DAILY LOBO new mexico
back to school August 12-18, 2013
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
Miller censured for obese tweet
POP THAT VOLLEY
Geoffrey Miller Courtesy Photo
by Ardee Napolitano news@dailylobo.com
Sergio Jiménez / Daily Lobo Freshman outside hitter Devanne Sours practices with her teammates Wednesday at Johnson Gym.Head coach Jeff Nelson called the six incoming freshmen the “most talented recruiting class” he’s ever had. See full story, Page 9
Medical pot very easy to get The Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE — People applying to become part of New Mexico’s 6-year-old medical marijuana program are seldom rejected. The Albuquerque Journal reports that of the 12,977 applications submitted to the New Mexico Department of Health since the program began in 2007, only 25 resulted in flat-out denials. The newspaper also reports that some patients approved for the program may not have met the criteria to legally use medical marijuana to ease debilitating pain or illness. A family-practice physician in Albuquerque, Nicholas Nardacci, approved 98 percent of the patients whom he evaluated for the cannabis program. As of Aug. 1, 9,607 people were approved to use the drug under the program overseen by the Department of Health, which relies on physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners around the state to screen and determine initial eligibility of patients. The Department of
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Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 118
issue 1
Frank meets with NAACP Community activists hope to build ties with UNM by Jamillah Wilcox news@dailylobo.com
UNM is working to improve campus safety in response to concerns from the African American community regarding hate crimes on campus. Harold Bailey, president of the Albuquerque chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, along with African American Student Services Director Scott Carreathers, met with UNM President Robert Frank last month in an effort to strengthen UNM’s commitment to its black student community. Although the NAACP does have a chapter at UNM, Bailey said it is important to re-establish communication with the University and build up the relationship the organization began with UNM during the presidency of David Schmidly. “The main thing was to establish communication with President Frank,” Bailey said. “We just had a chance to get to know each other and establish positive lines of communication and respect.” Bailey said there have been several hate crimes directed toward African American students and faculty on campus during the past school year. He said there also were incidents against people of
different religious backgrounds. “We’re concerned about the University community and the community at large, so it’s our responsibility to make sure that African Americans are being treated with respect and dignity regardless of what campus they’re on or which city they’re in,” Bailey said.
“...it’s our responsibility to make sure that African Americans are being treated with respect and dignity regardless of what campus they’re on.” ~Harold Bailey president NAACP, Albuquerque chapter The most recent of these incidents occurred in March, when black UNM student Dominic Calhoun found a racist note on the door to his room in Coronado Hall. The note, which was drawn on his roommate’s dry-erase board, depicted an image of a stick figure man drawn in black ink with a noose leading from the figure’s neck to the word “N****r.” Bailey said UNM and the
On fire, even down under
1) Take cartridge out 2) Blow
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NAACP are trying to figure out the best ways to move forward. “If we can make sure that we can implement positive programs that are going to improve the safety of all the students, all the faculty, and all the visitors on campus, then I think that’s the best thing we can do,” he said. Carreathers said the meeting focused on building a stronger relationship and cooperation between UNM and the NAACP. He said UNM will communicate and prioritize community issues to reduce violence related to hate crimes on campus. Carreathers said UNM has worked with the NAACP in the past to address racial issues. “In the past, UNM has always had a relationship with the NAACP,” Carreathers said. “The meeting was intended to keep everyone abreast about what measures are taking place on campus for campus safety, recruitment and retention of black students.” Carreathers said he will act as a liaison among UNM’s office of the president, the Division of Equity and Inclusion and the African American community on campus. He said Frank also agreed to Bailey’s request to start the Crime Stoppers Initiative, which would focus on preventing hate crime on campus and would encourage dialogues on the issue.
After more than a month of investigation, UNM has censured a controversial psychology professor for a fat-shaming post on Twitter. According to a press release issued by the University Aug. 5, UNM has formally censured Geoffrey Miller, an associate professor at UNM who was a visiting professor at New York University at the time, “for misrepresenting to his department chair and colleagues the motivation” for his tweet. On June 2, Miller gained worldwide attention after he tweeted: “Dear obese Ph.D. applicants: if you don’t have the willpower to stop eating carbs, you won’t have the willpower to do a dissertation. #truth.” Miller then said the tweet was part of a psychology experiment that he was conducting. A subsequent investigation by New York University ruled in late June that research involving human subjects needed prior approval by universities, and so the tweet was not part of a scientific study. But NYU did not terminate Miller’s stay, which lasted until Aug. 1, because “tweets were not research with human subjects as defined by the federal government.” One week later, UNM’s Institutional Review Board likewise ruled that there was no evidence that the tweet was part of a scientific research. “Specifically, the committee determined that there were no clear research questions or hypotheses, systematic methods for collecting quantitative and/or qualitative data were absent, and that criteria for selecting respondents were unclear, at best,” stated the UNM IRB memo, which was released June 26. Miller apologized for his tweet. “Obviously my previous tweet does not represent the selection policies of any university, or my own selection criteria,” he said in a tweet. “Sincere apologies to all for that idiotic, impulsive, and badly judged tweet.”
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