NM Daily Lobo 012213

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DAILY LOBO new mexico

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The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895

HONORING DR. KING

tuesday January 22, 2013

Board recommends $16 fee decrease Staff report

news@dailylobo.com

Mark Grace / Daily Lobo A participant in Sunday’s Martin Luther King Jr. day events raises his fist to the sky while speaking to a group about the importance of community solidarity. Participants in the MLK Day celebration walked down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from University Drive to Civic Plaza. At the end of the march, a commemorative ceremony was held and Mayor Richard Berry spoke.

GPSA chiefs talk spring plans by Antonio Sanchez news@dailylobo.com

The Graduate and Professional Student Association is lobbying for legislation that would grant local businesses tax credits for hiring New Mexico graduates.

GPSA President Marisa Silva said this semester she plans to continue her support for Senate Bill 11 at the session. The bill was introduced to the Legislature during the final week of last year’s session, but never made the Legislative agenda. This year’s bill was introduced in December and

County mulls minimum wage hike Bernalillo would join ABQ by raising wage to $8.50 by Ardee Napolitano news@dailylobo.com

After the minimum wage in Albuquerque increased by $1 earlier this month, Bernalillo County is considering a similar move. Today, Bernalillo County Commissioners will vote on whether to introduce a proposal to increase the county’s minimum wage from $7.50 to $8.50 per hour. Bernalillo County Commissioner Art De La Cruz introduced the proposal last year. But Minda McGonagle, state director for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, said an increase will be disadvantageous for businesses in the area. She said the hike, if approved, will make it harder for businesses to move into the area. “We are at a point when we want businesses to come into the state,” she said. “When you raise minimum wage, it’s not necessarily a good sign for businesses to come in.” Although the NFIB is not working on a campaign against the proposal, McGonagle said the organization is not going to support the increase.

Inside the

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McGonagle said that because the minimum wage is the starting wage employees earn, a higher minimum wage will make it harder for businesses to maintain operations. She said businesses will have a hard time providing raises to employees once the minimum wage is increased. “Small businesses must be able to afford paying their employees,” she said. “The wage that you’re hired at is not going to be the wage that you stay at.” But McGonagle said that if the proposal is approved, it would provide Bernalillo County with a consistent minimum wage rate, as the rate in Albuquerque is $1 higher than the rate in the rest of the county. “If you’re on a street that’s right at the boundary, you’ll have two minimum wages,” she said. “When you have different communities that are right next door, it’s understandable that it’s going to create confusion.” McGonagle also said that if the minimum wage in Bernalillo County went up, it would be easier for businesses to be more competitive. “If you’re a restaurant in Bernalillo County and you’re competing to get employees from Albuquerque, people are going to look at Albuquerque first

see Minimum Wage PAGE 3

is in committee. The GPSA-backed bill would create a tax credit for New Mexico businesses that hire graduates who have a master’s or a doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or

see GPSA PAGE 3

The deliberations over what student fees should fund and by how much are underway, and recommendations show an overall decrease of $16.56 per full-time student compared to the amount students paid last year. Last year (Fiscal Year 2013), students paid $552.47 in activity fees, and the board recommends that this year (Fiscal Year 2014) they pay $535.91. On Saturday and Sunday, SFRB deliberated about funding requests after hearing presentations from the groups during winter break and then holding public forums last week. Those present consisted of board members and alternates from ASUNM and GPSA, as well as several UNM faculty and staff representatives. Funding for Athletics sparked a contentious debate among SFRB members. Board member Richard Baca suggested capping the amount of funds SFRB would allocate to Athletics in the future in the interest of fairness for other on-campus organizations. “There are relative increases every year. We need to be realistic in how much we fund them,” he said. Debates over commercialization of universities through athletic

departments grew heated, questioning both the role of student fees in relation to sports funding and how little other student organizations receive in comparison. Lastyear,Athleticsreceived$131.75 per student, and this year asked for $149.13, an increase of $17.38 per student. But for this year Athletics was recommended for $99.13 per student, a decrease of $32.62 from its current allocation. The only organization that requested more than Athletics was Student Health and Counseling. Last year, SHAC received a $191.83 allocation per student. This year, SHAC asked for and was recommended for a $194.04 allocation, an increase of $2.21 per student. After SHAC and Athletics, the next highest fee request was $66.02 per student for the Student Union Building. That allocation was unchanged from last year. Together, these three largest groups account for 67 percent of total and per-student fees for the SFRB’s FY 2014 recommendations. This similar to the recommended allocation for FY 2013. However, the SFRB’s recommendations may turn out to be meaningless. Last year, the Board of Regents,

see SFRB PAGE 5

Rachel Toraño-Mark / Daily Lobo Shift manager Carl Fischer mops up in the bathrooms at Which Wich sandwich shop on Harvard Drive on Monday evening. Fischer, who works for minimum wage, said a minimum wage increase will make jobs less flexible for students and will make it harder for them to find jobs. Even so, he said he supports the increase.

Artsy Etsy

Faux phonetic fun

see Page 8

see Page 11

TODAY

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