Opinion - The Daily Lobo

Opinion

Letter: Trump has violated promise to stay out of Syria

Daily Lobo Readers | April 16

Editor, Is it just me or did Donald Trump swear up and down during the election that he would not militarily escalate the U.S. presence in Syria? In fact, if I remember the debates correctly, he took more than one pot shot at Hillary Clinton for supporting unnecessary wars in the Middle East that, at the end of the day, did not benefit the people of the United States.

Opinion

Column: UNM skiing should be prioritized, not discontinued

Gabriella Rivera | April 16

Two days separated the announcement of Paul Weir as the new head men’s basketball coach and the discontinuation of both the men’s and women’s ski teams. This jarring sequence reflects the wider — and questionable — priorities of UNM Athletics under the leadership of Paul Krebs. Weir’s contract is to be 2.5 times that of his previous salary at NMSU. The base salary for his first year at UNM will be $625,000, escalating to $825,000 by his sixth year. Buyouts for basketball and football coaches have been costly for UNM in recent years, from Locksley to Neal.

Opinion

Letter: Gov. Martinez cannot be allowed to cut higher education budget

Daily Lobo Readers | April 12

Editor, I am stunned that Susana Martinez has chosen to defund the legislature and all colleges and universities in our state as her way to balance our state’s budget. If this particular situation is not resolved, then EVERY institute of higher learning in our state will be closed as of July 1. This is truly the most unconscionable act of political gamesmanship I have seen in a long time.

Opinion

Letter: It's time to question the viability of athletics

Daily Lobo Readers | April 9

Dear President Abdallah and the Board of Regents, I support your efforts to deal with one of the worst economic crises our University has ever suffered. However, I am very concerned about the draconian cuts now occurring to core academic programs at a time when the Athletic Department is hemorrhaging millions of dollars, and consistently running deficits year after year that must be made up by legislative funds, student fees and cuts to other University programs. I believe that no public employee in a state like New Mexico should earn multi-million dollar salaries and contract buyouts.

Opinion

Letter: Bursar's credit card processing fee is harmful to students

Daily Lobo Readers | April 9

Editor, Recently, I found myself in a predicament that many students at UNM face during their academic tenure. A financial hold had been placed on my account, and I needed to make a payment to the Bursar's Office in order to have it removed. This seemed like a relatively simple task; I needed only to log on to their website and pay through my debit card, and all would be well. Little did I know, this was not the case.

Opinion

Column: The rocky relationship between press and government is a necessary one

Nichole Harwood | April 5

“Anybody (especially Fake News media) who thinks that Repeal & Replace of ObamaCare is dead does not know the love and strength in R Party!” tweeted President Donald Trump on April 2, 2017. This tweet is one of dozens sent by Trump that help form a picture of the current presidential administration's relationship with the media — a rocky one at best. But how different is this administration's relationship with the media, and how important is this relationship as the foundation of the principles and purpose that define the role of a reporter?

Opinion

Letter: UNM is exploiting vulnerable faculty to pay unnecessary expenses

Daily Lobo Readers | April 5

Editor, It is difficult for me to believe what just took place over the last week. On Tuesday, March 28th, (acting) President Abdallah held a town hall where he informed us that furloughs are on the table.

Opinion

Letter: The University should prioritize education, not athletics

Daily Lobo Readers | April 5

Editor, As the University loses another sport coach, talk has started about who to hire to replace him. I find this disgraceful. The sports department has been losing money and cannot support themselves, so it should have to make the same sacrifices that the rest of the University is (being) asked to make.

Opinion

Letter: Universities are now about profit, not education

Daily Lobo Readers | April 2

Editor, In all my years at UNM, acting President Abdallah is the only head of the school that I have seen who openly encourages community debate and discussion on controversial issues. This is the kind of openness and thinking that UNM and our state needs if we are to solve some of our social and economic crisis that seem to come rolling in like waves of low pressure weather off the Pacific coast. On the issue of the UNM budget problem, we have to face the unspeakable fact that the modern university is a business corporation with education as a side product and not a main mission.

Opinion

Guest Column: Roadblocks to reentry

Barry Ore | April 2

It is 7:15 a.m., and I am standing 20-people back in a line outside the Midtown Public Health Office, where folks needing a birth certificate start congregating around 6:00 a.m. every weekday to claim one of the limited number of documents given out by the Vital Records department. One of my clients stares down at a phone without service, playing a game and lightheartedly fighting off a second client, who encroaches on the screen with a plastic ballpoint pen and says, “it’s a Stylus.” They both giggle, uncharacteristically joyful for the circumstances.

Opinion

Letter: Trump's abortion policies resemble Nazi Germany

Daily Lobo Readers | March 29

Editor, The Republicans' failed American Health Care Act would have effectively dismantled all insurance coverage for abortion; eliminated requirements of essential services to be covered under Medicaid; and defunded Planned Parenthood, a move opposed by 75 percent of Americans. It was reported in January that the U.S. abortion rate is now at the lowest level it’s been Since Roe v. Wade. That is probably due to both expanding contraception coverage, and also the GOP's War on Women. In Israel, abortions are both legal and free? They are covered under insurance. So, why make it harder here especially since we're buddies with Israel and give them tons of money?

Opinion

Letter: Medical residents are overworked and understaffed

Daily Lobo Readers | March 29

Editor, Your report “UNMH residents face 24-hour shifts” (Daily Lobo, 3/27/17) does not mention a big reason for resident stress: the shortage of residents at any given hour in a hospital. This makes many residents overloaded, and likely to cause medical errors. One way hospitals are trying to increase the number of residents on hand is by extending the shift length. This is going to result in greater fatigue, and therefore more medical errors.

Opinion

Editorial: The Daily Lobo endorses Gabe Gallegos for ASUNM President

The Daily Lobo Editorial Board | March 27

In recent years, a diverse group of UNM students have campaigned to become ASUNM president, a title that brings with it a responsibility of representing the University’s 20,000 plus undergraduate students. Those candidates have prioritized and ran on platforms encompassing a myriad of issues: student safety, accessibility of resources, relieving financial burdens, improving campus facilities.

Opinion

Letter: Christians should re-examine their religion

Daily Lobo Readers | March 26

Editor, Any faith worth having is worth examining deeply. Many people fear if they knew more they would believe less. Did Jesus of Nazareth actually live in human history? If he did, did the writers of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible accurately tell Jesus' teachings and actions? In centuries since, did those people who copied and translated the original writings do a good job and make no important mistakes? Huge questions! Who knows the answers for sure?

Opinion

Letter: Student Fee Review Board should provide funding for student journalists

Daily Lobo Readers | March 22

Editor, Recently, a working group within the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) has been reviewing portions of our Bylaws which relate to our annual budget. As a member of that working group, as well as the current vice chair of GPSA's Finance Committee, I am writing to suggest the Student Fee Review Board (SFRB) consider providing funding to the UNM Student Publications Board. According to the GPSA's Bylaws, we must take some of the money we collect from graduate students (the "GPSA Student Fee") and allocate between 1 and 1.5 percent of it to the Board, amounting to roughly $3,000 per year.

Opinion

Column: Women who sought and spoke truth

Cathy Cook | March 21

Ida B. Wells, Nellie Bly, Katharine Graham, Zakia Zaki. A sociologist, an inventor, America’s first fortune 500 CEO and a headmistress. All women who kept people informed and held governments accountable through their work in the world of journalism. In case you didn’t realize yet, March is Women’s History Month. It’s a good time to reflect on the women who have held their ground, brokered peace, built bridges (metaphorical and otherwise) and were all around badasses.

Opinion

Column: Write for the passion, not the paycheck

Cathy Cook | March 20

How many people do you know who are writing a novel? And have been for 10 years (yes, they’re only 21, so this masterwork has been in the works since they were 11)? I know a lot. 10 would be on the low end. There’s the 13-year-old I met on a weeklong camping trip who was almost done with her first novel and had plans to start her second (since when did 13-year-olds start writing novels instead of watching cartoons? Have they always done that? Did I just do being 13 wrong?).

Opinion

Letter: White people are disproportionately targeted for crime

Daily Lobo Readers | March 19

Editor, President Trump's second travel ban is on the back-burner and students are returning from Spring Break festivities. With the campus refreshed and political climate cooled for the moment, I feel now is a good time to broach an uncomfortable-but-important topic amid our racialized political atmosphere: Whites as disproportionate targets in interracial crime. I was hesitant to report the shocking facts on interracial crime and white victimization when I first learned about them from a Department of Justice report two years ago. Reporting anything that challenges the conspiracy of white privilege could implicate me as a hater - or worse.

Opinion

Letter: Tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations are hurting New Mexico

Daily Lobo Readers | March 16

On Saturday night, March 11, 2017, I started a long overdue conversation on the floor of the House. For the past 14 years, New Mexico tried an experiment – we cut personal and corporate income taxes to see if jobs would flow into the state. The experiment failed. Jobs and people left the state. Revenues tumbled. Schools, public safety and infrastructure were decimated. And the tax burden rose sharply on lower and middle class wage earners.

Opinion

Spring Break Dictionary: Your guide to puking at parties, blacking out and all the other fun experiences you can expect from spending an entire week intoxicated

Cathy Cook | March 10

Spring Break — (n.), an academic tradition that began in the 1930s as a way to offer a midterm break or time off for Easter. Contemporary spring break practices still have much in common with Easter: The concept of rebirth (when your roommate seemed dead after three shots of tequila, but came back to life at the smell of bacon pancakes), the importance of large stones (or being stoned), the centrality of eggs (a pivotal hangover food), and the sacrifice of one man (the sober sitter/DD/Jesus take the wheel) for the lives of the collective. PAAARTAY! — (n.), the homing beacon of drunk spring breakers. This loud inebriated shout, frequently accompanied by a drunken selfie and incoherent hashtags (#pooturnt #durnkselfie), helps spring breakers find one another when they’ve lost their brethren.