DAILY LOBO new mexico
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October 1, 2010
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
ASUNM supports online salary book by Ruben Hamming-Green rhamminggreen@gmail.com
After contentious debate, ASUNM passed a resolution by a 10-9 vote Wednesday encouraging UNM administrators to make the salary book available online. Supporters voted in favor of transparency, while those opposed voted to protect employees’ privacy. The salary book lists salaries of all UNM employees. Sen. Melissa Trent, who sponsored the resolution, said making the document available online wouldn’t be burdensome for the University. She said she has viewed the salary book for class projects, but having one copy at Zimmerman Library that can be checked out for two hours is problematic. “All this information is already public,” she said, adding that other universities post electronic versions of their salary books. Daily Lobo editor-in-chief Pat Lohmann went before the ASUNM senate earlier this month as well as the Faculty Senate and GPSA to propose the idea of an electronic salary book. GPSA passed the resolution at its first meeting of the semester, and the Faculty Senate voted to table the resolution Tuesday until its November meeting. Sen. Alonzo Castillo, who voted
against the resolution, said he supports an online version of the book only if employees’ names aren’t included. “I see it as being a safety and privacy issue for staff,” he said. “I want it to show positions and not names.” Sen. Adam Ornelas said he voted for the bill to increase University transparency. “As students we are also customers, and this is where our money is going,” he said. “We talk about moving forward ... But we’re still in this archaic mode where we only have one book for New Mexico’s flagship University?” Some expressed concerns over negative public response and possible tension if the salary book was easily available. “Our web savviness is far ahead of our maturity levels,” said Senator Adrian Cortinas. “Some students might want to use this to start pointing fingers.” Yet Trent said the salary book commands only as much concern as University members demand. “If it raises tension, then there’s a reason there is tension,” Trent said. “If people want to get upset about it, want to talk about it and reevaluate it, then that should be their right.” Among other items, ASUNM passed a voter registration resolution in support of NMPIRG’s effort to register students before the November elections. Sen. Greg Golden
see ASUNM page 3
Students: Porn event was biased by Sean Wynne
seanpw@unm.edu Students criticized an on-campus Christian organization for being unable to spark a comprehensive discussion on the effects of pornography during an event Wednesday. UNM student Elizabeth Boyle said an event on Wednesday called Porn Nation, sponsored by the Campus Crusade for Christ, also known as CRU, lacked diverse perspectives on the topic of pornography. “The fact that it’s a biased view from a strictly Christian perspective is kind of a turn-off. I’m an agnostic, and I don’t watch porn,” she said. “I appreciate the fact that they’re trying to set it up as an open forum and trying to be as unbiased as possible, but I think they really do need to have more people that are agnostic, that are atheist, that are of different religions from them, in order to get a more vast perspective.” Jason Dencklau, the UNM team leader of the Campus Crusade for Christ, said Porn Nation wasn’t a religious-based presentation. “I think it’s pretty clear that the majority of Christians would say that they would be against pornography, but I don’t think it necessarily means it’s a bias of the dialogue,” he said.
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Ephraim Colbert, a student who attended Porn Nation, said he was disappointed by the presentation. “There were more important things he could have addressed,” Colbert said. “I was hoping it would be more of an open dialogue type of setting versus someone up on stage giving their opinion on the topic.” Colbert said the keynote speaker Michael Leahy spent too much time defining porn’s boundaries. “He even went as far as to say that magazine covers such as Maxim, Sports Illustrated and Cosmopolitan showing women in scantily clad dress are pornography,” he said. “I don’t necessarily agree with that.” Dencklau said CRU members are open and enthusiastic about talking with people coming from a different perspective. “It’s been fun interacting with people and being able to be open enough to hear what people have to say even if their views differ with mine,” he said. “I’m OK with that.” Still, Colbert said he would like to see future events with more open discussion. “I could see myself attending that,” he said. “I was more curious to hear what other people’s thoughts were on the topic, and with an event hosted of that nature, it appears you would be able to hear other people’s opinions.”
Laurisa Galvan / Daily Lobo A Zipcar sits parked outside Coronado Hall. The Zipcar service allows student to borrow a car for an annual fee, which includes parking, insurance and gas. See page 3.
Just joking just doesn’t cut it by Shaun Griswold shaun24@unm.edu
Sometimes jokes aren’t just jokes. For UNM professor and author Michael Trujillo, jokes that play on negative stereotypes affect how a culture is percieved. During a question-and-answer forum Thursday, he said some citizens in Española, N.M., create misconceptions about themselves by repeating jokes that make fun of them. “They were not seeing the jokes as critiques of themselves,” Trujillo said. Trujillo discussed the reality of life in Española, N.M., during the fourth and final installment of the author series hosted by the UNM Bookstore in conjunction with National Hispanic Heritage Month. Each year, National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, Cuba, the Caribbean and Central and South America. While numerous events at UNM celebrate the month, Trujillo’s discussion led into a deep conversation about Hispanic identity in New Mexico. Starting in 2000, Trujillo researched Hispanic life
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for three years in Española. His book, The Land of Disenchantment, is an ethnographic depiction of life in the northern New Mexico town at the turn of the century. Trujillo said he learned that an intricate web of cultural identities exist in the community, designed from interaction between the colonial Spanish and the indigenous people in the area. “People I interviewed are complex,” he said. “One of the difficulties with the term ‘Hispanic’ is that it makes it hard for people there who are complex in the majority. Yet, these terms provide a way for people to organize.” The first part of the book discussed his interaction with a group of self-described “Mexicana” women who laughed every time someone repeated an Española joke. “The jokes are not about Española. It’s on social order, and these women know the social order is unjust,” he said. The second part of his book discussed an incident that took place in the late 90s, where a group cut off the right foot on a statue of Don Juan de Oñate at a memorial and visitor center outside of Española. The group sent a picture of the foot with a letter to the Albuquerque Journal that said, “We took the liberty of removing Oñate’s right foot on behalf of our brothers and
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