DAILY LOBO new mexico
Mildly life-changing see page 10
September 6, 2011
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Art Building sinks into a depression by Luke Holmen holmen@unm.edu
The UNM Art Building is slowly sinking. The three-story building, which is home to the art department’s faculty, staff, labs and classrooms, has experienced worsening structural problems for nearly two years, according to art professor Adrienne Salinger. Salinger said the building is dangerous to students and staff.
“There is a clear lack of concern for the people who use this building.” ~Adrienne Salinger UNM Professor “The Art Building doesn’t appear to be structurally sound,” she said. “Several of the workers who insisted on anonymity were shocked that we are still occupying the building in this condition when I spoke with them over the last couple weeks.” Student John Acosta said he doesn’t feel safe walking around the building. “The floor is sinking, the walls are leaking, everything is really dusty, and it’s kind of nerve-wracking to walk on, to be honest,” he said. Salinger said the art department has sought help from UNM’s Physical
Plant Department (PPD) numerous times. “Finally, on the Friday before classes began, people showed up,” she said. “After jack-hammering through our studio floor, it was discovered that the floor contained no rebar, no reinforcement of any kind. There are large gaps between the floor and the walls, and between the floor and the dirt beneath the building. It’s not safe, and it’s preposterous that we are trying to teach around the demolition and Band-Aid restoration.” PPD director Mary Vosevich said her staff was analyzing the building’s foundation. “We have sent a structural engineer to evaluate the foundation,” she said. “He will recommend a solution to us, and then we will take the necessary steps to address the problem.” Last week, PPD decided to fill in the gap between the dirt and the load-bearing walls with concrete, but Salinger said this is a temporary solution to a larger problem. “Applying provisional fixes to the ground floor of a three-story building at this point seems too little, too late,” she said. “Each problem that is discovered uncovers more complications, often unrelated, yet all supporting the claim that the building is significantly damaged.” Salinger said the metals and sculpture studios, a small photography classroom, and the print room all showed signs of structural damage. “When it rains, water gets in the print room,” graduate student Frol
FOOTBALL HELD BACK
Juan Labreche / Daily Lobo Andrew Kiefer (left) and Tony Diaz, from 3B Construction, work inside of what used to be the UNM Art Building’s light studio. Diaz and Kiefer said the building is sinking largely because of shoddy construction practices, which were a result of lax building codes during the 70s. Boundin said. “It’s not just the photography floor, it’s the entire building.” Vosevich said there is currently no danger to students or staff, and that the building is operational, but Salinger said the art staff has been left in the dark. “We’re being told officially that the building is ‘stable,’” Salinger said. “We don’t know what that means. We feel ill-informed and increasingly mistrustful. No one is clear about who is in charge as the leadership seems to shift.
There is a clear lack of concern for the people who use this building.” Salinger said the department either needed to be relocated or classes cancelled until the building is satisfactorily repaired. “The University’s lack of commitment to the program and its facility is startling, especially when we have such a successful program,” she said. “The students are loyal to the program, but fearful of the facilities. Their work is suffering by not having a
studio or adequate working spaces.” Vosevich said she does not know at this point what would be done about the department. “It’s a large campus and there is a lot to maintain,” she said. “We focus on preventative maintenance. Ensuring that all of our systems are running correctly can save us a lot of money. If we can make buildings last longer, we don’t have to replace them as often, and with a limited budget like the current (one), that is very important.”
by Michael Howland-Davis
to the conference and this year we were able to send 14,” he said. “Best of all these weren’t just observers — every student we sent are panelists who get to really frame the conversation based on the questions they get to ask.”
if we don’t fix this within the next three to five years than all of the nice things we have been talking about — that we ought to do to catch up to the other countries — we aren’t going to have enough money to do them,” Domenici said. “We are not even sure that the great American dollar will be the dollar that it is. … Unless we put some fire in our bellies and will in our heart and show the world we mean business, other countries may abandon the dollar as international currency and America may become a secondrate power on the world stage.” Norman R. Augustine, former CEO of Lockheed Martin and former secretary of the U.S. Army, led the American competitiveness presentation stating that the United States is losing its edge because America’s K-12 education system is dysfunctional and technology and engineering research have fallen by the wayside. His findings can be found in the National Academies reports “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” and “Rising Above the Gathering Storm Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category Five” available at nationalacademies.org. According to Augustine, the K-12 system is performing
Students query national experts mnhdavis@unm.edu
Juan Labreche / Daily Lobo Tarean Austin dodges CSU defenders Nuku Latu (left) and Dominique Vinson near the end of the game. The sprint by Austin would have brought UNM near the goal line if he was not called back on a holding penalty. The Lobos lost 10-14. See page 12 for full story.
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 116
issue 12
tuesday
Las Cruces — Experts in economics, health care, national security, technology and education converged at the fourth annual Domenici Conference where they painted a bleak future for America. They worked with students from UNM and three other state schools to explore critical problems facing the nation and ways to fix them. The conference focused on five policy areas: American competitiveness in science and technology, health care, the national debt, cybersecurity and national security, with a statement from Gov. Susana Martinez on state matters and the premier of “Domenici,” a documentary chronicling the life and service of former New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici. Under the format adopted by the conference, university students were the only participants allowed to question the policy experts. Gene V. Henley, Associate Director of the School of Public Administration, said that the growth of UNM’s participation in the conference has more than doubled. “Last year we sent five people
Pitch like a pro
Sidewalk hipster blues
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“How do we leverage the human and knowledge capital in our universities and get that into the market?” ~Jake Wellman UNM Student Regent The federal debt and how to fix it dominated discussions at the conference last week. Currently, America is $14 trillion in debt, which Domenici said represents a tremendous threat to American prosperity and security — more than America losing its competitive edge in science and technology or the nation’s inadequate health care system. “The truth of the matter is that
see Domenici PAGE 3
TODAY
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