Summer didn't officially begin until June 20, but we've been feeling it since well before then. The days are long, the afternoons hot. Swamp coolers gurgle and whir. Runners and walkers take advantage of the early morning cool. As the day rises, so does the temperature, with the mercury pushing toward triple digits.
Editor, Under the mentality Andres Saenz displayed in his letter last week, people would receive a bad service just because another could be worse. But, luckily, people do complain, and then change happens. Yes, students complained about the Aramark contract with the SUB, and UNM listened.
Editor, Thank you very much for the article on July 7 about the disparity in pay raises at UNM. I must make one clarification, however, because I made an error in speaking with a reporter on the phone. The cutoff for receiving the 5 percent raise was an annual salary below $30,000, the same amount used by President David Schmidly as a cutoff point for the raises for other staff.
Late last week, The Guardian newspaper of London reported a leaked study from the World Bank that concluded that biofuels are responsible for driving up worldwide food costs by 75 percent, just a smidgen higher than the Bush administration's figure of 2 percent to 3 percent.
Editor, The article in last week's Daily Lobo on salary increases highlights the difficult and precarious position the University is in. Inflationary pressures and the rising cost of food and energy are hitting all staff, faculty and students hard. At the budget hearing in March, Staff Council, in conjunction with the Deans' Council, Faculty Senate, ASUNM and GPSA, recommended a minimum 4 percent increase for faculty and staff and an additional 1 percent parity increase for faculty who are currently making at least 12 percent less than their peers.
Editor, I miss all of the sushi and rice bowl food options that were offered at the SUB through Aramark's contract. I also miss all of the Odwalla soy milk drink options that were available to us under the previous campus food contract. Soy milk has more protein and calcium than regular bovine milk, and it tastes great.
Editor, The "100 Days & Nights of Summer" campaign is an effort by the State of New Mexico Department of Transportation and New Mexico State Police to reduce automobile fatalities by 25 percent in 2008. It is said that summertime is the deadliest time of the year on New Mexico roads.
Editorial boards across the nation have come together in condemnation of Sen. Barack Obama's "flip-flop" decision to abide by public financing for his presidential campaign. Though he did not unequivocally vow to follow it, the presumed Democratic nominee repeatedly proffered strong support for public financing, promised to "aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election" and later declared he would "sit down with Sen.
Editor, When I started at UNM in 1998, the SUB offered a vegetarian restaurant called Earth Grains. It offered made-to-order salads, hummus plates and various assortments of vegan and vegetarian cuisine. Now, the SUB has quasi-vegetarian options that don't live up to the reputation the vegetarian restaurant in the SUB used to have.
Editor, The years from '67 to '73 were arguably the most critical years in the American late 20th century, with respect to the revolutions of social and political consciousness that were going on here while the government kept us distracted with the fear and glory of war in a small people's republic of nowhere.
Every week it seems gas prices continue soaring to heights never before seen, and every jump in the price is accompanied by a mixture of outrage and panic. What's surprising to me is not that prices continue to rise, but that many people are taking it so personally and displaying such angst when we've known for months, even years, that gas prices would be climbing, and we've been given plenty of advance notice to adjust our lifestyles to minimize the harm to ourselves.
Editor, As the price of gas rises steadily to $5 per gallon, Parking Services has done city bus commuters a disservice by eliminating traditional pick-up and drop-off points at the newly constructed roundabout, located near the hospital at Yale and Lomas boulevards.
Editor, In response to your article, "Incoming food vendor makes changes at UNM," I would like to compliment the Dining Services department for taking the requests of their students so seriously. It was wonderful to see that Chartwells District Manager Rudy Simchak recognizes the importance of expanding the vegetarian and vegan options on campus, since there is a growing demand for these products nationwide.
Our night-owl culture is officially under attack. There's no denying it now. The evidence is solid. We can no longer pretend there isn't a problem. Reading, playing on the computer and drinking and smoking all night with friends does in fact have a negative impact on our academic performance.
Editor, Back in 1991, I was halfway through graduate school when I started watching "Meet the Press." I was completing a master's degree in public administration with the intention of running for the Cleveland city council in 1993. Over the next 17 years, I have never missed a show and have always been awestruck by the method used by Tim Russert to question his guests.
Editor, We seem to have shot ourselves in the foot by demanding a campus food service other than Aramark. The MarketPlace, formerly the healthiest shop in the SUB, has vanished in the interest of making room for Mondo Subs. The previous sandwich shop offered various types of bread, vegetables and condiments, allowing students a wide variety in sandwich-making options.
Solutions by The State News
