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City firearms ban not enforced uniformly at protests

Bella Davis | July 19

CIVIC PLAZA — On Sunday, July 19, what was intended to be a conservative-led, anti-mask protest became a heavily policed counter-demonstration which raised questions of uneven enforcement of a mayoral administrative decree banning weapons in city parks. The Albuquerque Police Department drew criticism for detaining two armed Black men — Frankie Grady and Te Barry — who were part of a counter protest at Civic Plaza on Sunday. In stark contrast, a dozen mostly white, armed protesters — including members of the New Mexico Civil Guard — who were at a reopen protest on Thursday were given a warning rather than being detained.

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‘We asked for help — Why did you shoot him?’: Body camera footage of APD shooting of Max Mitnik released

Bella Davis | July 18

Editor’s note: This story contains discussion of suicide. If you’re feeling suicidal, you are not alone. Please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or contact Student Health and Counseling at UNM at 505-277-313 Seconds before being shot in the hip and side of the head by Albuquerque police officer Jose Ruiz, 27-year-old Max Mitnik calmly said to Ruiz, “I’m going to suffer a lot if I don’t kill myself. Will you please kill me, sir? Kill me.” Albuquerque Police Department body camera footage released last week shows the events that led to the June 4 shooting that left Mitnik alive but severely injured. The following is a breakdown of the 911 call that preceded the shooting and the police lapel footage that captured it.

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Fraternity with long history of sexual assault allegations planning to return to UNM

Bella Davis and Cameron Ward | July 17

Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) — a fraternity with a history of sexual assault allegations and misconduct related to underage drinking dating back to at least 1998 — is planning a return to the University of New Mexico this fall. As the Daily Lobo previously reported, SAE had its charter revoked in 2013 for student code of conduct violations, including consumption of alcohol by minors. Per the revocation, they were eligible to come back to campus in 2017. After two months of investigation, the University administration revoked the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity’s charter in May of 2013. According to a press release from UNM at the time, SAE was disbanded because of student code of conduct violations, which included use of alcohol on campus at an unauthorized event and consumption of alcohol by minors. The Daily Lobo reported at the time that members admitted to consuming alcohol at the party and said they didn’t register the party with the University.

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Board of Regents reject calls for pandemic tuition reduction, move forward with increase

Lissa Knudsen | July 15

In the wake of a nearly $30 million dollar cut from the state, the University of New Mexico’s Board of Regents voted to adjust the University’s budget in a special meeting on Tuesday. The new budget held the previously approved tuition hike in place. The total cost hike is still $125.08 per semester for a full-time undergraduate taking 12 credit hours. For graduate students, the increase is $156.72 per semester for those taking 12 credit hours, as reported in the Daily Lobo after the regents approved the increase at their March 10 meeting.

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Trump administration rescinds short-lived ICE policy affecting international students

Annya Loya | July 14

On July 14, the Trump administration, after multiple lawsuits and outrage from colleges and universities across the country, rescinded the rule in which international students would have been forced to leave the U.S if their schools did not offer face-to-face classes. “The decision of forcing international students to leave in the first place was the dumbest idea they ever came up with,” said Admed Abbas, a UNM international student from Saudi Arabia. The news was probably a relief for a lot of us that feared such a problem to come.” On July 6, the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agency released a new policy regarding international students in the United States that had the potential to profoundly impact the lives of more than 1.1 million international students across the country.

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CYFD adopts new directives to further its mission of youth inclusion

Beatrice Nisoli | July 12

The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) recently announced two directives to better support all New Mexico children. First, CYFD updated its non-discriminatory policy to include LGBTQIA+ individuals, and second, the institution extended its age of services from age 18 to 21. According to its website, CYFD “provides an array of prevention, intervention, rehabilitative and after-care services to New Mexico children and their families.” This mission is accomplished by enrolling children and/or their families in different categories of services, like behavioral health or early childhood care, on the basis of an initial screening to determine potential abuse, neglect or other similar instances of trauma.

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Petition to slash UNM tuition gains traction online

Spencer Butler | July 10

As college classes have been forced to switch to online or hybrid instruction during the pandemic, many University of New Mexico students have called for lowered tuition in response to a perceived decrease in the quality of online education. An online petition demanding a reduction of tuition has garnered more than 4,000 signatures and has spread throughout the UNM community. Students at campuses across the country have been making similar demands. According to Inside Higher Ed, students at University of California campuses and the University of Chicago have called for a reduction in tuition, while students at Miami and Drexel Universities have filed a class action lawsuit for tuition refunds.

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GUEST COLUMN: Native students, instructors especially vulnerable to campus reopening

Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi | July 10

While the rest of the Southwest opened up its doors and gathered for July 4 festivities and birthdays, those in the Navajo Nation and in pueblo communities remained at home. A fraction of those who remained at home are Native American college students, including some who are students at the University of New Mexico and some who will make their college debut this fall. When I learned that UNM was taking a hybrid approach to classes for the upcoming semester, my first thought was about those Native students and exactly how this approach would likely affect them. As a Native student and a Native core writing instructor in the English department, I found the decision disconcerting.

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Trespassing arrests, water scarcity traumatize unhoused community already in distress

Bella Davis | July 8

Among the slew of challenges people experiencing homeless face with a sometimes difficult, oftentimes punishing existence rests an ugly injustice: being targeted with criminal trespassing arrests. It’s a trend that some cities have taken steps to change. Last year, San Antonio District Attorney Joe Gonzales said he had started instructing his prosecutors to dismiss cases “if it appears that the only reason the person was arrested was because they were homeless.” Albuquerque, on the other hand, hasn’t taken quite the same approach. Over a nine-day period in June, the Albuquerque Police Department made at least seven criminal trespassing arrests. Police reports obtained by the Daily Lobo detail officers arresting people in parks and — in two separate cases — in an arroyo and near an abandoned building.

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Dion’s in, Pi out as SUB’s fast food revolving door spins once again

Spencer Butler | July 8

Dion’s Pizza announced on Tuesday that a location of the venerated local pizza chain will open in the University of New Mexico’s Student Union Building, with the grand opening expected to happen at the start of the fall semester. Dion’s will take over the space formerly occupied by Pi, another pizza, pasta and salad outlet that was operated by the University’s food service contractor Chartwells. Pi took the space over after WisePies, another local pizza chain, left the SUB. Dion’s joins a fast food lineup in the heart of main campus that already has local franchises like Blake’s Lotaburger, Satellite Coffee and Twister’s and the national chains Subway, Chick-Fil-A and Mandalay Express.

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Pedestrian safety, COVID-19 transmission remain top concerns as ART resumes operations

Liam Debonis | July 6

The Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) system has resumed service, sporting a bright red coat of paint along the UNM section of its route. “We wanted to make sure that pedestrians especially knew there was a difference, that the buses would be going east and/or west,” Albuquerque transit director Danny Holcomb said regarding the pavement’s color change. “We wanted to make sure that if they saw that red paint, they would stop and pause and say ‘wait a minute, maybe I shouldn’t cross here.’” After three-plus years of delays, ART operations began last November. Since opening, ART has accumulated an extensive array of accidents, including one fatality. The transit system has also been involved in at least 30 collisions with other vehicles, according to the Albuquerque Journal, and has hit two pedestrians.

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APD union contract negotiations delayed indefinitely

Bella Davis | July 3

In the month since Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, police unions have come under national scrutiny for their role in shielding the police from accountability. And Albuquerque has been no exception. The contract between the Albuquerque Police Officers Association (APOA) and the City of Albuquerque was set to expire on July 1, but because all city union contract negotiations have been put on hold amidst the pandemic, it will remain in effect until negotiations can take place at an undetermined date in the fall. “Negotiations for all of the City’s unions, including the APOA, are currently on hold due to uncertainty about finances in the wake of COVID-19,” Jessie Damazyn, a spokesperson for Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller’s office, said.

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ASUNM President Amin refuses to sign Black Lives Matter resolution

Joe Rull | July 3

Members of the University of New Mexico community decried last month's increased police presence on campus amid the apex of Black Lives Matter protest activity in the state, taking particular issue with UNM President Garnett Stokes' milquetoast response to the image of snipers atop UNM's George Pearl Hall. On June 11, ASUNM passed Resolution #1F during a special session meeting which announced the student government's support of the abolition of the modern policing system and urged Stokes to reconsider UNM's ties with external police forces. While the vote passed by a wide margin, ASUNM President Mia Amin vetoed the resolution by declining to sign it. She cited concerns that ASUNM "is a non-partisan organization" and said it is her "job to serve (UNM) students by staying neutral," per an email announcement shared with ASUNM senators.

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Governor signs revised budget, revives Opportunity Scholarship funding

Lissa Knudsen | July 1

SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the fiscal year 2021 revised budget late Tuesday afternoon after an unprecedented special session convened to try and blunt the worst effects of the coronavirus pandemic and spiraling revenue from curtailed oil production in the Permian Basin. The budget, which will go into effect on July 1, totals $7.22 billion, down from the $7.6 billion plan approved by the Legislature in February. The approved budget includes a 4% reduction for Instructional and General support and a 6% reduction for Research and Public Service Projects across all higher education institutions, according to an email from the governor’s press secretary Nora Sackett. As of the time of this article’s publication, the details of which projects would shoulder the cuts were still unclear.

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‘Deplorable, deeply disappointing’: Student Family Housing to close permanently

Andrew Gunn | June 29

Next spring, just after finals conclude and dissertations are defended, many University of New Mexico students with families will be looking for another place to live. The closure of the Student Family Housing complex was confirmed in a June 29 email sent to residents by Wayne Sullivan, the director of Residence Life and Student Housing. "The University made the difficult decision to close the Student Family Housing (SFH) complex on May 31, 2021," Sullivan wrote. "For nearly 50 years, we have had the pleasure to provide affordable housing to our outstanding students and have truly enjoyed developing relationships with all of our residents." With the decision to "decommission" the Student Family Housing complex in just under 11 months, the University will eliminate the only student housing that catered specifically to students with families, including a large percentage of international and graduate students.

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APD, mayor deny mishandling of police response to Oñate protest, shooting

Bella Davis | June 23

In the week since Steven Baca shot and injured Scott Williams at a protest against the statue of conquistador Juan de Oñate in Old Town on June 15, the Albuquerque Police Department has been criticized for its handling of the shooting. APD, along with Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, have since defended the police response. Judge Charles Brown ordered Baca to be released from custody on Monday ahead of his trial. Baca faces two counts of battery and one aggravated battery charge for attacking three women at the protest, which was captured on video and has been corroborated by witnesses. KUNM producer Marisa Demarco was at the protest and witnessed Baca throw a woman to the ground, which was the incident that directly preceded the shooting — protesters pursued Baca after that violent attack and during the ensuing confrontation, Baca shot Williams.

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UNM eliminates fall break amid preparations for hybrid semester

Spencer Butler | June 22

The University of New Mexico’s 2020 fall semester schedule has been released after a lengthy revision process due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fall break has been eliminated in favor of two separate, one-day breaks in October and November. All in-person classes will cease after the Thanksgiving break and be carried out in an online-only format until Dec. 4. The start date of the fall semester has remained the same — Aug. 17 — and Labor Day will still be a day off for all UNM students, but the two new break days are on Oct. 7 and Nov. 3, respectively.

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‘Now is the time to act’: Substantial police reform largely absent at special session

Bella Davis | June 20

SANTA FE — In a state that’s seen its share of unrest over police brutality and systemic racism, police reform legislation is lacking as the special session of the Legislature heads into the third day. A bill passed by the Senate and another by the House late Friday night have already received criticism for not going far enough while Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has blocked two other reform bills from being heard. After partisan debate, the Senate approved a bill (SB 8) sponsored by Sen. Joseph Cervantes that would require law enforcement officers to use body cameras. The bill would also mandate that officers who are convicted of unlawful use of force have their law enforcement certification revoked.

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State Senate bill seeks to expand mail-in voting for general election

Spencer Butler | June 19

SANTA FE — On June 18, the New Mexico Senate put forth a bill aimed at expanding mail-in voting access for the 2020 general election across the state. The legislation later morphed in committee to allow independents or those unaffiliated with a major party to change their party affiliation on the same day that they cast a ballot. Senate Bill 4 — introduced by Democratic Senators Daniel Ivey-Soto and Gabriel Ramos and backed by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham — aims to allow county clerks to automatically send mail-in ballots to registered voters without requiring people to request them.

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Police misconduct investigation cleanup missing from special session

Bella Davis | June 19

SANTA FE — Spurred by the police murder of George Floyd and subsequent worldwide protests against systemic racism and police brutality, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced on Wednesday that police reform would be included at the special session. The session began at noon on Thursday. Notably missing from the Governor’s call was a House bill that would have reformed police misconduct investigations. State Rep. Antonio "Moe" Maestas said the bill would have changed a state law that makes investigating police misconduct more difficult.