News

Lottery Scholarship sees changes, memorial on firearms introduced as legislative session wraps up

SANTA FE, N.M. — The latest state legislative session wrapped up Thursday as representatives and senators worked until the last second to get as many bills, memorials and resolutions passed before the noon deadline. Below is a look at how three pieces of legislation — two of which directly affect the University of New Mexico — fared in the State Legislature.

KUNM Generation Listen welcomes community to listening party

KUNM Generation Listen will host a listening party Friday, where members of the community are encouraged to learn about radio. This month, Generation Listen plans to cover student-generated podcasts on a wide variety of topics, from politics to sports. Jalila Arthur, the 2016-2017 president of Generation Listen, and current president Seth Brewer encourage everyone to attend.

Brief: Carnival promotes kindness on and off campus

The University of New Mexico BeKind Initiative in collaboration with UNM Student Affairs put on a Kindness Carnival Monday in the Student Union Building as part of Kindness Week. The event featured games, food and prizes. According to Kim Kloeppel, chief operations officer for UNM Student Affairs, the Kindness Carnival was hosted by the BeKind Initiative to encourage students to give back to the community and spread kindness. This was the second year that UNM hosted the Kindness Carnival, said Jessica Carlton, a student volunteer at the Kindness Carnival and volunteer with the Be Kind Initiative.

Path of reported incidents concerning gunman on campus

Gunman arrested after incidents at Duck Pond and near campus

University of New Mexico students, staff and faculty received an alarming alert Thursday morning about a man on campus who pulled a gun on several people. According to the LoboAlert — sent out at 10:38 a.m. — a dark-skinned male wearing a green pancho started heading south towards Central Avenue after brandishing a gun in front of multiple people. Lt. Trace Peck, of the UNM Police Department, said that the first incident took place at the Golden Pride restaurant on Lomas Boulevard. This was followed by a second report from two joggers who saw the man holding a gun on the same street — Peck said he did not know whether or not they were under a direct threat from the suspect.

Regent Alex Romero resigns, cites lack of respect

Tensions among Board of Regents members came to a head when one decided to leave the position entirely, citing ineffective communication and leadership. Regent Alex O. Romero resigned from the University of New Mexico Board of Regents Wednesday after only serving in the position for eight months. “It’s a lack of respect,” said Romero during an interview with the Daily Lobo when explaining his reasons for leaving.

Brief: Bake sale benefits cancer patients

The New Mexico Tumor Registry organized and held a Valentine’s Day bake sale Wednesday at the Cancer Research Facility. All proceeds went toward cancer patients and their families. NMTR Program Manager Virginia “Ginger” Williams, who headed the event, said NMTR holds three fundraisers each year for this cause. NMTR works with the social workers at the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center to identify cancer patients who are most in need, she said.

Regents approve Abdallah as 22nd prez — also talk taproom, athletics, communication

The proposed Student Union Building Taproom and Chaouki Abdallah’s time at the University of New Mexico were discussed at Tuesday’s Board of Regents meeting, among Coronado dorm renovations, communication between regents and athletic debt. Associated Students of University of New Mexico and UNM faculty representatives expressed concerns regarding the proposition that the athletic department’s $4.7 million deficit be forgiven. The concerns involving the athletics department debt were discussed during the public comment section of the meeting. Pamela Pyle, the Faculty Senate president, was the first to speak against the idea of forgiving the debt. She said she received 25 emails from fellow faculty members that agreed with her aversion to the idea.

Brief: Annual BeKind Week kicks off with safety theme

The University of New Mexico began its annual BeKind Week Monday, continuing a 16-year-old tradition involving more than 18 campus departments promoting kindness and goodwill. Some groups involved this week include Student Health and Counseling and UNM Children’s Campus. A teddy bear drive, Cuddle a Canine and other events will happen throughout the week. “Kindness means helping each other out. Being a community that supports each other and in this time and age where people need positive reinforcement in trying to be proactive each and every day to help someone out,” said Kimmerly Kloeppel, Ph.D., chair of the BeKind team.

Fate of Lottery Scholarship bill to be determined Thursday

There are just two days left in the legislative session, and the fate of a handful of bills are still unknown — one of them being House Bill 147. HB 147 challenges the way the Lottery Foundation allocates money for the Lottery Scholarship. Currently, the scholarship receives 30 percent of the net revenue from the New Mexico lottery, which includes ticket sales. As introduced, the bill calls for an elimination of the 30 percent allotment and instead proposes a flat rate of $38 million allocated to the fund per year. If the foundation cannot provide the $38 million, they would be required to only allocate 30 percent of their net revenue.

Continuing Ed hosts active shooter survival course at UNM

The University of New Mexico Continuing Education department will be hosting an active shooter survival course on Saturday that is open to the public. Global One Defense, an Albuquerque-based company that specializes in defense solutions and trainings, will run the course. The company teaches a variety of courses across the U.S. and other countries, covering topics ranging from active shooter and home invasions to law enforcement and border security. Gilbert Baca, CEO and founder of Global One Defense, has been teaching the active shooter course since 2008. He says it is important for everyone to go through the training.

Cox aims to give everyone the chance to vote

Focusing on the integrity of the voting process will be part of attorney JoHanna Cox’s first steps to run for New Mexico Secretary of State. “There are several different locations where people's votes weren’t counted that people weren’t able to even get to polling locations, because they didn’t know about them or where they were located,” she said. On Jan. 11, Cox announced her candidacy for New Mexico Secretary of State, planning to run as a Republican.

Toulouse Oliver talks voting opportunities and the road ahead

Current Secretary of State and University of New Mexico alum Maggie Toulouse Oliver is running for re-election this fall. Toulouse Oliver received both her undergraduate and her master’s degree at UNM and has been involved in elections in New Mexico for the last 23 years, she said. “(Being) a graduate student in studying election systems and voting behavior has really helped me in my work, and it has helped me apply some of the tools...to the work that I do,” Toulouse Oliver said.

Campus community wants students to “Love Yo ‘Self”

This Valentine’s Day the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Resource Center at the University of New Mexico will be hosting an event titled “Love Yo ‘Self” to focus on self-love and self-care. Selina Villa, a student employee at the Center, said that self-care and self-love are important issues. “Especially for the queer-trans community (it is important) to encourage self-love because there’s a lot of things out there that tells us that we really shouldn’t be this way and what we’re doing isn’t right,” Villa said. “So we just want to give that opportunity to people to be like ‘you matter, you’re loved and who you are is pretty dandy.’”

UNM hosts self-defense training session

For 90 minutes on Friday, nine female college and high school students learned self-defense using jiu jitsu in one of the Student Union Building ballrooms. Female students learned how to diffuse situations, break holds, block punches and subdue attackers. The event was the last part of the Real Sex Week, hosted by pro-life organization Students for Life. Other events included seminars about sex trafficking and healing after a sexual assault.

Talk on sexual assault emphasizes healing

For Rebecca Frock, a post traumatic stress disorder specialist, healing after sexual assault is possible, but there is no specific way to go about it. For more than 20 years Frock worked in outpatient and inpatient settings as a clinical counselor. She also worked as the director of University of New Mexico Psychiatric Center for eight years and provides Christ-centered counseling, according to her website. Her talk, “Real Hope, Real Transformation, Real Victory,” at the Student Union Building Luminaria room Thursday afternoon was part of the Real Sex Week, a week of events with topics ranging from birth control to human trafficking to feminism.

UNM rated best law school for Hispanics

The University of New Mexico’s School of Law has been ranked the nation’s best school for Hispanics in the preLaw magazine. “(The) University of New Mexico ranks first, thanks to (the) mix of Hispanic students and faculty, plus strong student services,” according to the magazine. The magazine’s study was based on three variables — student enrollment, faculty and student services — to identify the best schools for Asians, Hispanics and African-Americans.

UNM professor discusses Afro-Mexican identity

A professor at the University of New Mexico addressed confusion surrounding African identity in Mexico during her talk Thursday. Doris Careaga Coleman, Ph.D., a professor in the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department, gave a lecture on African identity as a part of the “Afro-Latino Talks” series hosted by Chicana and Chicano Studies, Africana Studies, African-American Student Services and El Centro de la Raza that occur throughout the Spring 2018 semester. “Discussing this topic is very interesting to us, because it gave us a way to help make the invisible visible,” said Student Program Specialist Yesenia Ruiz, who helped organize the talk.

Largest construction project currently underway at UNM set to complete in 2019

The Physics and Astronomy Department plans to have a new home by Fall 2019. The construction is hard to miss. The new building will be the former site of a city water reservoir adjacent to the Center for the Arts, the Art building, Castetter Hall and Marron Hall. The reservoir has been unused by the Albuquerque Water Utility Authority for years. Projected to cost upward of $65.7 million, the Physics, Astronomy and Interdisciplinary Science Center, or PAIS, is the largest construction project currently underway at the University of New Mexico, according to a project status report from the Planning, Design & Construction Department.

Sandia Labs and Anderson team up to create degree program

A new symbiotic degree program is underway, connecting the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management and Sandia National Laboratories. This program aims to give UNM graduates job opportunities at Sandia National Laboratories and the education to succeed. The two parties signed a memorandum of understanding for project management education and professional development on Jan. 31, according to a press release. This agreement creates a Master of Science degree in project controls, project management and program management, as well as new internship possibilities at the laboratories.