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Dorm graffiti: F*** whites by Ardee Napolitano news@dailylobo.com @ArdeeTheJourno
For the second time this semester, police are investigating racially motivated graffiti in the dorms. On Feb. 5, a UNMPD officer was dispatched to Coronado Hall in reference to a report of criminal damage to property. According to the police report, “unknown offenders etched ‘fuck white people’ along with possible gang symbols resembling Sureños 13, as well as a marijuana plant, on two of the shower dividers.” UNMPD Public Information Officer Lieutenant Tim Stump said Residence Life staff reported the incident to police. Despite efforts, officers were unable to find who was responsible. “We had detectives go over there and canvass the rooms and the general area, try to talk to students to see if they knew who did it,” he said. “There were no leads. No one knows who did it or where it came from.” According to the report, there were no witnesses to the incident, and the case is closed pending further leads. On Jan. 31, Cinnamon Burton, a student resident of Laguna 2, reported a similar incident in which somebody wrote the word “n****r” on a whiteboard on the door of one of her suite-mates. After a subsequent investigation, the Dean of Students Office determined that a white student wrote the racial slur. Stump said that the lack of security cameras hampered finding the responsible party. “We don’t know when it occurred,” he said. “You have cameras. You’d see people going into the showers in and out. There’s not going to be security cameras in the bathrooms that would show who was writing on the walls.” Because of the gang signs in the graffiti, Stump said that it is also possible that an outsider was responsible. “I don’t know if it was gangrelated,” he said. “Was it a visitor? A lot of times, we find out that the visitors or people who don’t go to school here are the ones committing these crimes.” But police will not treat the incident as a hate crime case, Stump said. He said that instead, the incident will be considered as criminal damage to property, which is a “low-class misdemeanor.” “It has to be directed to someone, not just people in general,” he said. “There has to be crime and it has to be directed in a racist, biased or sexually-oriented nature.” Dean of Students Tomàs Aguirre said his office is not investigating the incident at the moment. He said Residence Life, which is conducting an investigation with UNMPD, should refer the case to
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his office before it picks it up. Aguirre said the incident “is racist. It appears to be targeting a certain group.” And he is disappointed that this is the second time this kind of incident has happened this semester, he said. “I think it’s unfortunate,” he said. “We’re just going to have to keep working to cultivate a more civil, inclusive campus. It hurts, whether once in a six-month period or once in a ten-year period, it’s the same. This is just not the place for it.” Aguirre said that although there are no specific policies addressing racism, the suspect violated UNM’s Student Code of Conduct and will face sanctions if found. The dean’s office has handled at least four other cases of racially motivated graffiti, Aguirre said. If the person responsible for the graffiti were a student, he could face penalties ranging from a simple warning to expulsion. But Aguirre said his office aims to enforce “restorative justice,” which focuses more on educational aspects, to deal with suspects of similar incidents. “Zero tolerance does not necessarily mean that every time we find a student responsible for incidents like this, we’re automatically going to expel them or suspend them,” he said. “You’ve got to look at the big picture.” Aguirre said University departments should have more civility-oriented programs during new student orientations and in classes to address racism. He said the Civil Campus Council, an on-campus body initiated by UNM President Robert Frank in the fall semester, also seeks to prevent racist incidents on campus. “We want to make that message very, very clear in a number of different ways,” Aguirre said. “Everybody needs to really clearly state that this is what we stand for. We need to really focus on the educational piece.” Stump said that although the suspect will face minimal criminal charges if found, the incident was an unacceptable behavior in a university. “It’s just conduct that you want to take care of,” he said. “If we knew who it was, we’d probably address it… That’s not accepted to put stuff like that on the walls. If you had people in there who had issues with somebody who wrote something like that, you don’t want them to be fearful of what’s going on.” UNM will strive to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future, Aguirre said. “We’re constantly reevaluating our policies and our procedures,” he said. “If at any given point in time, we determine that we can do our practices better, we are.”
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thursday February 13, 2014
Broncos take game in OT Fouls plague both teams, but Lobos just could not make the shots
Aaron Anglin / @ComicKidReports/ Daily Lobo UNM Guard Antiesha Brown moves around Kayla Reinhart, left, and Brooke Pahukoa of the Boise State Broncos during last night’s game at the Pit. The Lobos lost to Boise State 80-86 in overtime.
by Liam Cary-Eaves sports@dailylobo.com @Liam_CE
With two clutch threes to tie the game at the end of regulation, it seemed as though New Mexico women’s basketball team’s closegame misfortunes were about to come to an end. The Lobos were able to dig themselves out of a hole and send the game into overtime with all of the momentum. Even with momentum on their side, foul trouble overwhelmed the Lobos (8-14, 3-8 MW) in overtime in an 8086 loss to Boise State (14-9, 9-3 MW) at The Pit on Wednesday. Head coach Yvonne Sanchez said that she doesn’t approve of the way that the new rule changes have affected the game. “They changed the rules and they’re calling everything. I don’t think that we as a legislation or just as a women’s basketball program want to see this,” Sanchez said. “They wanted to see higher scoring, but no one wants to see such an extreme
amount of fouls.” In a game that featured 60 fouls, including one flagrant foul that sent redshirt forward Deeva Vaughn up the ramp early, the pace of the game was impacted dramatically by the referees. Seven individuals were forced to the bench early in the contest due to reaching the five-foul mark. Sanchez said that she didn’t see anything malicious about Vaughn’s fifth foul, which was labeled as flagrant after a long deliberation by the refs. “The official said that it was clear to him that Deeva saw the player and gave her an elbow,” Sanchez said. “As of right now, I would have to disagree with that.” The first half of play seemed to be going in the wrong direction. After starting the game out with a 5-0 run, the Lobos couldn’t get in any type of groove in the first 20 minutes of play. The Lobos could not seem to stop Boise State junior guard/forward Deeana Weaver in the first half either, as she scored 17 points in the first half. The Lobos went into halftime down 38-17.
It still took regulation heroics from UNM to send the game into overtime. Guard Sara Halasz couldn’t have picked a better time hit her first shot of the game to bring the game within one possession with only 39 seconds remaining in regulation. Vaughn then was able to come up with a three to tie the game up at 65 apiece with just 2 seconds remaining in regulation. Even with the huge 3-pointers, the Lobos could not overcome three players fouling out in the extra five minutes of play. The difference in overtime was the number of times Boise State shot free throws. The team shot 14 of 15 in overtime, while UNM was only able to get to the line six times. Even getting to the line didn’t always provide good things for the Lobos, as they hit just 52.8 percent from the charity stripe. “We got to the free throw line and went 19 of 36. You’re not going to win games against any team doing that,” Sanchez said. “We came home and shot worse than we did on the road.”
Lobos lose at last second by Thomas Romero-Salas sports@dailylobo.com @ThomasRomeroS
The New Mexico men’s basketball team will have to wait to catch San Diego State in the Mountain West standings. The league-leading Aztecs lost on Tuesday night at Wyoming 6862, giving the Lobos an opportunity to tie SDSU if they won Wednesday night at Boise State. The Broncos had other plans. Two last-second free throws by Boise State guard Derrick Marks
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and a late miss by Lobo guard Hugh Greenwood gave Boise State a 71-70 victory over UNM, snapping a three-game losing streak in the process. With the loss, the Lobos fall to 18-5, 9-2 Mountain West and trail No. 5 SDSU (21-2, 10-1 MW) by one game in the conference standings. Lobo guard Kendall Williams scored a game-high 22 points on 6 of 10 shooting and hit a 3-pointer in the final minute to give UNM a 70-69 edge. Forward Cameron Bairstow chipped in with 20 points and center Alex Kirk managed 13
points. No other Lobo scored in double figures. Boise State (16-9, 6-6 MW) had four players in double-digits with Anthony Drmic’s 18 points leading the way. Early on, it looked like the Lobos were well on their way in tying the Aztecs for first place in the conference. UNM led by as many as 12 in the first half and headed into halftime with a 42-35 edge. The Lobos shot 51 percent from the field compared to the Broncos 40 percent clip.
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