DAILY LOBO new mexico
monday May 5, 2014
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
Our UNM seeks diverse reforms by Zach Pavlik
assistant-news@dailylobo.com @zachpavlik
Members of the student movement OurUNM demanded more student inclusion on administrative decisions, advocated for greater transparency and insisted on increased accountability of administrators and student governors. OurUNM co-founder Manuel Lopez said the group has two lists of demands, one for Associated Students of the University of New Mexico and a second for administration. Friday’s conference addressed the thirteen demands for administration. One of the demands is that the Office of Equal Opportunity report directly to the University president and not to the Legal Council, as it does now, Lopez said. “The Legal Council is the University’s lawyer — they are interested in protecting the University’s interests, legal interest,” he said. “Putting the place that you go to file a grievance or discrimination complaint against the University under this group, we think that’s a conflict of interest.” Claudia Mitchell, one of the movement’s co-founders, said Frank is shifting the powers of the Student Fee Review Board in order to unilaterally support athletics and remove students’ voices from the discussion. Another of OurUNM’s demands is that Frank publicly apologize and postpone his decision to take Athletics and University Libraries away from the SFRB. “We want President Frank to acknowledge his lies,” Mitchell said. “We want the original promise to uphold and delay the decision until November. We want him to publicly apologize to the student body.” Mitchell then spoke about the Early Start program at UNM, a program that sets high school students with lower grades and ACT scores on a track to begin classes a summer early. The program is not set up in a holistic fashion, nor is it funded by the University, she said.
OurUNM demands that the Early Start program either be fully funded or abolished because it puts too harsh of an economic strain on students, she said. Virginia Necochea, a graduate student and member of OurUNM, said another demand of the movement is to examine changes made to the Bridge Scholarship and to revert it back to a state similar to where it was. “Drastic changes suddenly were made to a scholarship that is so important to students across communities in our state,” she said. “These changes to the Bridge Scholarship are in effect. As of now, in order to be able to obtain the Bridge Scholarship a student must have a 23 ACT score, and a GPA of a 3.0.” In the past, a student needed only a 2.5 GPA and an ACT score requirement did not exist, she said. Necochea also said the Lottery Scholarship has become a scholarship for students with financial stability, and that it must be reexamined. She said that, in general, the University needs to have more needsbased scholarships, and that it now has a disproportionate number of merit-based scholarships. “Over the years, unfortunately, the Lottery Scholarship has become a scholarship to benefit privileged students,” Necochea said, “If you look at the numbers, students whose parents make over $90,000 a year, over $150,000 a year, over $300,000 a year, are the ones that stand to (acquire) the most benefit.” Other demands included an increase of the University’s minimum wage, a greater diversity of faculty and staff, greater funding for ethnic centers, discrimination training for all university advisors, a tuition that is manageable and equal across departments, budget transparency from ASUNM and administration, more personalized graduation plans and greater inclusion of UNM students in University decisions. Lopez said the movement is still waiting for responses to the letters they delivered to both ASUNM President Isaac Romero and UNM President Robert Frank.
DEAD BALL
Aaron Sweet/@AaronCSweet / Daily Lobo New Mexico catcher and first baseman Alex Real takes a fast pitch to the back during the game against San Diego State on Sunday. The Lobos defeated the Aztecs 13-5.
Man killed firing at SWAT
Aaron Sweet/@AaronCSweet / Daily Lobo David Correia scolds the media during a vigil held for Armand Martin, a veteran who was shot and killed Saturday by the Albuquerque Police Department. Correia expressed his disapproval with the way local news agencies have covered the recent events surrounding protests.
by Chloe Henson
news@dailylobo.com @ChloeHenson5
Aaron Sweet/@AaronCSweet / Daily Lobo Christopher Ramirez speaks about the Office of Equal Opportunity during Friday’s press conference.
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 118
issue 148
The Albuquerque Police Department said it deployed a SWAT team to the scene of Armand Martin’s shooting death because he refused to leave the house and posed a danger to others. An APD officer shot and killed Martin on Saturday evening after Martin barricaded himself inside his house. Police arrived at the house in response to a 911 call made by Martin’s wife, who
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reported a domestic dispute, according to Eric Garcia, deputy chief of APD. “Because of the armed nature of the subject, the fact that he was barricaded and refused to exit the house and that neighbors were in danger, APD SWAT was called to respond,” he said at a press conference Sunday. “The SWAT team included crisis negotiators, a crisis negotiator supervisor and a department psychologist.” The shooting came less than a month after the Department
of Justice released a report that stated APD frequently engages in excessive use of force. The DOJ found deficiencies in the leadership of the APD SWAT unit, according to the report. SWAT’s deficiencies in on-site supervision contributed to the department’s unreasonable use of force, according to the report. The officer who fired was a member of the SWAT team, Garcia said. The team attempted different techniques that included communication with the subject,
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