The unfolding tragedy of masses of desperate Middle Eastern refugees turning up on European shores is a tragic calamity to all morally decent people. However, we must understand the cause and effect that has brought this unfortunate event about.
This letter is in response to the three letters from concerned students affiliated with various conservative student groups on campus that were published in the last printing, regarding the failure of Resolution 3S on the Senate floor on February 24. We are writing to state our support for Senator Cooper and to clarify the remarks for which he is so harshly being criticized. ASUNM Senators have a duty and responsibility to represent the students’ interests with mechanisms for communication that are in place through our senatorial responsibilities.
In the immediate aftermath of all these mass shootings stateside, have you noticed how family and friends and neighbors of even shooters who are college-age, and especially high schoolers, claim they had absolutely no clue, no idea and are in total shock and surprise that this particular person could commit such a heinous act?
While I am sympathetic to the democratic socialism of Bernie Sanders, I do not believe that he will be the eventual Democratic presidential nominee. Sanders does have the support of many young voters, and young voters are about as reliable as drunkards. In the event that Sanders is eventually defeated by that darling of Wall Street and warmonger Hilary Clinton; I ask Sanders voters to consider supporting the presidential candidacy of Green Party's Jill Stein.
Four Air Force veterans, who officially operated U.S. drones assassinating people in other countries, have spoken out. They wrote to President Obama, “We came to the realization that the innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS, while also serving as a fundamental recruitment tool similar to Guantanamo Bay. This administration and its predecessors have built a drone program that is one of the most devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world.”
It seems to me the epidemic of mass shootings the last few years, including many at public institutions, has become, like climate change, an inconvenient truth that many choose to ignore.
Yet again, the upper administration is underestimating the University community and the state in general. When asked when the University would start investing in the human capital here, President Frank’s flippant response (that hinted at a threat) was that we have to “make sure we can keep our doors open.”
At the most recent ASUNM meeting, I was proud to represent the UNM Young Americans for Freedom and speak in favor of Resolution 3S. This resolution would have called for the University to allow stun guns on campus for the purposes of self-defense. Ultimately the resolution failed to pass. We accept that it is a part of the democratic process for senators to vote against resolutions if they feel that the students they represent do not support that piece of legislation and, indeed, that was the stated reason of a number of senators who voted against it. We applaud their honesty and commitment to representing their constituents, even if we disagree with their decision.
On Wednesday night, ASUNM voted against a resolution that would have made the UNM campus safer by expanding options for self-defense items for students. I am disappointed that many of the senators do not see the need to improve safety on campus and to allow students their right to protect themselves. Many in ASUNM who voted against it had either voted for or supported last semester’s pro-pepper spray resolution, which was passed unanimously, but couldn’t successfully defend why they would want students to continue to feel unsafe this semester. Student safety is more important than a vote from ASUNM.
With 2016’s 30-day Legislative Session finally at an end, University of New Mexico students can rest in peace knowing that the Legislative Lottery Scholarship is safe ... that is, at least for the next fiscal year. As it currently stands, the Lottery Scholarship, which was created 20 years ago by Sen. Michael Sanchez to help create access to education for New Mexico students, is facing a cliff in the upcoming year. If changes weren’t made to the amount of revenue for the Lottery Scholarship Fund, the scholarship would go from subsidizing 90-95 percent of UNM lottery recipients’ tuition in school year 2016-17 to 60-65 percent of tuition in school year 2017-18, a drastic 30 percent reduction.
I’m writing this as the state chair and chapter president of Young Americans for Liberty at the University of New Mexico. Recently, Young Americans for Liberty, along with the Young Americans for Freedom and UNM College Republicans, sponsored a resolution in the Student Senate that would have recommended to change UNM Policy to allow students on campus to defend themselves with stun guns.
As the New Mexico Dream Team (NMDT) and as a chapter based in the University of New Mexico (UNM), we want to take a formal stance against the participation of the U.S Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) during Career Services Fair. As a statewide organization, we fight for the dignity and equality of all families, regardless of immigration status. As students of UNM, we value education and define it beyond a title or diploma. To us, an education is an avenue towards achieving our dreams and honoring our community.
The US Supreme Court decisions that Justice Antonin Scalia championed included those that clearly reflected his bias as a self-proclaimed "devout Catholic," rationalizing his inimical philosophy as originalist when interpreting the Constitution by siding with regressive Christianists in decision after decision, legislative history be damned.
It is often difficult to pinpoint exactly why student fees increase from one semester to the next. I too become quite confused when navigating my bursars account. On Friday, February 11, the Regents authorized the refinancing and refunding of previously issued institutional bonds while also authorizing administration to purchase additional bonds, generating approximately $55 million dollars for the University. Why, you may ask? After years of planning and discussion, both administration and student leadership came to the agreement that some of our facilities are behind the times
Education matters. Yet no matter how worthwhile we all know it to be, it doesn’t make the process of becoming educated any easier. And as if cramming for tests and writing essays into the night weren’t tasking enough, as students we have to balance that with the pressures of a social life, health and figuring out what we want to do for the rest of our lives.
That superior research haven which is the University of Texas at Austin is now set to allow concealed handguns not only on campus, but even in classrooms, thanks to this new Texas law enacted by your typical Texan yahoos right across from campus in this State capital’s legislature. So much for the peaceful and quiet environment required for the burst of ideas and intellectual thought among the typically timid nerds who get to study there.
The recent celebration at UNM of International Mother Language Day by the Bangladesh Student Association focused, as usual, on the formation of a sovereign Bangladesh out of East Pakistan, seeded by protesting college students there demanding the right to continue having their mother tongue Bangla as their official language and not have Urdu imposed upon them from the domineering West Pakistan. The police killed a few, but the protest succeeded.
I have known gay priests as my friends. Many priests entered seminary as youth and never experienced much natural sexual exploration. Their sexual development was frozen! They were castrated, without knives, by strict sexual prohibitions. Years later they emerged into the world as parish priests – horny and lonely for intimacy but not prepared for mature romance. They related sexually largely to kids about the age the priests were when their sexual development was frozen. We can understand behavior without necessarily approving.
Safety. A big word, carrying a lot of weight and meaning for each student, staff, and faculty member at the University of New Mexico. How do we promote a safe yet open campus? Over the course of the past year, ASUNM has taken a special interest in the safety of each student on campus. We want to make sure that YOU feel both comfortable and at home at UNM, and we have taken some big steps towards creating a safer environment for YOU. Each year, ASUNM is able to ask for capital outlay money from the Legislature. We focus on areas throughout campus that may need renovation, remodeling or revamping explicitly in the interest of students.
Students for Life UNM was able to hand out 30 Valentines Day bags and over 40 roses to women at our pregnant and parenting support table today! Each bag contained a rose, a pregnancy test, a referral to both the nearest pregnancy recourse center and Care Net’s STD Mobile Unit, information on our outreach, Pregnant on Campus and an invite to our next meeting. Why did we give away pregnancy tests, you may ask? Are we telling students to get pregnant? According to recent polls, nearly 26 percent of undergraduate students (4.8 million) are parents of a dependent child, many of whom are single mothers. This is a high number, and is not always recognized on campuses.
Solutions by The State News
