DAILY LOBO new mexico
Lil’ Wayne? see page 8
tuesday The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
March 9, 2010
Gabbi Campos / Daily Lobo David Sanchez speaks with an APD officer on Santa Monica Avenue as his wife looks on. Sanchez said he was a good friend of the UNM professor identified as the man found dead along with his girlfriend Monday afternoon. Police haven’t yet released the professor’s name, pending notification of family members.
Police find bodies by Shaun Griswold Daily Lobo
A man identified as a UNM English professor and his girlfriend were found dead Monday in his home near campus. Police are not reporting the names of the victims until they contact each of the victim’s families, but several friends of the male victim confirmed the man is a UNM professor. Ralph Montoya, the female victim’s ex-boyfriend, is charged with two counts of murder. He is booked in Metropolitan Detention Court on a $250,000 cashonly bail. According to the warrant issued by APD, Montoya walked into the downtown office of attorney Lauren Oliveros on Monday and confessed to killing two people on Sunday. He told
Oliveros the two bodies could be found at the residence of the male victim. When police arrived at the residence, at noon, they saw two bodies lying on the floor from the outside window. Upon entering, officers saw the male victim laying face down in a pool of blood with a gun aimed at his head. According to the report, it appeared to the officers that the gun was placed there by another person to make it look like the victim committed suicide. Officers reported that the female victim was found face up in a pool of blood, but no visible wounds were found on her body. The male victim is 54 years old, and his girlfriend is 43, according to the report. Police also found two firearm casings at the scene, according
to the report. Student Felicia Lopez, in the professor’s Chicano Studies class, said her teacher did not show up for his 10 a.m. Monday class. “He would tell us before if he was going to miss class,” she said. “He was always excited and passionate to show up to teach.” Montoya, 37, is also facing four felony charges stemming from an incident in late-January, which include one count of aggravated assault, one count of aggravated assault on a household member, kidnapping and attempted burglary with a deadly weapon. Student Oscar Ortega said the professor canceled class three times in the past two weeks because he had to testify in court as a witness to a domestic dispute case.
Gabbi Campos / Daily Lobo Police tape surrounds the house near campus where the man identified as the UNM professor and his girlfriend were found. Ralph Montoya, 37, is being held on two counts of murder.
“He talked about how concerned he was about the domestic dispute case,” he said. “He was constantly talking about it.” Students in the professor’s class plan to honor him by wearing black wristbands on their right arms, Ortega said. “It isn’t like we have a lot of Chicano Ph.D.’s,” he said. “The Chicano movement lost someone. We got hit. We are one less.” Check DailyLobo.com for updates on this story.
Suspect Ralph Montoya
Koch: Rural areas don’t have resources for new math standard by Abigail Ramirez Daily Lobo
High school students have more than a year to meet increased admissions standards passed by the Board of Regents Monday. Regents President Raymond Sanchez said at the Board’s meeting that the regents will review the standards annually to make needed modifications. Over a three-year period, students will be required to increase the minimum grade point average from 2.25 to 2.5 and college preparatory units from 13 to 16. The preparatory units include an additional social science, science course with a lab and a fourth-year math. The admissions standards go into effect fall 2011. The Regents debated postponing the math requirement before passing it. Regent Jack Fortner, who voted nay, proposed a motion to either delete or postpone
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 114
issue 114
the math requirement until 2014. Regent Jamie Koch seconded the motion, but it was denied. The math requirement may make it more difficult for some to complete their degree, Fortner said. “For those not going into a science field, like political science or law degree, that doesn’t make sense,” he said. “How is that trig or calculus going to help you in succeeding in those areas? It’s not.” But if students don’t have access to the math requirement, they can take an additional unit from another area to meet the 16 units, said Terry Babbitt, associate vice president of Enrollment Management. Rural schools have the biggest challenge with the math requirement, Babbitt said. “It’s just a challenge when you have 15 seniors and you have an algebra II teacher,” he said. “A lot of times they’re not certified to teach trigonometry material or calculus, so
we have to look for solutions there.” Koch said the math requirement could hurt students from rural areas. “When I look at that requirement, I think of Pecos, La Cuesta and Tierra Maria that just don’t have it at all and that requirement is not helpful to New Mexico,” he said. On average, the fail rate for students in introductory college math courses is about 50 percent, Babbitt said. And about 38 percent of entering freshmen start off in a lower level of math, setting them behind in their intended graduation date. Students will be admitted based on GPA and curriculum, even though they are still required to take a college entrance exam. If students have a low GPA, college entrance exam scores will then be considered. Minimum test scores weren’t proposed, Babbitt said, since it would affect a large pool of students. “If we impose a minimum test score of
Alford scores
A twirl from Ipanema
See page 3
See page 10
even an 18 on an ACT, it would eliminate 400 freshmen and if we go to a 16 minimum, it was about 207,” he said. The standards will also give students a weighted GPA, which takes into account rigorous high school classes like dual-enrollment and AP classes. University President David Schmidly said results from national studies are in line with the admissions standards. “National data shows the best predictor of success in college overall is what you took in high school and how well you did,” he said. “Both of those trump the test scores.” Unprepared high school students end up dropping out of UNM, Regent Carolyn Abeita said. “I see this as just one way to be able to kind of give them a head start, because the better prepared a student is when they come to the University, the more opportunities they have here,” she said.
Today’s weather
56° / 33°