The weekly crime briefs are to give the students, faculty and staff at the University of New Mexico a quick look into the crimes reported on campus. They do not provide all perspectives of the incident. All of the information is retrieved through UNM police department incident reports.
The Lobo Rainforest Innovation Academy hosted student entrepreneurs who had the opportunity to pitch ideas in the hopes of winning money towards their creation. A total of $1,000 dollars was granted that day to the best 90-second pitch which was determined by the audience. The event took place In Bow and Arrow Brewing Co. and was filled with about 80 patrons supporting the ten pitch ideas.
If past bond election performance is indicative of future results, the City of Albuquerque should rest easy come election day on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Put up to a vote every two years, general obligation (G/O) bonds are part of this year’s consolidated local election. School and college bonds for Albuquerque Public Schools and Central New Mexico Community College will be put to voters, and a measure to continue a property tax for APS building renovation and upkeep appears on the ballot. There is also a proposition that would drastically alter campaign finance, among other ballot items.
The Associated Students of the University of New Mexico’s fall election is here with twenty candidates vying for ten open seats on the undergraduate-student government senate. Voting takes place over the course of three days — Monday at 9 a.m. until Wednesday at 5 p.m. Voting can be cast through the myUNM website, however physical polling locations will be in the Student Union Building (SUB) on Tuesday and Wednesday. The most recent ASUNM senate election saw a relatively low turnout. The 2018 fall election had 1,048 students participate, or 6% of the fall 2018 undergraduates population. Additionally, only 961 students voted in the spring election earlier this year. Each of these elections had the lowest voter turnouts of the past seven years.
This year, voters within Albuquerque's District 6, which encapsulates the University of New Mexico, will decide between candidates Patrick Davis and Gina Naomi Dennis for a seat on the City Council. In interviews with the Daily Lobo, both candidates said they want UNM students to know that their vote can really make an impact on the community and the University as a whole.
From its barren skeleton in the spring 2019 semester, the new Johnson Center is beginning to take shape. The Johnson Center renovation and remodel — which began in June 2018 — is scheduled to wrap up in March 2020. The actual open-to-the-public date comes later in the spring, according to the communications and outreach specialist for the project, Sarah Scott. The two-year, $35 million renovation, remodel and expansion of the University of New Mexico’s recreation center is funded entirely by student fees. To pay for the multi-million dollar project, UNM received a bond from the New Mexico state government. To pay back that bond (along with other University debt), UNM has increased student fees 30% since fall 2015, when UNM first started requesting money for the project.
After lengthy discussion — and in a room packed with Daily Lobo staff — the Steering and Rules Committee of the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico (ASUNM) failed a constitutional amendment that would terminate student government funding for the Daily Lobo and two student-run literary magazines. The bill was introduced and authored by Senator Matthew Zank, a former employee of the Daily Lobo, according to the Daily Lobo Editor-in-Chief Justin Garcia. The bill failed to advance to a full Senate vote, with four committee members voting against and one member absent.
The University of New Mexico is the recipient of two new state scholarships designed to address the shortage of teachers at all grade levels of the New Mexico public educational system. A study by New Mexico State University estimated that there were 644 teacher vacancies in New Mexico in 2019. The study hypothesizes that some factors contributing to this shortage include a comparatively low starting wage for educators and the dependence of teaching positions on student test scores in the state.
Ghouls and gals were welcomed into the Albuquerque Biopark Zoo’s Boo at the Zoo on Oct. 26 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Albuquerque Zoo has hosted some type of Halloween event every year for the past 30 years. This year, Boo at the Zoo was a fundraiser and all of the proceeds benefit additions and renovations for the zoo as well as the aquarium and the botanical gardens.
Sustainability Awareness month is coming to an end, but efforts to make the University of New Mexico campus and the surrounding community more sustainable continue through the Sustainability Program at UNM. In September of 2009, a Climate Action Plan (CAP) was created with the goal of making UNM 80% carbon neutral by the year 2030. The plan was never officially approved by the University, but outlined goals and projects within the Sustainability Program.
Kate D’Adamo, a national sex worker rights activist, spoke about the laws that impact sex workers’ lives in an interview with the Daily Lobo. D’Adamo is based out of Washington, D.C. and is a sex worker and sex worker advocate. She works with Reframe Health and Justice, a queer, transgender and people of color consulting collective which takes on a variety of issues including harm reduction, healing, justice, and criminal and legal reform. According to the The Sun, a news outlet based in the United Kingdom, of the 70,000 students they surveyed about sex work, 18% had sold intimate photos, 16% had sold used underwear (or some other item of clothing), 14% had engaged in sugar dating (receiving payment for dating someone), 14% had engaged in dates and/or served as an escort, 10% had engaged in webcamming, 9% had participated in phone sex, 7% had been paid for sex, 5% had done nude modeling and 2% had made porn
The University of New Mexico Provost James Holloway addressed the possible restructuring of undergraduate tuition at the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico’s (ASUNM) full senate meeting last Wednesday night. In his weekly report to the senate, ASUNM President Adam Biederwolf also mentioned that the tuition and fee modeling committee is weighing a motion of raising tuition for in-state undergraduate students taking 15 to 18 credit hours while lowering tuition for those taking one to 14 hours.
The University of New Mexico's main campus, located directly north of Central Avenue, experiences an extremely high crime rate – five times the national average, according to a 2018 crime index. This high level of crime impacts the community around Central Avenue and the University, including businesses along Central. Local business owner Gina Yates of Harvard Drive's Frock Star Vintage said businesses on Central have a designated phone number to call in case there is a security emergency. Yates said she mostly deals with petty theft, with the majority of stolen items coming from the racks that she has outside of her shop.
The phrase “red flags” refers to warning signs that occur in interpersonal relationships before it is overtly clear that the relationship is toxic, dangerous or abusive. According to Psychology Today, red flags can be extremely subtle but some might be more obvious. Either way, red flags can be the first indicators that any interpersonal relationship — and not just romantic ones — could become emotionally, physically or sexually abusive. Most people have experienced red flags during their lifetime, even if they don’t realize it.When they are noticed, they might only be visible to the person on the receiving end and not the people around them outside of the relationship.
The University of New Mexico Hospital offers patient-centered reproductive healthcare to women and their partners through the UNM Midwife program. The program provides personalized care during pregnancy and basic reproductive care even when children are not part of life’s plan. “Midwives play such a vital role in women’s reproductive health,” said UNM psychology major Angela Cox. “They can provide you with basic reproductive care whether or not you plan to have children. They are more than just a nurse and very much needed to help women feel safe and protected during the most vulnerable times.”
College-age students are one of the largest demographics of people who utilize birth control. The topic of birth control has been an ongoing discussion since the 1800s and still continues today. Now, there are numerous forms of birth control for women, but still only one for men. According to The Cut and Live Science, it appears the biggest issues in creating a birth control for men is that the medical companies don’t think the pill will sell to the male demographic and that “men wouldn’t be trusted to take it,” Live Science said. While these two issues are listed as two of the most common problems with the medication, the bigger issue on the medical side is the fact that there is a lot more to target reproductively when talking about male birth control. Females produce roughly one sex cell a month, while males on average can produce at least 40 million sperm cells a day.
University of New Mexico football starting quarterback Sheriron Jones will appear in court on charges of indecent exposure, according to a UNMPD report. The indecent exposure is alleged to have happened on Oct.18 in the Cornell parking structure, the day before Lobo football lost to the University of Wyoming. According to the report, a woman was sitting in her car when she witnessed a white sedan slowly passing her vehicle several times. As she was walking out of the structure, she noticed the same sedan parked between her car and the exit. She heard someone from the vehicle talk, which prompted her to turn around. She saw a male in the vehicle staring at her. "Are you good?" she asked him from a distance.
The League of Latin American Citizens (LULAC) adopted a resolution calling for local, state and federal entities to investigate UNM for violating New Mexico state law and previous agreements with the Hispanic community and the U.S. Department of Justice. The resolution, adopted over the summer, came as a response four days after University of New Mexico President Garnett Stokes selected Dr. Assata Zerai for the position of Vice President for Equity and Inclusion. President Stokes selected Dr. Zerai on June 4, filling the position that Lawrence Roybal had been serving in on an interim basis for two years. Roybal has been a member of the UNM community for over 40 years — first as a student and then later professionally. He had broad approval within the University during his tenure.
The University of New Mexico faculty voted in force for two collective bargaining units last week. Full-time faculty voted to form a union with 60% support in the election. According to the counters, there were 811 total votes cast — 500 of those voted “Yes” and 304 voted “No.” Seven ballots were determined ineligible due to extraneous marks. There were 43 ballots cast to challenge the vote, but the counters determined them insignificant in the final count. “I’m still calling it a tentative ‘yes’,” Jessamyn Lovell, a full-time professor in the College of Fine Arts, told the Daily Lobo.
University of New Mexico part-time faculty elected to form a collective bargaining unit, with an overwhelming majority. According to the counters, 259 voted for. 26 voted against. Out of the 492 eligible part-time faculty voters, 288 votes were cast. 259 “Yes: votes were cast opposed to 26 for “No.” Three were considered ineligible due to extraneous marks. 32 votes challenged the election. The counters are made up of members of the University United Academics of UNM, and a neutral arbitrator. The counters are working on the full-time count now.
Solutions by The State News
