Daily Lobo new mexico
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
thursday April 2, 2015 | Volume 119 | Issue 131
Agora opens dialogue on suicide prevention By Moriah Carty
Kanan Mammadli / Daily Lobo / @Kenen_mammadly
A member of the Muslim Student Association draws a henna tattoo on a student’s hand on Wednesday in front of Zimmerman Library. MSA organized Islam Awareness Week to promote Islam on campus.
Islam week aims to educate By David Lynch The Muslim Student Association is hosting its annual Islamic Awareness Week, an event meant to inform students about Islamic faith and culture while combatting negative portrayals of Muslims in popular culture. Event coordinator Masood Mirza, a sophomore chemistry major, said the main goal is to make people conscious of Islam, and to show them that it is alive and well in America. “I feel like many people at UNM don’t know that we exist. There are Muslims on this campus, we’re present and we just want to make people aware that we’re here,” he said. To meet that end, the association is handing out free Qurans as well as pamphlets with information about Islamic beliefs and culture. Anyone is invited to visit their tent to learn more about their faith. The group is set up today until 5 p.m. on the east side of the SUB. Although the Associated Students of UNM recently came under fire with criticism over their anti-Islamophobia resolution, event organizers said that the timing is purely coincidental. “I just want everyone to know that there are Muslims at UNM, we’re really good people,
After receiving an unusually high number of suicide calls last week, campus outreach group Agora Crisis Center created a new campaign to promote the importance of reaching out and communicating with people. The group set up a tent near Zimmerman library on Wednesday and passed out pieces of paper that encouraged students to write out past or current experiences, using the Twitter hashtag #ShareTheWeight. The papers were then hung around the tent for other students to read. The idea behind the campaign is to promote an open discussion about suicide, even through social media. “We want people to share the weight of their struggles with each other,” said Jeremy Jaramillo, associate director for Agora. When issues are shared, others can see the grief and pain as well as the joy, he said. April and October are typically high-volume months for suicides and suicide attempts. Jaramillo said he believes this may be the time when students are receiving grades from midterms and may be worried about their success for the rest of the semester.
“We’re trying to get people to share the reasons, or the ways that have helped others in times of need or how they’ve been helped themselves,” Jaramillo said. “We want to encourage a campus culture that cares for each other.” Some of the papers that students wrote on confessed times of sexual abuse or times of need and how others lent out a helping hand. The event attempted to destigmatize reaching out for help, he said. In effect, this action turns out to be suicide prevention. In response to the increase of calls, Agora is having a “Question, Persuade, Refer,” or QPR certification session Thursday evening, he said. Helping people understand what to look for when talking to a friend can help prevent a life-threatening situation. “We look for attempted suicide before, we’re looking for depression, change in eating habits, weight loss or gain and loss of interest in activities — that includes school,” he said. All of these can be early signs that may result in thoughts of suicide, and when others are aware of them, these events can be avoided, he said.
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Agora page 5
QPR Certification Training Thursday, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Acoma room in SUB Free event
Kanan Mammadli / Daily Lobo / @Kenen_mam-
UNM Students ask questions about Islam during Islam Awareness Week organized by MSU. The stand will be in Zimmerman Plaza through Friday.
we’re your peers. We want to create as healthy of a student environment as possible. We just happen to be Muslim and practicing a different religion. We’re all one, we’re all humans, so let’s all be peaceful with one another,” Mirza said. Mirza said that the media’s negative portrayal of Islam puts himself and fellow Muslims at an disadvantage. “Not to say the media is necessarily evil — the media can
be very good. But it’s a fact that it drives us in a certain direction, and we’ve been portrayed very poorly over the past few years,” he said. Rehab Kassem, a senior biochemistry major and one of the event’s organizers, said that people shouldn’t take what media networks like CNN and Fox News say about Muslims as the truth. She emphasized the importance
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Islam page 5
Moriah Carty / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Mackenzie May, senior psychology major and her sister, Colbie May, freshman psychology major fill out a share the weight form at the Agora stand outside Wednesday. The crisis center worked to reach out to students to bring awareness to suicide prevention.
Spring break program aids recovering communities By Matthew Reisen
Almost 10 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, a group of students traveled to the city this year for the fifth annual Alternative Spring Break to assist in outreach around the community. Lisa Lindquist, student affairs specialist, said when she started Alternative Spring Break six years ago, she was looking for ways to encourage leadership development and decided that service learning was the best way to do it.
“I just want to encourage students. These times in school are opportunities to take advantage of programs like these. It’s great to do the traditional spring break, don’t get me wrong, I think that’s awesome,” Lindquist said. “But I think it’s also great to consider these other opportunities, not just for growth and development, but also just because they’re kind of fun. It’s a neat alternative.” This year, students paid a $540 fee to go on the trip, which Lindquist said was a “pretty good deal.” That fee covered airfare,
transportation and meals and any additional money needed was taken from a special budget. Two years ago, Lindquist started a partnership with Camp Restore in New Orleans and now every year the group works in coordination with them during Alternative Spring Break, she said. Camp Restore is a local church that also has a housing area with a full kitchen, dining hall and dormitories. Camp Restore can house up to 300 people doing community service, and this year Lindquist and the group were joined by 250
students and faculty representing other colleges around the nation, she said. This year’s Alternative Spring Break group worked with several different organizations around the city of New Orleans, she said, including a horse rescue ranch, bead recycling plant and food pantry. At the rescue ranch, the group took care of horses that had been abandoned during Katrina and are now used to help in the community with after-school programs, she said. In the bead recycling plant the group sorted used beads to be
sold and repurposed for parades throughout the year. The money for recycled beads goes to benefit and assist the efforts of Arc of Greater New Orleans. The group also worked with HOPE Food Pantry, where they cooked spaghetti and meatballs, corn and other foods for families and those in need, she said. One of the group’s favorite experiences year after year. “I’d really like to get us to a point to where we’re thinking about additional trips. I could
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Spring Break page 2