New Mexico Daily Lobo 041210 by UNM Student Publications

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April 12, 2010

GPSA, SBA agree to disagree by Pat Lohmann Daily Lobo

Junfu Han/ Daily Lobo Andrew Bateman, a friend of the late UNM professor Hector Torres, sits somberly during the professor’s memorial at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on Friday. Torres was found dead in his home last month along with graduate student Stefania Gray.

UNM bids tearful farewell to slain colleagues by Shaun Griswold Daily Lobo

On Friday, one month after the death of their colleagues Hector Torres and Stefania Gray, UNM community members gave public condolences during a memorial at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. The two were found on the floor of Torres’ Albuquerque home on March 8. Ralph Montoya, Gray’s ex-boyfriend, confessed to murdering the couple to his lawyer the next day. Torres, 54, was a professor of Chicano/Chicana studies and also taught courses about deconstructionism. To his students, he was a writer who inspired them to think outside of the box by questioning the origin of everything surrounding their environment. To his colleagues, he was a humorous man with a smile that no one will ever forget. “Torres taught me everyone gotta live (up) to their morals,” student Oscar Ortega said to the crowd. Gray, 43, was a mother of two and graduate

student in the foreign languages department. She was going to give her master’s thesis this semester and will receive the degree posthumously. Gray was also a teacher at Bernalillo High School. Ortega and student Robby Ortiz secured the location and raised money to place a commemorative brick in the plaza of the NHCC. More than 80 people attended the event. Most were former students of Torres or worked with him in the English department. Rep. Martin Heinrich was in attendance to offer his condolences. “He was one of those people who simply touched people. All of the things he did as a mentor and a professor and friend keep (him) alive,” Heinrich said. “As long as the way you live your life is to what he impacted, then he’s still alive.” Others expressed the struggle to recapture their daily routine. One mourner said he still calls Torres’ phone line to hear the voice message. Student Alana Cox said she also struggles with the loss. At the memorial she wore a black

dress and dark aviator sunglasses. Tears flowed from her eyes during the entire service. “He was one of the smartest men I knew,” she said. “I would go into class from not understanding anything to understanding fully what he was saying. In his deconstruction class, you didn’t just look at the racial aspect, you were looking at people and sexual and every aspect you could possible imagine. I thought that was great.” Other students also expressed the impact Torres had on their academic future. “He would let us work things by ourselves,” student Alicia Sofia Chavez said. “He wouldn’t say, ‘Hey, this is how you do something.’ He would ask us questions and get our opinions.” Ralph Torres, Hector’s older brother, said he was the only family member in attendance. “As soon as I heard I knew exactly what happened,” he said. “Hector always had a sense of humor. He would find something funny. My favorite memory is when we would start discussing words and language and we would start discussing where things come from and why this means what it does.”

Representatives from the Student Bar Association and GPSA met Friday in a last-ditch effort to reconcile the organizations’ differences. However, the SBA, which represents UNM’s roughly 350 law students, is still planning to secede from the graduate student governing body, said GPSA Council Chair Danny Hernandez. The Board of Regents gets the final say on whether the law school secedes. “I’m disappointed and sad,” Hernandez said. “The theme from the law school is that this is a ship that’s already sailed.” The law students take with them about $8,500 in fees. Corinne Hale, SBA president, said the law student governing body wanted to offer GPSA one more chance to play up the benefits of remaining with the organization. “I think that the meeting, for me, was to make sure that if there were benefits we hadn’t heard of from the GPSA, that we were completely informed of what we would be missing out on,” she said. Hernandez said GPSA has a lot to offer the law school despite their ideological differences. “The law school’s going to miss us in terms of our diverse range of skills and cumulative voice,” he said. However, Hernandez said the SBA did not intend to end all communication with GPSA. “They didn’t want to break all ties,” Hernandez said. “They simply thought they could do a better job of governing themselves.” Hernandez said he will also encourage the GPSA council to vote on legislation that perhaps will leave a better taste in the law students’ mouths. “At the end of the meeting, I told them I would put together a resolution supporting their secession,” he said. “If that’s what they want

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Cardenas beats Conway in student organization endorsements by Pat Lohmann Daily Lobo

ASUNM presidential candidate Lazaro “Laz” Cardenas received twice the number of student organization endorsements than his opponent. Ten organizations including three residence hall community associations, the Residence Hall Association

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and assorted other groups endorsed Cardenas. David Conway, Cardenas’ opponent, received five — three from fraternities and sororities. Erin Garcia, president of the Santa Clara/Laguna De Vargas halls’ community association, said her organization endorsed Cardenas, a resident adviser, because he is motivated and capable.

“Laz is a very honest person,” she said. “He has a lot of motivation, and he really cares about the community around UNM. Plus, since we have worked with him as an RA being a part of SC/LDV, we know him fairly well and we know what he’s capable of.” However, Garcia said Cardenas’ involvement in residence halls is not what compelled her group to

endorse him. “Even if he wasn’t an RA, just knowing the person that he is and knowing the work that he has done, that’s one reason why we chose him,” she said. Bridgette Madrid, president of Pi Beta Phi, said her sorority endorsed Conway because he’s personable and a natural leader. “As a whole, my sorority really

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understands the importance of putting a good leader in a high position such as ASUNM president,” she said. “If anybody knows David, they know that he’ll be the absolute perfect candidate for this position — not to say anything bad about the other candidates.” Madrid said she couldn’t guess

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