DAILY LOBO new mexico
Meet the cast see page 14
tuesday August 21, 2012
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
UNM Parent Association board quits by Elizabeth Cleary and Svetlana Ozden news@dailylobo.com
All members of the UNM Parent Association Board of Directors have resigned, following a dispute between the board and the UNM administration. One of the Parent Association board members, Grant Kitting, said the board has chosen to disband because the UNM administration wanted a say in the selection of the association’s next president. The 8,000-member association has not had a president since Aug. 1, but, according to the association’s bylaws, the association’s board nominates the president. “Well, there are still members, but they no longer have an executive board because they all have already resigned,” Kitting said. “They want to put someone in charge of us so we’re under someone politically, but
our bylaws state that we’re an independent association, we don’t need anyone’s ‘okey-dokey’ standpoint.” Last year, the association awarded $1,000 scholarships to 40 UNM students, and without the Parent Association to generate scholarship money, students miss out on an opportunity to help pay for school. “The people that are really going to be affected by this are the students, they’re the ones getting this money,” he said. “Every cent generated by the association went to scholarships, and it’s not even all students, it’s for the needy students. I have three sons and they don’t benefit from the money generated by the association, only the students in need of it do.” Kitting said the main function of the association is to generate funding for scholarships for needy students and that, because the association is independent, it does not
DÉSOLÉ, JE NE PARLE PAS FRANÇAIS. PARLEZVOUS...?
By following this phrase with “anglais” or “espagnol” I hopefully had an open line of communication with any French speaker I encountered. Six weeks in La Chapelle and another three weeks in République, both located in the 10eme arrondissement of arguably the most romantic city on Earth, was more than enough time to see to it that my heart bled for the French and my mouth formed the perfect pucker to pronounce: “Je peux prendre une photo de vous?”For all its predictable daytime tourist traps and gritty, damp nighttime streets, Paris stood as a monument for the development of my photographic eye and inspiration and will always remain coursing through my blood (not only because I am a quarter French) as an enchanting and nurturing giant.The opportunity to chase a photo essay through streets of Paris in the saddle of a steel, 12-speed vélo is not one you may stumble across every lifetime. Santé, salut et allez les bleus! (See pages 8 and 9 for full photo journal.)
Juan Lebreche / Daily Lobo A young girl clings to her mother on the bullet train that runs from the Gare du Nord in Paris to the Gare de Marchandises Saint-Saveur in Lille.
see Parents PAGE 6
Social media site arrives in ABQ A fresh take on Math 120 by Barbara Gomez-Aguinaga
“Part of it (growth) is the value and how we make the campus more connected,” he said. “In the past, we’ve seen really fast growth on campus, and as such we expect hundreds if not thousands of UNM students in the first two months.”
news@dailylobo.com
A new social networking site called “At The Pool” launched at UNM this week, and aims to give students with similar interests a tool to find each other. The startup social network was launched at UNM on Monday in order to help students break out of their social circles, engage with new people and, in contrast to most of the current social networks, get offline, said Alex Capecelatro, the founder and chief executive officer of At The Pool. Capecelatro, who spent summer of 2007 in Albuquerque, said the site is important for UNM students because meeting other students with the same interests can be difficult at a large campus like UNM. “If a freshman, for example, wants to find other vegetarians, international students, people who like poker, et cetera, there’s no easy way,” he said. “This leads to a campus that’s a bit disconnected, and a lot of people end up eating alone at lunch and not meeting the kinds of people they want to meet.” Capacelatro said that unlike Facebook, where users can share information with people they already know, At The Pool allows users to meet new people based on their interests and locations. “Facebook has become a place to stay in touch with people we already know — high school friends, family, et cetera, and it’s really bad at helping us meet new people,” he said. “At The Pool
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 117
issue 3
is the opposite (because) it’s all about meeting new people who share our interests and connecting the communities we’re part of.” At The Pool, which was founded in Los Angeles, first went live in September 2011 and is used in dozens of cities across the nation. Gloria Kim, an At The Pool user from the University of Connecticut, said that the network met her expectations. “It is an interesting take on social media and meeting new people,” Kim said. “It is still just starting up, so it is not perfect and still has its kinks, but I see it potentially doing pretty well.” Capacelatro said about 1,000 users join the social network every week, even though it is an exclusive network that requires special codes to sign up. Capacelatro said the company has seen the greatest growth at colleges and that the company expects the campus community to respond well to the new service.
To sign up, visit
AtThePool.com
and enter “UNM” as the invite code.
Tomato palooza
It’s time to think again
See page 16
See page 19
by Svetlana Ozden news@dailylobo.com
A new instructor-aided, self-paced learning program for Intermediate Algebra, Math 120, is expected to remedy the high failure rate for the course. About half the students who enroll in Math 120 at UNM fail the course, according to the Albuqueruqe Journal. This fall, the UNM administration implemented a pilot program to replace the course with the Math Learning Lab. The program focuses on mastery learning, a learning style that sets expectations that students meet at their own pace before moving forward in the course. Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Mark Peceny said students who fail Math 120 can’t complete the core curriculum, because Math 120 is a prerequisite for all courses that satisfy the mathematics core requirements. “If this many people are having trouble in Math 120, they can’t even get to
the course that they need in order to fulfill the core curriculum,” Peceny said. “To serve all those students who are struggling with math, we figured we needed to look for a better way to deliver that instruction so that more students would succeed.” Peceny said students enrolled in the course will be required to come to the math learning lab for three to four hours per week, but that all lectures will be available through the online component of the course. Teachers, graduate students and some undergraduate students will be on hand to assist the students in the lab. Peceny said this style of instruction allows students to get help while they are working on assignments, which is when students need instruction most. “Rather than spending three hours in the classroom listening to a lecture … we’re saying ‘the time we really want to see you is when you’re working on your homework,’” he said. see Math PAGE 5
TODAY
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