May 10-14, 2010
finals week Mayor battles property crime
DREAM Big
by Shaun Griswold Daily Lobo
Gabbi Campos / Daily Lobo About 40 students and staff members gather outside of Marron Hall on Thursday to show their support for the DREAM Act, which would allow undocumented high school students a streamlined path to citizenship. “We are the students!” they chanted.
Before he was Mayor, Richard Berry was a property crime victim. Criminals stole his pick-up truck. They later dumped the truck in the foot hills and set it on fire. Berry used that image as a backdrop during his campaign to raise awareness that property crime in Albuquerque is a serious concern against which he planned to fight. So far, 62 of the 150 most wanted property crime offenders have been arrested. “We are making a statement that this is our city, our property and this is our plan to make Albuquerque a tough town for thieves,” Berry told a group of business leaders in January. In his plan, he calls for the Albuquerque Police Department to fingerprint everyone who is arrested, seek federal prosecution for property crimes involving firearms, offer cash
see Property Crime page 6
Fine arts students face fee increase, class cancellations by Tricia Remark Daily Lobo
College of Fine Arts students are paying extra in unexpected fees for fall 2010 classes. Jim Linnell, dean of CFA, said students enrolled in almost any class in the college will have to pay an extra $5 per credit hour in fees. He said students were not notified of the increase until after they had registered for classes. “We weren’t given the approval for us to proceed with fees until the very last minute,” Linnell said. He also sent an e-mail to all CFA students April 30 notifying them of the fee increase and the possibility that all students in the college
would be dropped and need to re-register as a result. “To ensure that all students are fully aware of the new fee structure and to accept this financial responsibility, all courses in the College of Fine Arts (Art Studio, Art History, Dance, Fine Arts, Media Arts, Music, Music Education and Theater) have to be canceled and rescheduled,” Linnell said in the e-mail. The reason that the extra fees weren’t implemented until after registration was because the University’s budget wasn’t approved until the April 29 regents meeting. He said departmental fee increases must be approved through the Provost’s office, which wanted to make sure the campus-wide tuition and fee increase, as well as a departmental fee increase, wouldn’t be overwhelming for CFA students.
“The reason why it took so long is because of the way the University budget takes place,” he said. “It’s a long process and it didn’t complete until very recently.” Linnell said the fees will be used to improve equipment and teaching spaces. Terry Babbitt, associate vice president of Enrollment Management, said only a few CFA classes were canceled, not all of them. “At the request of the College of Fine Arts, a small number of sections were canceled to accommodate a change in course fees,” Babbitt said in an e-mail. “We subsequently identified a better solution that would not require cancellation of sections.” Babbitt said students enrolled in the canceled classes are already re-enrolled, and no other students will be dropped.
Law school must stick with GPSA for now by Leah Valencia Daily Lobo
A subcommittee of the Board of Regents voted Thursday to table the law students’ request to secede from the Graduate and Professional Students Association. The Academic and Student Affairs Committee advised the Student Bar Association to work harder with GPSA to make the organization better meet its needs. Student Bar Association President Corinne Hale said the law school has been pushing to work with GPSA already, and she was disappointed by the committee’s decision.
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 114
issue 153
“It is disappointing for us to hear that basically we aren’t doing enough, because we’ve really done a lot over the past year,” she said. In late March, three-fourths of UNM law students voted to withdraw their student fees from GPSA. Hale said the SBA had invited GPSA President Lissa Knudsen to give a presentation to the SBA Board about what GPSA has to offer law students. She said the law school had also hosted debates and town hall meetings for law students to become more familiar with GPSA. “The law students still felt it was the best move on our part to secede,” Hale said.
Knudsen said she was pleased with the committee’s decision, because it would give GPSA a chance to work harder to better accommodate the law students. “It is unfortunate that it wasn’t of their own accord that they are still with us,” she said. “But I think it is another chance for us try and see if we can make it work for both groups — but not both groups, one group — that includes the law students.” Knudsen said some of the discussion during the meeting suggested that, if the law school had worked with some of the other
see Law vs. GPSA page 6
“For those enrolled in sections that were canceled, most are already re-registered in the new course,” he said. “We are reaching out to students who have not re-registered to ensure they have a seat in the class for which they originally enrolled.” Jamie Ho, an art studio major, said she was nervous when CFA planned to drop all students. “I got really stressed when they said they wanted to drop all the classes,” she said. “I was expecting to see huge chaos if they dropped everyone at the same time, especially if you had seniority.” Ho said the increase in fees isn’t a big problem, especially since it goes toward equipment.
see Fine Arts Fees page 6
Take a brake
Gabbi Campos / Daily Lobo Amy ‘Brutalitaur the Dinosaur’ Robinson rests during roller derby practice Saturday at the Heights Community Center. See the full story on page 8.
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Good luck with finals!