Daily Lobo new mexico
monday November 17, 2014 | Vo l u m e 1 1 9 | Is s u e 6 4
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
ASUNM voter turnout slumps By David Lynch Voter turnout for last week’s Associated Students of the University of New Mexico Senate elections was a fraction of that seen in previous semesters. The 682 Lobos who voted last Wednesday amounted to a meager 40 percent of those who got to the polls a year ago. According to data from ASUNM, at least 1,700 undergraduate students made it to both fall and spring elections last year. Meanwhile, the data state that this semester’s voter numbers failed to crack 700 for the first election in any semester – fall or spring – since the fall of 2007. ASUNM Vice President Jenna Hagengruber said there is no doubt the number is low, but that accountability shouldn’t be placed on any single party. “Six-hundred is a pretty low
number, seeing as we have 20,000 undergraduate students,” she said. “It’s nowhere near where it should be, but I don’t think there’s anyone to blame for that.” The ASUNM Elections Commission works hard to get the word out on elections, she said. Hagengruber added that ASUNM itself takes time to promote the elections on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram on the day of. Hagengruber said she knows from experience that this semester’s candidates, whether they won or not, worked tirelessly to get students to support them. “It does take a lot of work, talking to new people all the time and meeting with a new student organization every day,” she said. “It takes a lot of stepping out of your comfort zone.” Numbers had steadily been on the rise for fall elections between
Voter Numbers for Previous Semesters from ASUNM’s Director of Communications
3000
Fall
2500
Spring
2000 1500 1000 500 0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
2007 and 2013, with the exception of a slight drop in 2012. Since 2005, this is the first time voter turnout has dropped by more than 500 students for a fall election, with 1,023 fewer students coming out to vote compared to last fall. In the fall of 2013 The Daily Lobo reported that the 1,705 lobos who cast ballots made up the “highest voter turnout of any fall-semester
elections since 2005.” The following semester, The Daily Lobo reported that 2,303 cast ballots, “representing 10 percent of the University’s undergraduate students.” Hagengruber said she thinks the turnout for this semester’s elections may well have been a fluke. “It was just a weird year,” she said. “I don’t know if there was enough of getting the word out
early enough. I think the elections kind of snuck up on everyone.” In an informal survey conducted by The Daily Lobo following the election, 14 of 20 undergraduates were aware that ASUNM elections had been held on Wednesday. Eleven of those 14 said they did not vote.
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ASUNM page 3
School of Law fields LGBTQ legal questions By Robert Salas
For the first time in New Mexico history, volunteers from the UNM law school’s clinical program met with members of the LGBTQ community to provide legal assistance on specific issues. In New Mexico the LGBTQ community has made strides on its mission toward full equality under the law with the recent legalization of same-sex marriage. However,
there are still challenges the community has yet to overcome, said John Flores, program coordinator for EQNM. “LGBTQ community (members) face a lot of discrimination in their daily lives, and a lot of those cases end up being legal issues,” Flores said on Saturday. “We are constantly getting calls when folks have legal questions. We don’t have any attorneys on staff; we do more public education and advocacy.
Today’s event is a much-needed service for our community.” The UNM School of Law’s Clinical Program service is one of the largest legal aid services in New Mexico, said Sarah Steadman, visiting professor at the School of Law. Saturday’s inaugural service day has been long in the making: Over the past few years there has been a collection of law students and professors working on providing legal service to the LGBTQ community, she said.
“The students here today are all very invested in being of service to populations who would otherwise not have access to legal services and who are disadvantaged and who may have a history of being disenfranchised,” Steadman said. The law students and professors touched on common legal issues such as wills, powers of attorney, divorce, custody questions and advanced health care directives. For members of the LGBTQ commu-
nity, these common legal questions can be uncomfortable to talk about, Steadman said. “There are barriers to accessing legal services for the LGBTQ community,” Steadman said. “They are worried about facing stigma and bias and so don’t know, historically, whether legal services are going to welcome them.” During the service day,
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LGBT page 3
Cracked comedians to crack up Albuquerque By Jonathan Baca
It would be surprising to find a college student who has never read a Cracked.com article. The website’s comedic lists, like “5 Adorable Behaviors That Mean Your Dog Hates You,” and “6 Unshakable Beliefs You Develop Growing Up a Redneck,” have made Cracked one of the most popular comedy sites on the net. And now some of the site’s contributors are coming to Albuquerque. “The Unpopular Opinion World Tour of One City in the Southwest United States” will feature four comedians performing at two shows at the Guild Theater tonight and Tuesday night. Adam Tod Brown is a Cracked writer and editor and the host of the Unpopular Opinion podcast, which was the inspiration for the one-city tour. Brown will be joined by friends and comedians Jeff May, Maria Shehata and Cat Rhinehart. “We don’t get to do much in the way of stand-up on the podcast, so we just wanted to go out and do that side of what we do and bring
it to a live audience,” Brown said. “It’s an opportunity to get to do something we don’t normally get to do at Cracked, for an audience that we already connect with.” The podcast is based on Brown’s popular column, The People vs. Adam Tod Brown, in which he relates his strong opinions on a wide variety of issues. On the podcast, Brown gathers friends and fellow comedians to take him on, usually disagreeing with his views, with hilarious results, he said. “It’s always really funny,” Brown said. “The comics who are going to be with me in Albuquerque are regulars and favorites of the show.” May was a guest on the podcast’s first episode, and is no stranger to the Duke City, he said. Last summer May also performed at the Albuquerque Comic Expo and made lasting friendships with many locals, he said. “I always seem to find myself in Albuquerque, and I always have an awesome experience,” May said. “I’ve already got people asking me to bring back Rebel Donuts to L.A. I’ve always left Albuquerque with a good taste in my mouth.”
Courtesy Photo
Maria Shehata performs at an Armed Forces Entertainment tour. Shehata, along with Adam Tod Brown, Jeff May and Cat Rhinehart, will perform two shows at “The Unpopular Opinion World Tour of One City In the Southwest United States” at the Guild Theater tonight and Tuesday night.
Before diving headfirst into a career in stand-up, May taught eighth-grade history for 10 years – a job he said was good training for comedy, as he was familiar with trying to entertain an often hostile audience for an hour. “I decided to get into stand-up
comedy because I was unhappy with my life and I wanted to live on my own terms,” May said. “It was basically just, ‘sink or swim, this is what I’m going to do.’” He moved to Los Angeles in 2012, where he quickly met and befriended Brown, he said. Since
then he has become a regular guest on the podcast. While his true love continues to be live stand-up, May said that working on the podcast has been incredibly fun, although knowing that 20,000 people are listening to his voice can be a strange feeling. “More than anything, entertaining people and making people laugh has always been a drug to me, and I want to find a way to make a living doing that,” May said. “I don’t care about being rich, I just want to make people laugh, whatever medium I do that in.” Shehata is another regular guest on the podcast, and although she has never been to New Mexico, she is no stranger to touring, she said. She has been on three military tours, performing for soldiers all over the world, and she recently did shows in Palestine and Qatar, she said. “I’m not sure what to expect; I’ve never been to New Mexico or the Southwest, so I’m excited to see what the crowds are like,” Shehata said. “I feel like it’s going to be a
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Comedy page 3