DAILY LOBO new mexico
October 28, 2009
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UNM braces for financial hardship by Pat Lohmann Daily Lobo
Long Nguyen / Daily Lobo Student Dana Jones shapes a cylinder during her introductory ceramics class in the Art Building on Tuesday. This was the first time the class tried throwing on the wheel.
Study explores effects of media violence by Julie Wilmes Daily Lobo
Media violence can’t be avoided in today’s society, thanks to video games, films and music, according to a study by UNM professor of pediatrics Victor Strasburger. Strasburger’s study found that media violence has led to an increase in adolescent aggression. The study also claims that television, movies and music videos normalize weapon use and make violence seem glamorous. “Violence is more prevalent in the internet age, and there has been a surge in media in television and movies in the last few decades,” Strasburger said. “Take the
violence shown in the James Bond movie ‘From Russia with Love’ in the 60s, and compare it to movies like ‘Inglourious Basterds’ which is rated ‘R.’ A couple of decades ago, it would have been ‘NC-17.’” According to the study, continuous exposure to violence increases acceptance of using violence to solve problems, and children are being exposed to much of this violence in rap music. “Also, with today’s music becoming increasingly violent, especially rap music, the issue raised is whether or not it is okay for younger teens to listen to the music,” the report stated. “Not all rap songs are degrading and violent, but these songs that are okay are drowned
out by the ones that center around violence and gives the genre a bad reputation.” According to Strasburger’s study, people who have to act violent in video games may be more violent in the real world. Junior Jessica Marshall said media violence is to blame for many of society’s problems. “I feel like media violence in games and television desensitizes us to the truth of how horrible violence really is and the effects it has on other people,” Marshall said. “It glamorizes criminal behavior and encourages the idea of the police being the ‘bad guys.’” Christopher Holden, an
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The UNM administration is gladly accepting federal stimulus funds to replenish half of the Instructional and General budget cuts, but the University is also looking past the one-time stimulus package to next fiscal year, when the government might not be so generous. House Bill 17, which passed at the New Mexico State Legislature’s special session this month, hands down a 4 percent cut for I&G funds and a 6.5 percent cut for “below the line” programs, like the ethnic centers and other special projects. Governor Bill Richardson has 20 days to approve HB17. However, half of the 4 percent I&G cuts will be supplanted by federal stimulus funds, making the total cut $3,751,780 out of an I&G operating budget of about $187.5 million for UNM, the Health Sciences Center and the branch campuses. Because the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is a one-time stimulus package, state legislators and UNM budget office employees are anticipating several fiscal years of financial hardship. Marc Saavedra, director of government relations at UNM, said public education and higher education might see cuts in Fiscal Year 2011. “Unless for some reason revenues get better — if for some reason they start having revenue enhancement bills that generate additional revenue — you’ve got to find money somewhere to replace that stimulus money, whether it’s public schools or higher ed.,” he said. Saavedra said a historical example supports his bleak projection. “In about 1983, they refer to it as ‘the bottom fell out’ of the New Mexico state economy,” he said. “Gas
was down, gross receipts was down, unemployment was up, so the bottom fell out … They had to make cuts and they had to increase taxes. That tax structure became a very strong revenue source for the state of New Mexico. That took about a good 10 years to get back to where they were in 1983.” As a result, Saavedra said the University and the state need to be fiscally responsible in the coming years. “We still need to keep in the back of our mind that it’s non-recurring money,” he said. “We’re not going to fool ourselves into thinking this is recurring money. It’s stimulus money. It goes away.” In his Monday-morning message, President David Schmidly said Provost Suzanne Ortega and his administration have anticipated budget cuts and are creating possible budget scenarios to cope with the problem. “The Governor has (20) days to consider this solvency plan, but now is the time for us to finalize scenarios for consideration by the Regents,” Schmidly said in his message. “Provost Ortega and the deans have been planning for the inevitable for several weeks. Our goal is to preserve as much as possible services that impact students.” As for the 6.5 percent cut to special projects, the ethnic centers are guaranteed protection and the UNM administration will collaborate with directors and project managers before the cuts are implemented, said Saavedra. “We’ll keep the ethnic centers harmless. It’ll be a process that has deans, directors (and) project managers,” he said. “All of them will be involved in how to implement that. It won’t be done in a vacuum.”
Grant aids autistic children by Kallie Red-Horse Daily Lobo
The Daniels Fund awarded a $15,000 grant this month to support a summer camp for children with autism in New Mexico. UNM’s Center for Development and Disability organizes Camp Rising Sun, which serves more than 80 children ages 8 to 13 in two summer sessions. With the $15,000 grant, CRS can hold three camps of the same length in 2010. One session will be specifically for adolescents, said Sharon Cruse, assistant director of the camp. “With the addition of the adolescent camp, we are going to serve more kids of a different nature next
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summer,” she said. “We want to serve as many people with autism as possible.” At the camp, children with developmental disabilities learn social and behavioral skills, Cruse said. “It’s the basic summer camp experience, but what we are finding is that these kids take the independence and the social skills they have learned back to their everyday life in school and try new things,” she said. “They are not good with their communication skills and their social skills, those are deficits they have, and the camp gives them an opportunity to develop those skills.” Camp founder and director Laura White said the camp gives children with autism an opportunity to have a summer camp experience
that they otherwise wouldn’t get. “The camp allows these kids to do all the things that you would do at a regular camp because we have specially trained counselors to deal with the challenges that children with autism face,” she said. “We can support the campers so they succeed at these activities and succeed in interacting with other children.” The Bill Daniels fund was established in 1997, and Daniels had a sister who was developmentally disabled, said Peter Droege, Daniels Fund spokesman. “Bill Daniels wanted to provide grants in the areas of disabilities, either developmental or physical,” he said. “Autism programs are a great
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Robert Maes / Daily Lobo State representatives toss around proposals dealing with the state deficit during the NM Legislature’s special session on Oct. 17. The Legislature eventually passed House Bill 17, which cuts UNM’s I&G budget by 4 percent and special projects by 6.5 percent. Governor Richardson has 20 days to approve the bill.
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Dangerous waters
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