DAILY LOBO new mexico
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thursday
March 24, 2011
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Alcohol Styrofoam can fizzles trash campaign at dorms stirs up debate by Elizabeth Cleary news@dailylobo.com
Officials, students weigh pros, cons of drinking policy by Chelsea Erven cerven@unm.edu
Lobo Village plans to allow alcohol for of-age residents when the dorms open in August, but no one ran that policy past the City Council. “It was never revealed to anyone here,” Councilor Isaac Benton said. The City Council in November denied UNM’s requests for a liquor license at The Pit. Lobo Village, however, isn’t required to apply for a liquor license from the council since the establishment isn’t selling alcohol, merely allowing students to have it at its facilities. Regardless, Benton said he doesn’t support Lobo Village’s alcohol policy. Lobo Village caters to older students who are of legal drinking age, said Walt Miller, vice president of Student Life. “It’s geared toward the upperclassmen, which leads us to the key part that they have to be of legal age,” he said. “We’re not permitting freshmen to live there, so that’s forcing at least a couple years of students being likely to be 21.” UNM’s alcohol policy applies to property owned, leased, or operated by the University. Alcohol consumption must comply with state and federal
see Alcohol page 3
The oversized soda can in the SUB is meant to demonstrate how small pieces of trash can turn into big problems, but the soda can is made of material that isn’t environmentally friendly. The soda can, which stands about 10 feet high, is made of Fiberglass and Styrofoam, said Adam Greenhood, the creative director of the Albuquerquebased Esparza Advertising firm. Greenhood’s firm designed the soda can, on display in the SUB basement, for New Mexico Clean and Beautiful’s litter prevention and control campaign, Toss No Mas. “This is not a pro-environmental campaign,” Greenhood said. “Just don’t throw stuff out.” The process for making polystyrene, the generic term for brand-name Styrofoam, “pollutes the air and creates large amounts of liquid and solid waste,” according to the Earth Resource Foundation’s website. The EPA classifies styrene, the basic building block for polystyrene, as a possible human carcinogen. Chemicals in food containers made from polystyrene can leak into food and cause health problems, the website said. Greenhood said the soda can will be transported and displayed in movie theaters, shopping malls and public functions around New Mexico. The SUB is the soda can’s Zach Gould / Daily Lobo second stop, and it will remain there for about the next two and a half The oversized soda can in the SUB is a part of Toss no Mas’ anti-littering campaign. The soda weeks. can, which stands about 10 feet tall, is made of Styrofoam, an environmental pollutant. “The reason people litter is that they think it is kind of a small thing,” he said. “It’s a big, big problem.
kallie69@unm.edu
The GPSA presidential race kicked off Wednesday with the first of four debates, and candidates discussed student fee allocation, departmental cuts and student government transparency. Candidate Katie Richardson said GPSA should set an example as an open, inclusive government for the University. She said Athletics is over-funded and should not be propped up by student fees. “I absolutely am against using student money for these purposes,” she said. “Student fee money ought to be used towards the academic success of students — towards our recruitment, our retention and ultimately our graduation rates.” Richardson, Patricia Caballero, Jacob Candelaria and Joseph Dworak are among the four candidates.
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Daily Lobo volume 115
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Arguing that Athletics is a useful recruitment tool, Candelaria said it attracts minority students to higher education, and he said it should be financially supported. “I don’t think we can do a carte blanche, anti-Athletics approach because there are unintended consequences when you shrink those programs,” he said. “What we can do is make it open and transparent, and we can get to a level of subsidization that everyone is OK with.” Cabellero said GPSA should insist on participating in the budgetary process and gaining accurate facts to influence future departmental cuts. “Information is power, and we have not had the information,” she said. “The questions have been asked, and we all know that something is happening at that level that is not making sense,
see GPSA page 3
“This is not a proenvironmental campaign. Just don’t throw stuff out.” ~Adam Greenhood Creative Director “This is money that could go into education, health care or other issues that are bigger than litter,” he said. Lobato said New Mexico faces challenges in keeping trash contained. “One of the challenges for New Mexico as a whole is our wind and properly contained trashcans,” he said. “Because if you have it where it’s open, it can actually blow away and create more litter.” Lobato said that more than 6,000 pieces of trash litter every mile of road in New Mexico. He said people litter because they don’t care about environmental welfare. “It’s been shown that they don’t care,” he said. “They think someone is going to pick up after them. They take no ownership in the environment.”
DEALING WITH DARKNESS
Candidates debate Athletics, budget by Kallie Red-Horse
When you read the nutrition facts on the back of the can, it has all of these really enlightening facts about the littering situation in New Mexico and how bad it is.” Joe Lobato, the director of the Toss No Mas campaign, said his campaign targets 18-35-year-olds because they litter more than people in other age groups. Lobato said the country spends $11.5 billion annually picking up trash.
Junfu Han / Daily Lobo Sara Ryan reads “The Ghost Sonata” script Wednesday backstage at Theatre X. The abstract play deals with the facade people create in their relationships. See page 6 for full story.
Don’t teach for America
Drug war
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