NM Daily Lobo 09 28 2017

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Students explore NM’s diverse geology As a partnership of the UNM STEM Collaborative and a First-Year Learning Community, a group of students took a field trip to El Malpais National Monument on Sept. 9. Students were educated on different geological occurrences as they were guided through hiking trails. The main attraction of the trip was the exploration of Xenolith Cave. One of the phenomena that caught students’ attention was the sudden drop of temperature as they approached the entrance of the cave. Once inside the cave, students had to navigate through piles of large rocks, through a narrow opening, down a ladder and finally into the main opening of the cave. All of this was accomplished with the light of headlamps. Inside the cave, students were instructed to be seated and turn off their headlamps in order to experience the complete darkness in which many organisms thrive. The STEM and First-Year Learning Community students got into pairs, and each took samples of different formations inside the cave. These samples will be cultured and used later for biological analysis. Text and images by Brontë Procell. Brontë Procell is a freelance photographer for the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at photo@ dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.

Brontë Procell / Daily Lobo / @dailylobo

UNM students Qadira Myhammad, left, and Nuha Islam collect swab samples of rocks for culturing at El Malpais National Monument on Sept. 9, 2017.

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UNM athletes impacted by earthquake By Robert Maler @robert_maler Mexico was shaken by a major 7.1 magnitude earthquake that devastated several areas last week. Aftershocks and secondary earthquakes have continued to wreak havoc. The “NY Daily News” reported that the death toll has climbed to 324, but that number is likely to continue to increase in the coming days. Even though the earthquake occurred approximately 1,500 miles away from Albuquerque, New

Mexico, it has had an impact on several former and current UNM student-athletes. Andrea Leblanc, who said she was in Mexico City at the time of the earthquake, played tennis for New Mexico for several seasons. She was not near some of the areas that were most effected, but her sister was in La Roma, which was. “Thank God nothing happened to (my sister), but she could see the chaos in the city,” Leblanc said. Leblanc said she has been moved by seeing how many people have banded together to help each other out, even going out herself to provide food to those assisting in

File Photo / Daily Lobo / @dailylobo

UNM alum Andrea Leblanc awaits an oncoming tennis ball during a match against Utah on Feb. 20, 2016. Leblanc is one of the three UNM students advocating for earthquake relief in their hometown, Mexico City.

the relief effort. “It’s amazing the amount of people doing everything they can to help,” she said. Leblanc said despite the efforts of the people, residents still need a lot of help. She hoped others would be moved to get involved and donate to the relief effort through Topos Rescue Brigade and Red Cross Mexico, which have set up accounts to receive donations. Ingrid Gutierrez is a current student-athlete at UNM, playing on the women’s golf team. She said her family was also safe but very near the epicenter of the earthquake, saying her home state of Morelos was among the areas most affected. “Thanks to God, all my family is good. Their businesses got a little effected, but nothing serious,” she said. ”(But) a lot of people lost their home and pretty much all they had.” Gutierrez said that even people who are far away from the devastation can help the cause. She said there are several campaigns such as the Red Cross, or “donación cruz roja,” that are helping raise funds to provide medical supplies and assistant to those that were injured. Rodolfo Jauregui, better known as “Fito” to those who have followed his Lobo men’s tennis career, said he remained in Albuquerque at the time of the event. He is finishing up his degree

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ASUNM proposes election reform By Brendon Gray @notgraybrendon Sen. Emily Hartshorn, a student representative in the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico, understands that ASUNM struggles to represent UNM’s incredibly diverse campus. “There is a specific group in (the ASUNM Senate), and they don’t reflect everyone,” she said. “It is something we need to talk about.” That’s one of the reasons why she introduced legislation to change the way ASUNM elections are organized. On Wednesday, her effort came to fruition as the student legislative body voted 16 to 2 to amend the ASUNM lawbook. Barring a veto from the executive desk, ASUNM presidential and senatorial elections will take place over consecutive days, and online voting will remain open for 56 hours straight. In previous elections, voting for senators was on one day, and voting for president and vice president were on another day a week later. Now, students will have two consecutive days to cast ballots for both Senate and

executive candidates, either in person or online. The legislation faced some pushback from the Senate, but the majority of representatives supported the measure. Hartshorn hopes this will bring out more voters and change the perception that a student making an ASUNM bid has “to be Greek to get elected.” “The 20 senators are here to represent all students, not just the Greek program,” she said. Of the 20 representatives, 60 percent of the ASUNM Senate are members of UNM’s Greek life. “The only people voting are from Greek life and larger student organizations who have candidates running,” Hartshorn said after working closely with members of the ASUNM Elections Commission to draft her legislation. “Who we vote into office is who we have represent us as a whole,” said Sen. Satchel Ben, a co-sponsor of the bill. He said he hopes the change will bring more students out to vote. Over the last decade, an average of 1,500 students have participated in ASUNM elections. Last year 2,416

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On the Daily Lobo website CARTRON: Women’s Soccer — Preview of Friday’s Boise State match

MALER: Football — Homecoming game vs. Air Force preview

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