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The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
August 27, 2009
UNM mail room: Shoes don’t fit by Pat Lohmann Daily Lobo
Sara Lee / Daily Lobo Roommates Alana Meyer, left, Marisa Mapp, top, and Nicole A. Grimaldo hang out in their triple dorm in Coronado Hall on Tuesday. This is the first time the triple-dorm contingency plan has been implemented.
In dorms, bad news comes in threes by Rachel Prewitt Daily Lobo
Thirty students have been assigned to triple-student dorms this fall, despite Residence Life and Student Housing’s reassurance that this wouldn’t happen. This summer, RLSH representatives said they anticipated triple-student dorms would not be necessary, despite an estimated 6.4 percent increase in the size of the freshman class over last year. However, RLSH fitted 90 rooms with extra beds and desks, said RLSH Director Patrick Call. The extra bed and desk have been removed from the 60 rooms where they weren’t needed. Bobby Childers, RLSH public affairs representative, said in mid-July that he didn’t think triple rooms would be necessary, but if they were, students would be notified of the switch before they moved in. Edward Fisher, a freshman assigned to a triple room, said he didn’t know of his living situation until the
day he moved in. “I actually didn’t know until I picked my keys up, walked into my room and saw three beds,” Fisher said. Call said RLSH didn’t know until early August that triple rooms would be needed, which is why students weren’t notified. Nearly everyone living in triple rooms will be placed in a double room by the end of the first week of school, he said. They will be moved into the vacated rooms of students who registered for dorms but never showed up. Call said the number of available rooms is still being determined. “By the end of the week, we will take the person who turned in their residency application the earliest and place them in a permanent space, and the other two will continue living together,” he said. As students are placed in their rooms, RLSH will move furniture with them, Call said. Call said the triple-room backup plan wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but this is the first year RLSH has
had to resort to it. “It’s been about 10 or 12 years that we’ve been doing this triple plan,” he said. Fisher said that he’s not very upset by his living situation. “It’s not too bad; it could’ve been a whole lot worse,” he said. “My roommates are very understanding, and they’re not hard to live with.” Even though Fisher doesn’t have a lot of space, he said that living in a triple room has positively affected his living experience on campus. “I got to meet two new people and have become pretty good friends,” he said. “We’re already planning on going to concerts and stuff.” Call said the University will consider making a new plan for housing in case this situation persists in the future. “Over the course of the year, we’re going to sit down and look at what else we could do if the increase in students continues and what the campus thinks,” he said.
When tango shoes for Ph.D. candidate Nina Lanza reached the UNM Mailing Systems mail room, they were promptly returned to sender, because they weren’t considered University business. Lanza, an officer in the Lobo Tango Club, wants to know what policy sets the standard for professional mail. “There’s no official policy,” she said. “There’s nothing that says how they will determine whether something is personal. They just have told me … that they are very experienced in determining what is and is not University business.” Section 6340 of the University Business Policies and Procedures Manual states, “Using University envelopes and University postage for personal purposes is prohibited. Professional books are considered personal mail and the mailing costs cannot be charged to a University account.” University Postmaster Alisha Foster cited the policy when explaining the reason behind returning Lanza’s package without notifying her. When a package comes into Mailing Systems, sorters look first for evidence the package was paid for with a P-card, which indicates it was bought using a purchase order, she said. However, Lanza said she and other members of her department sometimes pay for packages with grant money, not P-cards, so the method used by Mailing Systems should have returned those packages as well. “They say I can’t buy any lab equipment that I buy with my own grants, even if the grants come directly to me,” Lanza said. “I’m just very disturbed by that idea that somehow my course material isn’t considered UNM business and that Mailing Systems gets to make that decision.” Foster said her organization has enough experience to tell when the
contents of a package are being used for University business, even if the rules defining the process are vague. “Something purchased with grant money would be considered University business,” she said. “I agree that maybe the policy needs to be more defined, but it still wouldn’t change the fact that it’s not the University’s responsibility to deliver her shoes to her at her place of business. She needs to have those delivered to her house.” Lanza said she thinks the issue goes beyond her tango shoes and would like to see the policy changed. “It really is an issue of censorship,” she said. “I know they don’t feel like that … but what they are doing is essentially (determining) what is and is not appropriate material to be sent to the University, and I think that’s really against the academic environment.” John Geissman, department chair of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said he and several members of his department have, however infrequently, received personal mail, but he said this is because Mailing Systems has historically provided quality services. “We’re impressed with the mail service here and we appreciate the way things are handled,” he said. “Occasionally, I use the system. I have a great trust in the system.” When Lanza told her colleagues in the University community about her conflict with Mailing Systems, she said they were surprised such a policy existed. “Many people, faculty and staff, said that they were not even aware that there was a policy against personal mail, and they have things that are shipped to the University all the time,” Lanza said. Foster said Mailing Systems has been following UNM policy laid down by the president and Board of Regents, and her organization would be willing to change method-
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Service group receives national honor Staff Report Daily Lobo
UNM’s Mortar Board chapter was honored with the Golden Torch Award at the annual national conference held July 24-26 in Chicago. Only 23 of 227 chapters received the award. Mortar Board is a college senior honor society that began in 1918. The UNM chapter, “Maia,” was founded in the 1930s and has 25 members. Andrea Hart, the Maia advisor, said the award came after the UNM chapter showed its dedication to Mortar Board’s three main principles — scholarship, leadership and service. “This award represents that they’ve really been working hard,” Hart said. “Compared with other Mortar Board chapters across the nation, they’ve really gone
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above and beyond the expectations of other chapters, so I’m very proud of them.” Though scholastic achievement is very important to this society, service to the community is the heart of the organization, Hart said. She said the Board’s national program “Reading is Leading” provides low income communities with books. “The 2008-2009 administration ended up, in collaboration with Barnes and Noble, with 3,000 books or so … which typically go nationwide and are deployed to wherever they are most needed,” said Devaraj Aran, the Maia president. Aran said she’s had a positive influence in the community through her work with Mortar Board. “This organization has really given me the opportunity to have an impact on those around me and an
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Ryan Garcia / Daily Lobo UNM Mail Tech John Barberi sorts mail Wednesday at UNM Mail Systems. UNM policy states that no personal mail can be delivered to a University address.
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