DAILY LOBO new mexico
“To infinity and beyond”
summer
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July 11-17, 2011
UNM receives license to swill by Shaun Griswold news@dailylobo.com
Alcohol will be sold during Lobo football and basketball games this season. On Tuesday the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department granted UNM a liquor license for sales in suite- and clublevel areas inside The Pit and University Stadium. “We have obtained the license, and we will move forward with our plans,” Sports Information Director Frank Mercogliano said. The action came after a contentious eight-month battle with the Albuquerque City Council. In November, the council cited public safety concerns when it denied UNM’s waiver request of a state law that bans alcohol sales within 300 feet of a school. UNM needed the waiver in order to receive the go-ahead from the state to sell alcohol. After the council shot down its request, UNM took the matter to an arbitrator.
In April the arbitrator said the city’s concerns were inconsistent because alcohol is served at Isotopes Park, which is across the street from both venues. On Tuesday State District Judge Shannon Bacon said the city had to comply with the arbitrator’s decision and sign the waiver. Later that day, UNM took its waiver to the state and won its right to sell alcohol, a spokesperson at the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department said. “We’re glad and grateful this particular issue has been resolved and we can move forward,” UNM spokesperson Susan McKinsey said. Jeremy Otzenberger, an Albuquerque resident who regularly attends UNM games, said selling alcohol at the venues is a bad idea. “I think this is just too much temptation for underage drinking,” he said. “You are selling alcohol somewhere where a lot of students are going to be getting pretty
Luke Holmen contributed to this report.
by Chelsea Erven
news@dailylobo.com
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Daily Lobo volume 115
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crazy … It seems no one can enjoy anything these days without getting completely smashed… I remember my college days back in the 70s, and we were idiots.” Alcohol service, however, will be restricted to specific areas — suites that cost up to $40,000 a season and $1,000-per-game seats, and McKinsey said fans shouldn’t expect University Stadium and the Pit to be raucous alcohol-fueled environments. “It’s not like booze is going to be flowing down the mezzanine,” she said. “It’s not like Isotopes Park where there is beer everywhere.” The Athletics Department said it will assist local law enforcement to ensure fans are not over-served alcohol and do not drive away from the venues intoxicated. “I don’t know how it will affect the atmosphere. We’ll have to wait and see,” Mercogliano said. “I guess we’ll all see together.”
Mishap spurs new health clinic An anti-abortion group opened a pregnancy resource center across the street from the UNM Center for Reproductive Health on July 1, after an ambulance responded to the UNM Center for an abortion gone wrong. On Feb 15, a 911 call went out from the UNMCRH when a 35-year-old woman was “unresponsive” after surgical abortion complications. “We have a patient who is crashing right now,” a clinic worker can be heard saying in a recording of the 911 call. “She’s unresponsive right now… She’s like grayish.” An ambulance was dispatched to the center, but the woman’s status is unknown. Tara Shaver of Defend Life, a Christian anti-abortion group, is one of the owners of the new resource center. She said the center will save women from the trauma described in the 911 call. “It will give women an alternative to abortion,” Shaver said. “We offer pregnancy care and counseling through pregnancy and beyond. We even have weekly parenting classes.” The UNMCRH, on Moon Street Medical Plaza, is a collaboration between the UNM Health Sciences Center Departments of OB-GYN and the Department of Family and Community Medicine, according to their center’s website. Representatives for the UNMCRH did not respond to calls or emails. It is funded in part through a residency grant, and it offers family planning, prenatal care, sterilization, abortion up to 22 weeks and some obstetric and gynecological care. The UNMCRH is also involved in research programs regarding the impact of oral contraceptives on breast-feeding and medication abortions. The Center was recognized as one of Albuquerque’s top gynecologists in 2007. To view the full transcript of the 911 call visit DailyLobo.com
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Zach Gould / Daily Lobo The monsoon season has finally arrived. New Mexico saw light thunderstorms throughout most of the state. Oil blotches on UNM campus mixed with the rain and created foamy puddles around campus.
Faculty’s per diem in regents’ crosshairs by Kevin Forte kforte@unm.edu
Dylan Smith / Daily Lobo Christine Sena demonstrates in front of the UNM Center for Reproductive Health. Surges of pro-life demonstrations have occurred since an ambulance was called to the center Feb. 15 for an abortion gone wrong.
‘Burque Noir
US beats Brazil
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The UNM Board of Regents is looking to amend the University’s per diem policies, which could mean traveling faculty would have to pay out-of-pocket for food. Regents Gene Gallegos and James Koch, members of the Regent Audit Committee, are concerned about following state law and making sure faculty have a clear per diem policy, UNM spokeswoman Susan McKinsey said. “Regent Gallegos and Regent Koch believe that our current policy is inaccurate or doesn’t exactly reflect what state law intends, and they want to look into that,” she said. The Board of Regents discussed changes to the policy at a June 27 meeting, but the issue was tabled until August. Faculty Senate President Timothy Ross said the regents’ decision could cause difficulty for traveling faculty. “Our Board of Regents claim that we’re really not following state law in terms of per-diem allocations when we travel,” he said. “If somebody is in Washington, D.C., and they’re only allowed to spend what you can spend according to state law — a lot of people are going to suffer an economic hardship.” UNM pays faculty federal per diem rates for the cost of meals, which are more than twice the rates of state per diem laws. Federal rates pay up to $71 a day for meals, while state rates only pay $30 a day. The regents decided to discuss the
per diem policies after the Albuquerque Journal began investigating travel reimbursements. The Journal reported June 17 that UNM has spent more than $10 million in the first 11 months of the fiscal year on travel reimbursements. “When I looked at this, I was at a loss to understand why we don’t respect state law,” Gallegos said. McKinsey said faculty and fiscal concerns will be evaluated in the fall before making a decision on the per diem policy. “The faculty wants to make sure they don’t get in a position where they have to pay out of their own pocket in order to do their research and work for the University,” she said. “On the other hand, we have to be very conscious of what the state law is. I think it’s how we interpret the law and there are several interpretations right now, and we’re looking at it and will probably come up with some variation.”
Forum for
New President The UNM Board of Regents’ Academic Student Affairs and Research Committee will hold an open forum for students, staff, faculty and community members to provide input on what qualities the next University president should have.
Tuesday at 9 a.m.
Domenici Health Education Center auditorium on UNM’s north campus
MONDAY
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