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The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
November 20, 2009
ASUNM campaign tactics questioned by Tricia Remark Daily Lobo
The BAM! slate for ASUNM Senate was victorious Wednesday night, but their campaigning tactics are being questioned by their opponents. All 10 slots open for the undergraduate student government were filled by the BAM! slate, which is rare, said Travis Maestas, who ran on the Bridge slate. “There’s been a lot of surprise, not only from friends but from people that I work with or people that I’m acquainted with that knew we were running,” he said. “They were really thrown off guard because it’s something that no one really expected to happen.” Maestas said the Bridge slate is contesting the election because of campaigning violations made by the BAM! slate. He said the BAM! slate campaigned within 25 feet of polling locations and inside of polling locations, which is against ASUNM rules. “We have witnesses of some of their campaign workers campaigning in Johnson Center in one of the classrooms there,” Maestas said. “So, there were a lot of infractions where candidates or campaign volunteers crossed those boundaries.” Brian Moore, chairman of the ASUNM Election Commission, said the Wednesday elections saw a record turnout of about 1,270 student voters. This is up from 981 in 2008 and 603 in 2005. Moore said an open trial will be held Sunday to determine if there is any truth to the Bridge slate’s accusations. He said the ASUNM Election Commission members will hear testimony from BAM! and Bridge slate members. Typically, senators only receive suspended voting rights for a few ASUNM meetings as a penalty for violating campaign codes, he said. BAM! slate member Lazaro “Laz” Cardenas said anyone has the right to contest the election, and he doesn’t know what will happen at the trial on Sunday. “I feel like we ran this as clean as we could,” Cardenas said. “There were also some infractions that they had that we could have pointed out. … So whatever will come of it, will come of it.” Cardenas said he was also surprised that his entire slate was voted into Senate. “I was definitely surprised, but in retrospect, we worked really hard and we were really organized,” he said. “Everyone had that passion. In the short amount of time they have to interact with the students, you either get them or you don’t.” Maestas said the students on the Bridge slate will
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Zach Gould / Daily Lobo Shay Basey, left, and Samantha Orr apply lip gloss during a free Mary Kay facial in the SUB on Thursday. Basey and Orr will dress as kings to compete in UNM’s first annual drag show and queer prom on Saturday in the SUB.
UNM to host drag show and queer prom by Hunter Riley Daily Lobo
This Saturday, UNM will make the queer community prouder. The University is hosting its first annual drag show and prom this weekend, organized by the Queer Straight Alliance. QSA event organizer Adam Quintero said campus drag shows aren’t uncommon at other schools around the country. “We went to D.C. for the National Equality March, and we went to some student group workshops,” he said. “A guy from (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) was saying how MIT would give them $50,000 a year to do their drag show, because they had to pay for the ballroom and everything, but we got ours free.” Quintero said QSA wanted to do a prom this year, and then the idea for a drag show followed, with support from Student Special Events. “It just became this big event that
catapulted into what we’re doing on Saturday,” he said. “We have ballrooms A, B and C rented out and we’ve been sending e-mails and promoting this. So the first two hours are a drag show competition with many performances. The second two hours are going to be prom with the theme of ‘Hollywood Red Carpet.’” QSA held two auditions earlier this month for the drag show court and narrowed it down to three kings and three queens. After the competition, the judges will pick a king and queen. The judges include Quintero, Greek Mythology Professor Monica Cyrino, ASUNM President Monika Roberts, Albuquerque Pride Executive Board Vice President Jesse Lopez and Miss New Mexico Pride 2009 Sabryna Williams. “The winners will start out our prom and dance the first dance together,” Quintero said. “I think this is the biggest event that we’ve ever done.” Executive Director of Student Special
Events, Paul Spella, said SSE was excited to collaborate on the event. “We’ve worked with QSA on a couple of events for the past three or four years,” Spella said. “But it’s nice to see that they’re really growing and that they have more members and more and more support.” Spella said QSA wanted to make sure the drag participants would feel safe and comfortable at the event. “We will have security for the event, but as far as additional security, I don’t think we’re doing anything too crazy,” he said. “We are aware (of possible danger), and a woman who is actually helping us organize everything, she is a director of a lot of local drag shows. She did express some concern about being able to park close to the building for the performers.” QSA chairwoman Brandy Rodke said she is pleased with the amount of acceptance she has seen on campus in regard to
see Drag page 3
Students teach safe Internet practices at grade schools by Tricia Remark Daily Lobo
Terrance Siemon / Daily Lobo Ashley Gravning, a 5th grader at South Mountain Elementary School, raises her hand to ask a question of Anderson School graduate students, Kyle Walter, right, and Eric Gilmore. The students were touring APS schools to encourage students to practice safe habits on the Internet.
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 114
issue 63
UNM students are taking kids’ Internet education into their own hands. Information Security is a graduate level class at the Anderson School of Management. The course requires students to make presentations for kindergarten through 12th grade students in New Mexico schools, said Information Security Professor Alessandro Seazzu. “The ultimate goal of the program is to raise students’ awareness of their own information and how to properly protect it,” he said. “The
topics will usually gravitate towards social networks and how to put information that students will upload in social networks.” Lecture topics differ between grades because children in elementary school use the Internet for different reasons than high school students, Seazzu said. “There are now students in elementary school who already have e-mail accounts,” he said. “So we kind of tell them, ‘This is safe, this is not safe and this is the information that is appropriate to give and not to give.’”
see Safe Internet page 3
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