Daily Lobo new mexico
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
tuesday April 21, 2015 | Volume 119 | Issue 144
Resolution urges transparency Divestment legislation looks to shine light on Palestine-related transactions
By David Lynch Despite prevalent disagreement between two student organizations, a divestment resolution intended to encourage transparency in access to UNM investments will be presented and voted on at Wednesday’s Associated Students of UNM Senate meeting after unanimously passing the Steering the Rules committee last week. Resolution 12S was created in an effort to bring to light “the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine
(that) infringes upon Palestinian human rights,” and companies such as Hewlett-Packard’s and Caterpillar’s involvement. It calls for UNM to divest, which, according to the resolution, “is a nonviolent strategy employed by universities, religious organizations and civil society organizations around the world to pressure corporations to withdraw from business actions that result in severe violations of international law and human rights.” Elisabeth Perkal, a member of
Students for Justice in Palestine, the group that authored the resolution, said at the meeting that the goal of the resolution is for UNM and its students to stop being indirectly complicit in human rights violations that have come as an effect of the occupation. “The people in our group can appreciate that we’re paying taxes to the U.S. government … (which gives) more money to Israel, more aid to Israel than any other country. While we don’t have a lot of say with the U.S. government,
we do have a lot of say with this University,” she said. But Sen. Kyle Stepp, who sits on the Steering and Rules committee, through which all resolutions must pass before being presented to the Senate, said that another group, Lobos for Israel, is upset about Israel being the focus in the resolution. “The dividing factor is that they’re singled out and because of them being mentioned specifically, they feel like they’re being marginalized,” Stepp said.
The two groups met with Stepp for about an hour before Wednesday’s meeting to try and amend the resolution in a way that would be acceptable to both parties, but they were unable to reach a definitive agreement. Some clauses were added to make the issue more global, such as citing corporations profiting from “the violent policing of immigrant families on the U.S.Mexico border, and the violation
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Resolution page 3
Sports event prolongs winter By Skylar Griego
As winter draws to a close, so does the snowboarding and skiing season. To say farewell to another winter season on the slopes, NMX Sports and Warehouse 508 hosted the fourth annual Sun Village Rail Jam on Friday. This event marked the final snowboarding and skiing competition of the season in New Mexico. Eddie Vargas, director of sports at NMX Sports, said he coordinates the Rail Jam every year. For the last four years, Sun Village has hosted a Rail Jam before and after the snow sports season in hopes of extending it, he said. “New Mexico, unfortunately, only has about four months of Paul Talley / Daily Lobo / @paulmtalley
A snowboarder performs a 50-50 slide on the portable rail at the fourth annual Rail Jam competition on Friday. As snowboarding and skiing season comes to a close, the hosts of this year’s Rail Jam said they wanted to give local snowboarders one last chance to compete.
Students to study, teach abroad
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Sport Jam page 3
Turkish Festival
Grad students awarded Fulbright scholarships
By Fin Martinez Three UNM students have been awarded Fulbright scholarships for the academic year 2015-16 to study and teach in Europe and Asia. Anna Adams, a graduate student in the German Studies department; Caroline Muraida, a graduate student in international environmental economics and William Taylor, a doctoral student in the Anthropology Department have each been awarded one of the highly coveted graduate scholarships. Adams said she was amazed when she learned that she received the Fulbright Scholarship. “I was in shock,” she said, “I
was checking my phone in class, so I had to suppress my excitement because I couldn’t freak out then and there.” She said she was confident that she would receive the Fulbright after receiving advice from fellow peers who had also received the scholarship. “I felt like I had a really solid application and I knew that I had made it into the final round of decision-making, so I wasn’t too surprised that I got it, I was kind of expecting it but it was still a shock when I got it,” she said. She remained a German and writing tutor at Center for Academic Program Support (CAPS) and also a writer for the
UNM Foundation, according to a press release. Adams wants to pursue teaching in a way that will advance her German skills, she said. Adams said she hoped to learn language differences and gain teaching experience during her stay in Germany. Muraida will teach English in Malaysia, according to the release. She has served as UNM student body president, chair of the Student Fee Review Board and as a student body senator. “I look forward to the rich dynamics of classroom and extracurricular interaction with
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Scholarship page 3
Kanan Mammadli / Daily Lobo / @Kenan_Mam-
Salih Aykac cooks kababs during the Turkish Food and Craft Festival sponsored by the Raindrop Foundation on Saturday. Raindrop Turkish House hosts different cultural events throughout the year. Check out more photos on Page 6.