DAILY LOBO new mexico
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The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
September 21, 2009
Speaker’s fee raises eyebrows by Pat Lohmann Daily Lobo
Zach Gould / Daily Lobo From left: Bruce Milen, Frederico Jumbo and Shelby Spoonhoward sit and talk at the “Velvet Painting” parking space in front of the communication and journalism building on Friday. The Freshman Learning Community class “Earth Arts: People, Places & Purpose” created this and four other spaces around campus to celebrate Park(ing) Day.
Park(ing) artworks bloom in asphalt by Alex Borowski Daily Lobo
Thirteen parking spaces in Albuquerque became miniature parks Friday as part of nationally recognized Park(ing) Day. Park(ing) Day was first celebrated in 2005 by San Francisco art collective Rebar. According to their Web site, the group came up with the idea of turning a public parking space into a public park as an artistic statement on how space as a public resource is used. The idea struck a chord with members of the UNM Society of Landscape Architecture Students and students in a Freshman Learning Community class, “Earth Arts: People, Places & Purpose.” “One of the main ideas behind it was to sort of shift people’s views about the way they think of their current infrastructure,” said SOCLAS member Chance Munns. “A large percentage of the city is covered in things that are geared towards the vehicle. … This is sort of a way to promote public art in communal space, so it kind of shifts your idea of what a public space really is.” Munns said projects involving public parks have a lot of potential. “If we rethink how we use public space, a lot of creative things can happen,” he said. Each parking-space-turned-public-park installed by the FLC had different themes centered on heritage, student Alyssa Simmons said.
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Zach Gould / Daily Lobo Community members created this depiction of a mermaid at the “Velvet Painting” parking space Friday. Students, faculty and citizens were invited to take part in converting parking spaces into works of art.
UNM is paying former Mexican president Vicente Fox $25,000 to speak on campus today, to the dismay of some students and faculty members. Fox is one of three lecturers in the Lobo Reading Experience program. Mexican authors Sam Quinones, who spoke last week, and Carlos Fuentes are the other two lecturers. University spokeswoman Susan McKinsey said in an e-mail that she didn’t know how much Quinones was paid to speak, but Fuentes will get $20,000. “People that book lectures and speakers will tell you (Fox’s speech) is a remarkably good deal,” she said. “By comparison, the current fee for author David Sedaris is $40,000. If one is to book another former president, Bill Clinton, it would cost from $100,000 to $150,000.” Graduate student Max Fitzpatrick said that he is not against Fox speaking, but he doesn’t want UNM to pay for it. Fitzpatrick said the money will go to Fox’s presidential library, El Centro Fox, which he called Fox’s attempt to get people to overlook his dishonest past. “It’s fine for UNM to invite him here, but it’s not good to use UNM’s public resources and state monies to fund his private center in Mexico,” Fitzpatrick said. “And I don’t think it’s good to demonstrate him as a poster child for democracy. He was instrumental in trying to sabotage the democratic process in 2006.” Fitzpatrick said Fox arrested Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the former mayor of Mexico City, and disqualified him for candidacy in the 2006 presidential election. Cheo Torres, vice president for Student Affairs, said Fox is a controversial figure, but his perspective on immigration is valuable in the lecture series. “If you look at the topic, dealing with immigration, it’s very appropriate to have someone dealing with
immigration of that stature to talk to UNM faculty, students and community about the future of this,” he said. Vicente Fox Speech Today 10:30 a.m. Popejoy Hall 6 p.m. Centennial Engineering Center Auditorium Pick up free tickets at the ticket office near the UNM Bookstore
The Provost’s Office issued a statement Friday that mirrored Torres’ view. “A university campus is the ideal location for the exchange of ideas,” according to the statement. “As a former president of Mexico, Fox’s perspective — while certainly controversial — is also distinctive and valuable in this ongoing discussion of immigration.” The statement also said Fox agreed to give a second lecture this evening followed by a question and answer period, which will “foster dialogue.” After his speech at Popejoy Hall, Fox will make another public address at the Centennial Engineering Center Auditorium this evening. Torres said Fox will also go to the Health Sciences Center to give a speech to health care professionals requesting collaboration in health care and help for Mexican cancer patients. Howard Waitzkin, a sociology professor, wrote an open letter against the speech and sent it to UNM President David Schmidly. Several other professors and graduate students signed the letter against Fox’s visit. Waitzkin said the funds diverted to Fox should be used in helping students attend UNM, especially during the recession. “Just yesterday, one of us talked with an educator from the Taos Pueblo who has obtained her master’s degree and wants to pursue a Ph.D. in education at UNM but can’t afford to do so,” Waitzkin said in the letter. “The honorarium given to Vicente Fox could fund a fellowship for her to complete about one year of progress for her doctorate. What a shame that precious resources are diverted from
$14.5 mil flows to biological research by Andrew Beale Daily Lobo
National researchers and UNM students are teaming up to conduct interdisciplinary experiments that could advance the field of biology and improve your life. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, gave UNM, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories a $14.5 million grant for interdisciplinary research, said Bridget Wilson, co-director of the Center for Systems Biology.
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Wilson said that thanks to the grant, more than 50 biologists, mathematicians and engineers will participate in projects at the center focusing on a wide variety of projects, including creating microscopic robots, over the next five years. “If you break it down to its parts, it has scientific goals, recruiting goals, training goals and outreach goals,” she said. “Our job is to try to accomplish all those things in five years and to also interact with the other national systems-biology centers.” The center is recruiting UNM students to be part of the research
team. “The students will come from both the Health Sciences campus and the main campus,” Wilson said. “So, one of my goals in the fall is to talk to graduate students … We’re interested in recruiting students who want to think about mathematical modeling of biological processes.” Jeremy Edwards is a member of the center’s biology team and an associate professor of molecular genetics and microbiology. Edwards said the center uses computer models to simulate biological phenomena that can’t be seen with a
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Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico, speaks during the 2003 World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Fox is being paid $25,000 to give three speeches on campus today. Sebastian Derungs / AP Photo
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