DAILY LOBO new mexico
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Protest against seal gains steam By Johnny Vizcaino Last Friday, students and faculty associated with Red Nation, Kiva Club as well as other members of the UNM community congregated outside of Scholes Hall to protest UNM’s seal. The groups were advocating for abolishing the current iteration of the University seal, which depicts the school acronym between a frontiersman and a conquistador. Opponents of the seal say it neglects to depict the role that indigenous peoples played in New Mexico history. According to the official University Identity Standards, visual identity is the “keystone” to University communication, and inconsistent imagery confuses the public and undermines University messages, while “a strong, cohesive image projected to our target market audience greatly increases brand name recognition and brand prestige”. Kiva Club Secretary Jennifer Marley said the seal contains imagery that is consistent with the “sick irony” of an oppressive past. The conflict over the seal has been a topic of discussion around campus since as early as the 1970s, but the University has consistently dismissed concerns from students regarding the seal’s historically violent, harmful connotations, Marley said. In the early 2000s, a revamped Kiva Club raised the issue in a series of town hall meetings only to receive no response from stagnant
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Paul Talley / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Students, faculty and other members of the community met Friday afternoon outside of Scholes Hall in a protest against the UNM seal. The seal depicts a conquistador, which, according to some student groups, is a harsh reminder of the impacts of European colonization.
University department protects national intelligence By Matthew Reisen UNM has been honored the 2015 Defense Security Service Award for Excellence in Counterintelligence, which recognizes defense contractors that have the ability to prevent foreign theft of U.S. defense technology. UNM is only the third university ever to be awarded the honor, something Associate Vice President of Research and Compliance said is overwhelming. “It sets us apart and demonstrates our dedication to our mission: to protect our most valuable assets, our people,” he said. Romero said that, because of this recognition, other universities and Cleared Defense Contractors in the U.S. have contacted UNM to inquire about the “secret” of its success. He said that it is “a testament to the relationship that UNM has with the Department of Defense, Defense Security Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigation and all branches of the U.S. Military”. As a CDC university, Romero said, UNM is in agreement to provide and maintain a system of security controls from the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual. This is in order to protect sensitive research, information and technology in both the classified
and export-controlled arena. UNM is audited annually to ensure the University is in compliance with security regulations. So far, UNM has received three consecutive superior ratings, he said, which are only given to eight percent of the 13,500 CDC’s in the U.S. Deborah Kuidis, manager of Industrial Security, said that those who played the biggest part in UNM achieving the award were faculty, staff and students involved. “They are the ones that are the human capital that are sought after globally,” she said. “They take the training and understand the processes that are in place to safeguard their work.” This includes a dedicated team as well as key management personnel, who are institutional officials charged with overseeing classified and export controlled research compliance. At UNM, these officials include President Bob Frank, Chancellor Paul Roth, Romero and Regent Bradley Hosmer, who is the designated regent providing oversight. Kuidis said, since the beginning, the UNM Industrial Security Department’s job has been to protect the University’s most valuable assets: people, research and technology. For people, this means keeping faculty, staff and students out of prison and from having to pay insurmountable fines. “When faculty, staff, and stu-
Nick Fojud / Daily Lobo / @NFojud
A counterintelligence award sits in Deborah Kuidis’ office Friday afternoon. The award was given to a team which Kuidis led that trained UNM staff and faculty on counterintelligence techniques.
dents work with our department to conduct their sensitive research, UNM ultimately shares the responsibility and risk,” Kuidis said. As far as research, the department must be sure to train faculty in how to protect foreign theft of their hard work, she said. “Research that they have spent countless, sleepless nights developing so that they don’t lose the
ability to publish and patent their own research,” she said. Kuidis said one of the most valuable assets consists of the technological developments within the department. “The technology that UNM is working so hard to protect has military application and saves our lives,” she said. “Which is why we can’t have countries who want to
hurt the U.S. have it. The men and women in our military count on us to keep them one step ahead.” Romero said there are two major challenges a university faces working as a CDC. One is the fact that academia thrives on openness and sharing knowledge, and UNM must bal-
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