate students, and most estimates under-represent their impact.
The renovated and less-falling-apart Pit opened Monday for the first time since the $60 million upgrades were completed.
As thousands flocked to Washington, D.C., for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s “Rally to Restore Sanity,” Albuquerque had its own. Michele Lupowitz, event organizer, said the point of the rallies was not to point fingers at specific politicians or criticize political beliefs, but to support rational dialogue missing in politics today.
Today will manifest a field of ideas across UNM. Today is for the future. Today marks the campus’ first TEDx event from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in SUB Ballroom C. TEDx, representing technology, entertainment, design and “x” for the unknown, is an international initiative, and the University’s version will offer eight hours packed with talks about issues of social change, said organizer and graduate student Mark Worthy. All speakers are affiliated with UNM. “It’s important, especially at an academic institution of higher learning, for opportunities to exist so people can engage in the assimilation of information,” he said. Worthy, who is studying organizational learning and instructional technology, coordinated the event to seat 100 people. He said he first learned about TEDx lectures when he got an e-mail while living in the Netherlands. “I began to read it, and I viewed some TED talks,” he said. “I was really inspired by the concept of the spreading of ideas — very simple, uncomplicated.”
New Mexico law protects women’s rights to breast-feed in public, but a UNM student and mother said a security guard and employees at the Frontier Restaurant violated that statute.
For Francisco Gonzalez, his custodial job at the SUB is a welcome distraction. “If I wasn’t working, I’d probably go out of my mind,” he said.
Solutions by The State News
