DAILY LOBO new mexico
September 24, 2009
Divine domination see page 6
thursday The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
DREAM aims to improve immigrants’ educations
Admissions office may raise GPA standards
by Kallie Red-Horse
by Abigail Ramirez
Over a dozen student groups organized a demonstration at Smith Plaza Wednesday in an effort to get student signatures in support of the DREAM Act. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act would grant young, undocumented immigrants the ability to further their education, so long as they have graduated from a U.S. high school and don’t have a criminal record. The Raza Graduate Students Association, El Centro de la Raza and the Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity were among the groups at the demonstration. Christopher Ramirez, spokesman for RGSA, said as many as 65,000 U.S. high school graduates are undocumented, and it’s difficult for them to get post-graduation education. “They have limited opportunities for their future in terms of higher
The Office of Enrollment Management wants to raise requirements for admission. UNM’s current entrance requirements for freshmen are a 2.25 GPA and completion of 13 college preparatory classes. Terry Babbitt, associate director of the Office of Enrollment Management, presented a summary of proposed changes to the admissions standards at the Regents’ Academic, Student Affairs and Research Committee meeting yesterday. If approved by the Regents, Babbitt said, a plan to increase the required GPA to 2.5 and the number of college preparatory units to 16 would be implemented over a threeyear period. Babbitt said data from the last three years indicate students who took more college preparatory
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Joey Trisolini / Daily Lobo Students hang a sign supporting the DREAM Act at Smith Plaza on Wednesday. The DREAM Act aims to give undocumented high school graduates a chance at higher education, as long as they don’t have criminal records. education and getting a job because they cannot legally work in the United States,” Ramirez said. “What the DREAM Act would do is provide a pathway to permanent residency for students that want citizenship.” The legislation has received criticism from the Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee.
According to ALI-PAC’s Web site, the organization is prepared to fight the bill every step of the way. “This legislation will harm American students and families while rewarding illegal aliens,” William Gheen, President of ALI-PAC said on the Web site. “It will cost taxpayers billions of dollars and provide
Daily Lobo
“Sardines in a tin” is not a phrase people want to associate with dorm life. But in August, 90 students moved in to triple-student dorm rooms. Now the Lobo Development Corporation and the Board of Regents are working to provide more on-campus housing for students, said Kim Murphy, UNM planning officer. The Master Plan includes a new residence hall for upperclassmen, which would likely be built on south campus, he said. “This is part of an overall strategy to add about 2,000 new beds to our inventory of oncampus housing,” he said. “We currently have about 2,400 beds, and we’re shooting to get somewhere around 4,500 total beds at the completion of this multi-year project.” The Regents’ Finance and Facilities Committee met Sept. 21 to vote on the Master Plan agreement with American Campus Communities, a student-housing developer. Murphy said there will be about 800 beds in phase one of the project, and the rooms will be mostly reserved for upperclassmen. The total project cost for phase one is about $40 million. “The first phase of housing that ACC designed is for upper division students, and they have proposed that we locate it on University property near main campus, as close as we can,” he said. “But it wouldn’t actually be on main campus, because that housing is reserved for freshmen and undergraduate students.” Steve Beffort, vice president for Institutional Support Services, said dorms at the
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 114
issue 24
Sign the petition front desk of El Centro de la Raza Mesa Vista Hall
see DREAM page 3
More dorms possible by 2011 by Hunter Riley
Dream Act Petition
see Standards page 5
Mini show
south campus site would be designed for upperclassmen. Beffort said the Regents should vote on approving the residence hall at their Sept. 29 meeting. “Hopefully they will approve the terms of the agreement, and then once they do that we’ll start negotiating exactly what that first phase would be,” he said. Murphy said putting the residence hall south of Cesar Chavez would help community development. “With the student population, it’s going to make commercial or retail services more feasible because you have a population that can use those services,” he said. Faculty Senate President Doug Fields said UNM should avoid sprawling development because there is still space near campus. “UNM should take a closer look at using the space on the southwest corner of Lomas and University for the phase one development,” Fields said in an e-mail. “The land there is owned by both UNM and the Sandia Foundation, and some discussion should take place with them about using this land.” Murphy said the opening of a residence hall has to coincide with the new school year, so it must get started as soon as possible. “The timing is critical for these housing projects. It can only be opened in August of a year,” he said. “In order to hit an August 2011 opening, they’ve really got to start construction in April of 2010.” Fields said the Faculty Senate passed a resolution to delay the voting on the Master Plan until the UNM community and neighborhood associations have more time to express their concerns.
Zoltan Szekely plays music in front of Ortega Hall on Wednesday. Szekely’s band, Zoltan Orkestar, will perform at the El Rey Theater on Saturday at 8 p.m. Vanessa Sanchez / Daily Lobo
Opinion: The hunt
They filmed that?
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