DAILY LOBO new mexico
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March 1, 2012
thursday The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Air Force falls, conference title within reach by Cesar Davila
hendrix@unm.edu One down, one to go. The men’s basketball team bounced back from two straight losses, beating Air Force 86-56 Wednesday night at the Pit in front of 15,152 fans. The Lobos (23-6, 9-4 MWC) are one game away from capturing their third regular season conference title in four years. “We wanted to get back home and get back to playing at the level that we had been playing at,” head coach Steve Alford said. “I thought tonight we did an awful lot of good things.” One of those good things was freshman guard Hugh Greenwood’s play as he led the rout of the Falcons with a career-high 22 points and six rebounds. In the second half, the Aussie caught fire, scoring UNM’s first 14 points of the period in the first three minutes. “(My) teammates kept giving me the ball,” Greenwood said. “Kendall (Williams) was calling plays for me.” Greenwood went 5-of-5, including four 3-pointers in the stretch. The first half was a contest between Air Force and senior forward Drew Gordon. The 6-foot 9-inch conference preseason player of the year came out firing, scoring 12 of the Lobos’ first 18 points. He finished the half 8-of-9 shooting with 16 points. Gordon didn’t take another shot the rest of the game and finished with his 14th double-double of the season and 27th of his career, with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Gordon and company came out to start the game with a bang defensively. The Lobos held the Falcons to just 29.6 percent shooting in the first half making only 8-of-27 shots. After giving up 71 and 83 points in the last two games, UNM contested almost every shot and kept Falcon guard Michael Lyons in check, holding him to 3-of-11 shooting for nine points — Lyons scored just six points in the previous meeting. “We made shots difficult for them, we took away any kind of transition that they had and we were able to get out and get our transition game going,” Alford said. “We’ve done a really good job on
what I think is their best scorer,” Alford said. “We wanted to make somebody else have to score tonight.” The Falcons finished shooting 36.5 percent from the field making 19-of-52 shots. The Lobo bench outscored the Falcons’ 31-13. Senior guard Phillip McDonald led the bench, scoring with 13 points from 4-of-8 from 3-point range. UNM’s final game of the regular season is senior day on Saturday afternoon against Boise State. “Boise’s going to get a good team on Saturday so hopefully they come prepared, which I know they will, and it’s going to be a good fight,” Gordon said. Before the game, Gordon was one of several former UCLA players mentioned in George Dohrmann’s Sports Illustrated article due to be released on shelves on March 5th. In the article, former teammates’ of the Lobo forward told Dohrmann in an interview that, in 2008, Gordon, along with freshmen teammates Jerime Anderson and J’mison Morgan regularly drank alcohol and smoked marijuana — sometimes before practices. Dohrmann also wrote that Gordon would disrupt practices whenever he was criticized for his play, and mentioned an altercation with then teammate Reeves Nelson, which left Gordon with a black eye. Gordon declined to comment on the matter and said his focus is the Mountain West title. “We have something to accomplish right now,” Gordon said. “I’m not going to involve myself in that situation and that mess over there.” Alford said all he could speak to, is the time Gordon has been at UNM. “All I know is that we’ve had him for two and a half, three years now, he’s been a double-double guy for us, he’s been an incredible for us, he’s been a great person for us, he’s been a great teammate,” Alford said.
Sophomore guard Tony Snell lays up the basketball during the Lobos’ romp of Air Force. The Lobos beat the Falcons 86-56. Adria Malcolm Daily Lobo
Ariz. bans ‘Bless me, Ultima,’ NM students take action by Victoria Carreon vcarreon@unm.edu
An Arizona law that effectively shut down ethnic studies programs at K-12 schools across the state in 2010 has spurred UNM students to build an underground library of banned books. The library is in response to Arizona law HB 228, which states: “public school pupils should be taught to treat and value each other as individuals and not be taught to resent or hate other races.” The law also says that programs that “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals” are in violation of the law. An Arizona administrative law judge ruled in December 2011 that ethnic studies programs violated the law. This ruling effectively dismantled ethnic studies programs, such as the Mexican-American programs in the Tucson Unified School District. Faculty members and students discussed the
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importance of these programs and the texts that are associated with them at the A Right to Speech=Right to Know event held Tuesday at the SUB. The banned books and programs involve the teaching of ethnic studies in Arizona’s public schools. The banned books include Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima and Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, as well as 90 others titles. The UNM community got involved by contributing to the building of an underground library that contains the banned books. The event was sponsored by the Africana, Chicano Hispano Mexicano and Native American studies programs. Dr. Jamal Martin said students and schools need to recognize the importance of these programs. “Ethnic studies programs are essential,” Martin said. “They may have been marginalized, but they have their identity and impact.” Because students in Arizona no longer have access to these programs and books, nonprofit
organizations intend to build a collection of banned works to donate to underground libraries in Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. Librotraficante Caravan is holding a book drive to collect the banned books, and students were asked to contribute to the libraries. The Caravan is making its way from Houston to Tucson, starting on March 12 and arriving in Arizona on March 17. The Caravan will be stopping in Albuquerque on March 15. For a schedule of events, visit librotraficante. com. Several of the speakers said the banning of ethnic studies programs reflects racist attitudes. “You think of the Deep South, but get over that,” said John Crawford, a guest speaker at the event who helps publish works by minorities at Weston Press. “There are closer problems.” One speaker said the UNM administration can do more to recognize ethnic studies programs. “We are fighting for precious knowledge,” said Sixtus Dominguez, a Native American student who wants UNM to acknowledge the rights of
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indigenous peoples. He said students should call on the University to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, which outlines the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, including their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health, education and other issues. He suggested UNM form a college to house the school’s different ethnic studies programs. Native American Studies professor Tiffany Lee said despite the fact that this law is exclusive to Arizona, students should not think that New Mexico’s ethnic studies programs are completely secure. “We can’t think that New Mexico is isolated,” she said. “We need to protect our cultural perspectives and experiences.” Mario Atencio, a UNM alumnus and member of the Navajo Nation, said protecting ethnic programs is crucial to maintaining cultural identities. “An attack on one is an attack on all,” he said.
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