DAILY LOBO new mexico
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March 8, 2013
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
Student fee hike recommended
GOING BACK TO CALI
Board reviewed requests from various organizations by John Tyczkowski news@dailylobo.com
Full-time students could see a $17.40 increase in their student fees next year if the Student Fee Review Board’s recommendations are adopted. On March 1, the SFRB completed its final recommendations and submitted them to the Strategic Budget Leadership Team, which will discuss them over spring break with the UNM Board of Regents. According to a document released by the SFRB, the recommended 3.1 percent increase in student fees for full-time students would result in a total of $570.71 per full-time student, up from last year’s $553.31 per student. The SFRB budgeted $141,060, which would amount to a $6.01 increase per full-time student, for minimum wage increases for student employees in accordance with Albuquerque’s minimum wage increase, enacted Jan. 1. The minimum wage increase was a ballot measure voted into law by a two-thirds majority of voters last November. It raised the city’s minimum wage from $7.50 to $8.50 per hour. According to a spreadsheet released along with the document, the single largest funding increase request came from UNM IT Initiatives, which requested a $61.08 increase per full-time student. The SFRB did not recommend its requested increase, and its funding level from last year — $16.39 per full-time student — was maintained. Lobo Athletics requested a $17.38 increase per student, which the SFRB declined. The SFRB maintained Athletics’ funding at last year’s $131.75 per full-time student. That $131.75 from last year
see Student
Top $194.04
$120 $90 $60 $30
fees PAGE 3
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Juan Labreche / Daily Lobo Huntington Beach resident “King Todd” stands in the parking lot of a Newport Beach shopping center directing traffic. See photo essay on Page 2.
Racism in Coronado Hall Drawing on black student’s door is cause for worry, investigation
by Ardee Napolitano news@dailylobo.com
Various African-American student groups at UNM are working on a resolution in response to a racist incident last week in one of the residence halls. On March 1, black student Dominic Calhoun received a racist note on the door to his room in Coronado Hall. The note, which was drawn on his roommate’s dry-erase board, depicted an image of a stick figure man drawn in black ink with a noose leading from the figure’s neck to the word “N****r.” Calhoun, who is an exchange student from the University of California—Santa Cruz majoring
student fee recipients
$131.75
Athletics Department
$150
Student Health and Counseling
$180
$66.02
SUB
$210
includes the Board of Regents’ $50 increase to Lobo Athletics, which was not included in last year’s SFRB recommendations. Last year, the SFRB recommended an $81.75 per full-time student increase for Lobo Athletics. That amount was the same amount that Lobo Athletics had received the year before last. The organization that received the highest recommended fee allocation for next year is Student Health and Counseling at $194.04 per full-time student, an increase of $2.21 per student from last year. Lobo Athletics is in second place, followed by the SUB, with the board’s recommendation to maintain its $66.02 in full-time student fees from last year. Nine organizations are recommended to receive a student fee increase, including Student Health and Counseling, SUB Repair and Replacement, the Women’s Resource Center, Popejoy Hall, Community Learning and Public Service, African American Student Services, American Indian Student Services, El Centro de La Raza and the Project for New Mexico Graduates of Color. Thirteen different campus services, including Athletics, KUNM, Career Services, the Global Education Office and Recreational Services, are recommended to receive the same funding next year as they did this year. Two organizations received a recommended decrease in funding from student fees: University Libraries’ recommendation was a $108 total decrease and UNM’s Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addictions/UNM’s Campus Office of Substance Abuse Prevention received a recommended $390 total decrease. CASAA/COSAP asked for its decrease, which would amount
$33.69
$33.31
Recreational Services
Libraries
$0
Numbers are per student per semester
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in Africana studies, said he did not expect to be discriminated against in a supposedly liberal campus community. “I couldn’t understand why anyone would commit such a heinous act, especially on a college campus,” he said. “Seeing the image made me disgusted by this city and campus. The fact that people think it is funny to draw offensive images is intolerable in all aspects.” Calhoun said he had contacted UNMPD about the incident and that a police officer went to Coronado to ask other residents about the incident. But he said the police officer was unable to interview any student on the floor because the place was like a “ghost town.” Calhoun said UNMPD is not taking the incident seriously. “The fact that the police officer did not knock on anyone’s door is absurd,” he said. “How do you expect to gain any credible evidence if you do not assert your authority as a law enforcer?” The Daily Lobo attempted to contact UNMPD twice on Thursday afternoon but received no response. Don Trahan Jr., senior student program adviser at African-American Student Services, said AASS held an emergency meeting Wednesday night to address the issue. He said the incident is a safety concern for black students at UNM. “It really shocked all of us,” he said. “That jeopardizes the safety of one of our students here on campus. We’re not sure if someone is purposely targeting African-Americans in the University.” Trahan said AASS met on Monday and Wednesday nights with Residence Life, UNM Provost Chaouki
Abdallah and the students who live on Calhoun’s floor in Coronado. He said AASS, in cooperation with the Black Student Union, is working on a resolution to address the issue and whatever disciplinary action against the student who wrote the note will face. He said it is indefinite when AASS expects to finish. Trahan said the note Calhoun received was the second racist incident that happened to an African-American student this school year.
“Seeing the image made me disgusted by this city and campus.” ~Dominic Calhoun UNM exchange student “Approximately five or six months ago, (AASS was) temporarily located at Hokona Hall, and we had a similar incident in which the ‘N’ word had been drawn on a whiteboard in the space that we were temporarily utilizing,” he said. “There was not much follow-up regarding that event. That’s why it’s becoming a concern of ours.” Black Student Union student officer Brandi Wells said the second incident is particularly alarming to African-American students at UNM. “During the civil rights (movement), this act was done against African Americans and this was used as a threat,” she said. “Because this is the second incident that has occurred
see Racism PAGE 3
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