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The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
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Monday, May 6, 2019 | Vo l u m e 1 2 3 | I s s u e 6 5
UNM student found dead after shooting By Cameron Goeldner @goeldfinger Jackson Weller, a 23-year-old University of New Mexico Baseball player, is dead after a shooting outside Imbibe Nightclub in Nob Hill early Saturday morning. Weller was a transfer from Gateway Community College in Arizona. He had not yet appeared for the Lobos after joining the program in the fall of 2018 and was sitting out this season due to injury. He had plans to rejoin the program next fall, according to an Albuquerque Journal story. Weller was a junior studying Liberal Arts. UNM spokeswoman Cinnamon Blair identified Weller as the person killed on Saturday. “He was a very special young man whose absence will be deeply felt. On behalf of Lobo Athletics and The University of New Mexico, I would like to extend our sincerest condolences to his family, friends, teammates and all who knew him — please keep them in your thoughts and
prayers,” Athletic Director Eddie Nuñez said in a release. “Our immediate focus will be on continuing to support all who are affected as they cope with this senseless tragedy.” Officers responded at 2:15 a.m. to the incident and found a man dead, Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Tanner Tixier told the Journal. There are no suspects at this time. The Lobos lost the first of a three-game series to Air Force on Friday night. Game two was scheduled for Saturday. The remainder of the series has been postponed according to the Athletics Department. An announcement as to when the series will resume has not been made. The sudden loss of Weller prompted an outpouring of support and anger online. The Albuquerque Isotopes and San Diego State University baseball teams offered their condolences to Weller’s family and friends. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller tweeted that he was “saddened and angered” by the news.
Back at UNM, Lobo Spirit, UNM Greeks and the University's Main Campus Twitter sent out their condolences toward Weller’s family. Weller’s death comes in a year that has seen over 100 shootings in Bernalillo County within the first four months of 2019. On April 29, the Albuquerque Journal reported that 114 people had been shot in 112 days, according to data provided by the District Attorney’s Office. The DA’s office said that 95 of those shootings were in Albuquerque and, as of April 23, 17 people had died. Compared to the same period last year, 2019 has seen 27 more shootings. Justin Garcia contributed to this article. Cameron Goeldner is a senior reporter and photographer for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers men’s soccer, women’s basketball, softball and the Albuquerque Isotopes, but also contributes content for all other sports. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo. com or on Twitter @goeldfinger.
Courtesy photo
Jackson Weller photo courtesy of Rafael Grullon’s Twitter account.
Three protests, two days, one union UNM students Editorial Board
Last week there were three unrelated demonstrations at the University of New Mexico — each one larger than the last. On Tuesday, the UNM faculty marched to Scholes Hall chanting and using a bullhorn calling for unionization and higher wages. The march followed a meeting discussing the agreement between United Academics of UNM (UA-UNM) and the University to allow a vote on the existence of a faculty union. UNM President Garnett Stokes has promised to honor the outcome of the vote. The group of about 30 faculty dispersed after an hour. On Wednesday, graduate workers walked out in order to advocate for “living wages.” That protest swelled to around 200 people and lasted over two hours. On Friday, hundreds of Albuquerque students walked out of class to bring attention to human-caused climate change. This in conjunction with the worldwide movement, School Strike for Climate. All three stories can be viewed in their entirety at www.dailylobo.com. UNM, Union reach agreement (updated) The University of New Mexico and United Academics of UNM (UA-UNM), the proposed faculty union for the state’s flagship university, reached an agreement late Monday night, according to multiple sources close to the matter. That night, associate professor Matías Fontenla, a member of the union’s organizing committee, told the Daily Lobo there would be two bargaining units — one for full-time faculty and the
other representing part-time. He also said faculty from branch campuses will be included in the full-time bargaining team, a major sticking-point for UNM in their initial rejection of the union’s petition. President Garnett Stokes and UNM Chief Legal Counsel Loretta Martinez expanded on the outline of the union during a general faculty meeting on Tuesday morning: Emeritus professors, department chairs and directors, and visiting faculty are not included in the bargaining units. Martinez said an election to approve a collective-bargaining unit for the faculty is planned for an unspecified date during the fall 2019 semester. Stokes has spoken previously about starting an education campaign, although it is unclear what the campaign would look like. UA-UNM has yet to speak publicly about any education campaign. However, the union has held various social and informational events during the semester. Graduates protest for higher wages “Who are we?’ “Graduate Workers!” What do we want? “A living wage!’,” That was one of several chants shouted by around 200 (mostly) graduate workers during a march and protest for higher wages on Wednesday. The event was nine days after the Board of Regents, who govern UNM, approved a hike to graduate students’ cost of attendance. “I just want to live somewhere safe, I just want to afford rent and I want to be able to pay my car insurance to drive to school,” Monica Wolfe, an organizer of the march, said. With a 3% tuition increase and additional fees, graduate students
On the Daily Lobo website Gunn: New Mexico United blanks San Antonio
will pay an additional $302 a year to attend after July. Wolfe is a teaching assistant in the English department. She said that Wednesday’s march around UNM Main Campus was the first step of a process to secure higher wages. “This is to gain awareness, to gain recognition and to reach out to other graduate workers who might be afraid to speak out,” Wolfe said. Wolfe said Wednesday's march and the graduate workers who organized it were not affiliated with any union, including United Academics of UNM (UA-UNM), the proposed faculty union. But that’s the direction Axel Gonzalez, another organizer, said he would like to go. Gonzalez, a teaching and graduate assistant in the American Studies Department, said he did not have comment regarding if the group had been contacted by a large labor union (such as the American Federation of Teachers or UA-UNM). ABQ students walk out for climate action, participate in global movement The youth have spoken on climate change, and their message is clear: inaction will no longer be tolerated. Over 200 students from the Albuquerque area walked out of class on Friday afternoon. They converged on Johnson Field in protest of governmental failures to address climate change. The student-led demonstration demanded elected officials and businesses face the reality of human-caused climate change and take steps to mitigate it. It was organized by Fight For Our Lives, a student-activist group
see
Protests page 3
celebrate graduation
Editor’s Note: Every semester the Daily Lobo publishes senior profiles in honor of graduating students. In light of recent events, the editorial board elected to shift some of that content online, in order to provide our readers with news on important events. Longer versions of these senior profiles and profiles not featured in this issue can be accessed at dailylobo. com. Additional profiles will be available until graduation.
see inside for grad profiles Grijalva and Cunico: Video — Milkweed and Monarchs Nunez: UNM students compete in creating an advertizement with Acura