NM Daily Lobo 02 26 2015

Page 1

Daily Lobo new mexico

The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895

thursday February 26, 2015 | Vo l u m e 1 1 9 | I s s u e 1 1 1

Diana Cervantes / Daily Lobo / @dee_sea_

Education professionals gather on the corner of Coal Avenue and University Boulevard on Wednesday morning for National Adjunct Walkout Day. The nationwide event aims to bring individuals together to insist on fair wages and better working conditions for part-time teachers.

Community rallies behind part-time faculty By Jonathan Baca As part of Wednesday’s National Adjunct Walkout Day, community members from CNM and UNM gathered at the corner of University Boulevard and Coal Avenue to protest proposed right-to-work legislation and, what the demonstrators called the exploitation of part-time faculty.

The group, which consisted of around 30 people at the height of the protest, carried signs and informed passersby about the plight of parttime instructors. Those adjunct professors make up around 70 percent of the community college’s workforce, according to a press release issued by the protest organizers. According to the release, adjunct

or part-time professors teach 63 percent of classes at CNM. They receive an average of $1,000 less for each class than full-time instructors, and adjuncts are only compensated for four hours a week per class, regardless of the total time they spend creating curriculum, grading assignments and helping students outside the classroom.

Myrriah Gomez, one of the protest organizers, is a part-time instructor of Chicano studies at UNM and parttime English instructor at CNM. She has a Ph.D. in English, and although she is considered part-time, she taught six classes in the fall 2014 semester, she said. “Contingent faculty across the country are speaking out against the

terrible working conditions we have, in terms of low pay, no benefits, no full-time status or long-term contracts — no job security, basically,” Gomez said. “This is really an issue of labor exploitation. It’s a continuation of the privatization of education.” Gomez said that despite her degree and experience, and the

see

Protest page 3

ASUNM affirms bill opposition Lot upkeep comes from citation revenue Student government against lottery scholarship Senate bill By David Lynch

The Associated Students of UNM unanimously passed a resolution to further affirm its stance opposing possible lottery scholarship cuts. Resolution 5S comes in the wake of a New Mexico Senate bill that would remove the mandate ensuring the scholarship 30 percent of lottery profits. If passed, Senate Bill 355 will allow the 30 percent minimum to be done away with in favor of an increased amount of money going to the promotion of the lottery as well as lottery prizes. This isn’t the first time that the undergraduate student governing body has declared their opposition to possible cuts to the scholarship. However, ASUNM Vice President Jenna Hagengruber said there is added weight to Resolution 5S because there is official legislation now making the rounds in the state Legislature, whereas before it was only a possibility. “We need to be forward in our opinions and vigorous in our attempts at finding a solution

that is best for all of our students,” Hagengruber said. “This resolution that went through is important to show the students and our government that we are trying to stop a solution that will not actually benefit our students, but we can’t stop here.” ASUNM senators made several comments in discussion of the resolution, saying that their timing is crucial. Sen. Victoria Pryor said it is a priority that they make their stance known. “The session is going on right now in Santa Fe, so we have to raise a hullabaloo about it.” she said. “If you ask your mom if you can go to your friend’s birthday party and she doesn’t give you an answer, you ask her again in a different way. It doesn’t hurt to be redundant. It’s showing how strongly we feel about the issue.” Sen. Mack Follingstad agreed with Pryor’s sentiments, declaring that saying nothing would cost far more than passing a repetitive legislation. However, there is at least one senator who voiced her discontent with not only repetitive legislation, but also for symbolic resolutions.

Sen. Nadia Cabrera said she advocates meaningful resolutions that propose tangible change for the good of UNM. “Legislation means nothing unless we — senators, students or whoever — make it mean something,” Cabrera said. “The fact that (state) legislators went ahead with plans to remove the 30 percent minimum scholarship fund shows that they did not take our (previous) resolution seriously.” Resolution 4S, passed earlier in the month, also declared ASUNM’s opposition to proposed scholarship cuts, although there was no senate bill at the time in Santa Fe. They also passed a similar resolution in the fall when the idea was first being suggested. Cabrera said passing essentially identical resolutions reinforces the idea that ASUNM’s opinion can be disregarded. “Instead, we should focus on strengthening the value of our legislation to catch and maintain the attention of administrators and legislators,” she said. The student government of an-

see

ASUNM page 5

By Robert Salas

Parking citations are a universally disliked part of attending UNM, and most students have no idea where the money goes. Citations have gradually increased over the past two years, producing relatively substantial amounts of revenue for the Parking and Transportation Services Department.

According to PATS, there have been 40,988 citations given out in fiscal year 2014 and 40,083 distributed in fiscal year 2013. At $20 to $25 a citation, the total fines for 2014 add up to $1,096,255. However, the actual revenue owed from the fines is $926,934 and about 85 percent of that is actually collected.

see

Parking page 5

Kanan Mammadli / Daily Lobo / @KenanMammadly

Albert Tafoya, supervisor of UNM’s Parking and Transportation Services, puts a parking ticket on the windshield of a car that parked without a permit at A Lot on Monday.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
NM Daily Lobo 02 26 2015 by UNM Student Publications - Issuu