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UNM to hold tree planting event for Arbor Day

Danielle Prokop | April 15

Smelly trees aside, the University of New Mexico has some upcoming events for the arboreal-lovers around campus. In honor of Arbor Day on April 26, an international holiday dedicated to planting trees, UNM will host plantings all week across campus. “We’ve been doing arbor week plantings for a long time,” said Alan Billau, the supervisor for the UNM arboriculture department. “We always encourage people to come and pick up a shovel and help plant the tree.”

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Budget Summit rescheduled to April 22

Kyle Land and Justin Garcia | April 15

On Monday, April 22, the University of New Mexico Board of Regents will decide what to do about the University’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year, after rescheduling the vote twice before. The first budget summit was rescheduled to be congruent with the previously scheduled April 9 regents meeting. The second summit had to grapple with a last-minute letter from the New Mexico Higher Education Department.

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Man tased on campus after committing robbery

Justin Garcia | April 11

A man was taken to the hospital after police discharged a stun gun on him on the University of New Mexico main campus. Police said the man had stolen a cell phone. The incident occurred outside the CERIA building across from Carlisle Gym. University of New Mexico Chief of Police Trace Peck said police utilized the stun gun after the suspect was chased across campus by the individual who had their cell phone stolen, who recognized them. Other students joined the chase, according to Peck.

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Gov. Lujan Grisham to speak at Spring 2019 commencement ceremony

Kyle Land | April 11

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will be giving the commencement speech for the Spring 2019 Commencement Ceremony. University of New Mexico Preside Garnett Stokes said in a written statement that the decision to invite the recently-elected governor came after she spoke to student leaders around campus.

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PragerU speaker to visit UNM

Justin Garcia | April 11

Will Witt, a content creator for PragerU, is set to speak at the University of New Mexico on April 23. He was invited to speak by the UNM chapter of Turning Point USA at a talk called “Leftism is Destroying America.” Turning Point USA is a national 501(c)3, non-profit organization that describes its mission as, “to identify, educate, train and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets and limited government.” “He’s a little bit of a lesser known speaker. So I thought he would be a good speaker to get the ball rolling,” said Christian Portilla, president of the UNM chapter of Turning Point.

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Zimmerman prepares to move large amounts of books offsite

Shayla Cunico | April 11

Students at the University of New Mexico may have noticed flagged, stacks of books indicating the early stages of the University's process of moving books from Zimmerman Library to the South Campus Repository. Over the next three years UNM's Libraries will be relocating a chunk of their resources to the future South Campus Repository (SCR), a climate-controlled library facility on South Campus. UNM currently adds more than 20,000 physical resources to its libraries each year.

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UNM to overhaul proposed budget, postpones Budget Summit

Danielle Prokop | April 10

The University of New Mexico postponed the approval of its several-billion dollar budget on Tuesday, tangling with the state over the application of a required employee pay-bump. The New Mexico Higher Education Department sent a letter Monday to higher education governing boards that the state expected four-year and two-year institutions’ “employees...to receive a 4 percent increase in compensation.” The letter was sent one day before the UNM 2019-2020 Budget Summit. However, Regent President Douglas Brown said some members of UNM were aware of the governor’s edit to House Bill 2, which includes the University’s appropriations, as early as Friday and Saturday.

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Budget for branch campuses approved

Justin Garcia | April 10

The University of New Mexico approved branch campus budgets for the upcoming fiscal year at the Board of Regents meeting on Tuesday. The budgets for Main Campus and Health Sciences Center are another story. The meeting, which doubled as the 2019/2020 Annual Budget Summit, saw a last-minute letter from the Higher Education Department of New Mexico causing a postponement of the vote to approve Main Campus and HSC budgets.

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Budget Summit to tackle enrollment, tuition

Danielle Prokop | April 8

Despite a bump in state funding, the University of New Mexico still feels budget pressure due to enrollment shortfalls, resulting in declining tuition and student fee revenues. Those concerns are front and center in UNM’s 2020 fiscal year proposals, which include a tuition increase, a pay bump for employees and an additional fee for technology. Proposals will be vetted on Tuesday at the Budget Summit, which will be held in the Student Union Building in Ballroom C at 9:00 a.m. The summit will be incorporated into the regularly scheduled Board of Regents meeting.

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Muhammad Afzaal elected president of GPSA

Justin Garcia | April 8

Graduate and professional students at the University of New Mexico now have a new president. Muhammad Afzaal was elected as President of the Graduate and Professional Student Association. Afzaal swept opponent Sara Gutierrez, collecting 72 percent of the vote. Gutierrez received 136 votes, while Afzaal picked up 391 votes. Including eight write-in votes, 537 people voted in the election — about 8.8 percent of all graduate and professional students at UNM. Vote totals are unofficial until April 12.

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UNM undergrad to present research in D.C.

Justin Garcia | April 6

Have you ever compared extreme wave height estimation techniques for classifying energy resources and conditions? No? Well, University of New Mexico senior Bibiana Seng has. Seng is getting set to graduate in May, but before then, she is going to Washington D.C. in late April to present her research on wave height at the Council of Undergraduate Research Posters at the Hill event, where students can talk to members of Congress about their research. Suffice it to say, it’s going to be a busy few months for the senior studying mathematics and statistics.

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ASUNM: Students share why they voted

Justin Garcia | April 4

If you were one of the 1,476 undergraduates who voted in the 2019 undergraduate presidential and vice presidential elections, you might have noticed a couple of survey questions underneath the candidate's name. The poll was conducted by the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico Elections Commission during Adam Biederwolf and Madelyn Lucus’s successful bid for President and Vice President, respectively. The election saw nine percent of the 15,609 UNM undergraduates turnout to vote.

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ASUNM prepares for senate election

Justin Garcia | April 4

Two down, one to go. Starting on April 15, the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico will conduct their third and final election of the 2018-2019 school year. This time around, 15 undergraduates are looking to fill no less than 10 open seats on the ASUNM Senate. Every semester at least 10 Senate seats are automatically up for election. Some senators elected in the fall term may decide to resign, opening up more seats. “If you want to win, you got to campaign,” said Executive Director of Elections Commissions Jordan Montoya to the 15 students at the candidates' meeting on Tuesday.

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ASUNM event promotes student self-care

Anthony Jackson | April 4

Booths lined Smith Plaza on April 2 during an Associated Students of the University of New Mexico event centered around self-care. Students and faculty came together to promote on-campus resources at the self-care carnival. ASUNM Vice President Emily Wilks and Outreach and Appointment Chair Emerald Goranson spearheaded the event. “(UNM Students) should know that there are a lot of resources on campus, and there are a lot of people who care about them on campus,” Goranson said.

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UNM to hold Internship Fair

Anna C. Evantiz | April 2

The Career Services department is hosting the Student Job and Internship Fair on Wednesday April 4 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Student Union Building ballrooms. There are going to be over 50 employers at the event whose industries range from non-profits and insurance, to research and law enforcement. Some of the employers in attendance will be the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), Sandia National Laboratories, Walgreens and Children’s Choice Child Care Services, Inc., among others.

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GPSA presidential elections begin today

Justin Garcia | April 1

Two graduate students are running to become the next president of the graduate student government in an election that runs (online) from April 1 to April 4. Graduate and professional students at the University of New Mexico will select either Muhammad Afzaal or Sara Gutierrez as the next president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association. “Are you prepared for your whole life to change?” asked Andrea Abeita to Afzaal during his pitch to the council at the March meeting, referring to the responsibility and stress that she said comes with the job. Afzaal is studying community outreach and planning and Gutierrez is studying public administration. Both candidates have limited experience with GPSA.

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UNM students win diplomacy award in Spain

Justin Garcia | April 1

From bioweapons to blockchains, Andrew Baker and James Goodman know their stuff. During Spring Break, while a lot of students were taking it easy, the student organization World Affairs Delegation was winning awards in Madrid, Spain. Baker and Goodman both took home diplomacy awards, given out to members who “seek to empathize, to understand, and to collaborate with their fellow members to produce the most positive change and advancement they can,” according to the Harvard World Model United Nations (WorldMUN).

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Questions raised about legality of ASUNM meeting

Kyle Land and Justin Garcia | March 28

An undergraduate student-government committee violated the New Mexico Open Meetings Act (OMA) during a meeting last week, according to open meeting experts. The Associated Students of the University of New Mexico Steering & Rules Committee held a meeting on March 20 and unanimously voted down a series of bills that would have dramatically changed the structure of the institution. At Attorney General Emily Hartshorn's suggestion the committee adjourned to discuss the idea of changing ASUNM's makeup further.

2019 ASUNM President and Vice President Election

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ASUNM: Biederwolf wins presidential election

Justin Garcia | March 28

Adam Biederwolf won the 2019 Presidential election of the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico, defeating his opponent, Mohammad Assed, by just over a hundred votes. Biederwolf received 779 of the 1,476 voted in the election, according to the Election Commission. Assed received 664. Madelyn Lucas won the Vice President’s office with 868 votes, beating Holly Gallegos by 372 votes. Biederwolf said after hugging his brother, mother and father: “When you’re running a campaign you have to be dedicated mentally and physically. I guess it just went my way."

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Heated exchange takes place in SUB mall

Justin Garcia | March 28

University of New Mexico Police Department was called out to the Student Union Building Mall during a heated series of arguments for a potential assault. The incident stemmed from a series of heated exchanges between a group called Christ In The Wild Ministries and UNM students. The incident happened between Amanda Baquera and Sean (who declined to give his last name). Baquera said that Sean had shoved her while the two were arguing. Sean said that he did not. “He tried going through me, but I stayed as a wall and he shoved me and once he shoved me I said ‘you're not getting to her’ because to me that’s aggression,” Baquera said, referring to another student in the argument.