DAILY LOBO new mexico
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April 3, 2013
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
ASUNM wants 4 more senators
wednesday
DONATIONS AND DREAMS
by Ardee Napolitano news@dailylobo.com
If students give the OK, ASUNM will have more senators in its assembly. In a full Senate meeting March 27, the senators decided to put Bill 15S on the ballot for fall elections. The bill proposes to increase the number of senators that can be elected to the assembly from 20 to 24. Students will have the final say on whether the Senate will expand. Sens. Brandon Meyers, Earl Shank, Damon Hudson and Taylor Bui sponsored the bill, which the Senate voted unanimously to put on the ballot. Meyers said he backed the bill because he wanted to see the number of senators be more proportionate to UNM’s increasing student body. “What we have seen in this campus is a large increase in every facet of how we represent our students,” he said. “This increase in the number of senators is directly proportional to that increase.” Meyers said the number of student organizations at UNM has increased from 196 to 405 since 1992. Undergraduate enrollment increased from more than 15,000 in 2000 to 21,000 in 2012. ASUNM also added three more student services agencies, Lobo Spirit, Community Experience and Emerging Lobo Leaders, between 2000 and 2012. ASUNM senators are required to join one of three Senate committees, so to accommodate the expanded senate the bill also increased the size-range of committees from five to seven senators, to seven to nine senators. Meyers said students are ready to step up for the job, citing the 30 senatorial candidates for this semester’s ASUNM elections, which are set for next week. ASUNM Sen. Cassie Thompson said she opposed the idea of adding more senators to the assembly because it did not seem feasible. But she said that after thinking about the bill more, she reversed her decision. “But I do like this now because I think it’s a gradual change that is doable and easier to work into the system,” Thompson said. “I think that we need to change because we are a growing population and that’s not really something I could argue against.”
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 117
issue 130
Rachel Toraño-Mark / Daily Lobo UNM alumni Sandra Offret and Rob Rivera patrol campus Tuesday afternoon in search of donations for the New Mexico Children’s Hospital. Offret and Rivera are participating in NMdreamwedding.com’s $50,000 dream wedding giveaway. The pair was on campus hoping to win votes for the competition while raising money for the organization, which Offret volunteered for when she was pursuing her undergraduate degree. “We would love nothing more than, through our wedding planning and the honor of being NM’s Dream Wedding Couple, to raise money for the hospital and to be a blessing to each family that passes through the doors,” the couple stated on NMdreamwedding.com.
Craig Neal hired as new head coach by Susan Montoya Bryan and Beth Harris The Associated Press
New Mexico didn’t have to look far to find its next head coach. Craig Neal, who spent the past six seasons as the team’s top assistant, was hired Tuesday to replace Steve Alford. Athletic director Paul Krebs made the announcement in a one-word tweet: “Noodles,” a reference to Neal’s nickname. The University confirmed that Neal would be introduced on Wednesday as UNM’s 20th head basketball coach during a news conference. As assistant head coach under Alford, Neal helped the Lobos win back-to-back Mountain West Conference titles and reach three NCAA tournaments. Players and fans had voiced their support for Neal as the top choice after Alford revealed last weekend that he was leaving for UCLA. Emotions were raw the last few days, but Krebs’ announcement helped dissolve some of the uncertainty and disappointment that was sparked by Alford’s departure. While Krebs was guarded about the future of the head coaching spot on Saturday, he said during a news conference that Neal was a candidate and would provide continuity and stability for the program. “If you’ve been around the program for the last six years, it’s not hard to understand coach Neal has had a strong impact on the program,” Krebs said. “Craig is a critical part of the success. I think Craig is an outstanding coach.” Before coaching at New Mexico, Neal spent three seasons with Alford at Iowa. Prior to that, he spent several seasons with the NBA’s Toronto Raptors as a scout and then as an assistant coach. Neal played eight years in the NBA, CBA and Europe, beginning in Portland where he was a third-round draft pick of the Trail Blazers in 1988. He also played in Miami and Denver.
Juan Labreche / Daily Lobo Then-assistant head coach Craig Neal ascends the ladder to cut the net at the Mountain West Conference Tournament Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada last month. Athletics director Paul Krebs selected Neal to be the 20th Lobo men’s basketball coach on Tuesday. A two-year starter at Georgia Tech in the mid1980s, Neal earned all-Atlantic Coast Conference honors as a senior in 1988 when he set the conference single-season record with 303 assists. Neal has been involved with every facet of the Lobos program since joining the team in 2007, from on-the-floor coaching to game strategies and recruiting. The Lobos have a 155-52 record over the last six seasons. They have also qualified for postseason play in all six of those seasons. After earning a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament this year, they were upset by Harvard in their first game. Alford starts at UCLA Steve Alford calls his new job as UCLA basketball coach “a challenge.”
He’s a bunny, duh
Zombie equality
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Alford walked into Pauley Pavilion for the first time since the 1984 Summer Olympics and took his place under the 11 national championship banners Monday. He says that he doesn’t think he’ll change who he’s been for the first 22 years of his coaching career now that he’s in charge of the storied program that fellow Hoosier John Wooden built. He calls his new job “a great, humbling, honorable position.” He hopes he understands the challenge of coaching a program that owns a record 11 national championships and whose fans have high expectations for more. Alford’s introduction on the floor of Nell and John Wooden Court was greeted by applause from a small audience. It wasn’t open to the public.
TODAY
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