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UNM town hall addresses ‘gross,’ controversial Title IX changes By Bella Davis @bladvs The U.S. Department of Education announced a series of controversial changes to Title IX — a civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination at federally funded educational institutions — a little over three months ago. Under the new regulations, colleges are now required to hold live hearings in sexual assault and harassment cases and must allow for cross-examination. The University of New Mexico hosted a virtual town hall on Friday that addressed those regulations — among other new, contentious requirements — and how UNM is responding. Hosted by Angela Catena, UNM’s Title IX coordinator with the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO), Friday’s town hall featured one faculty member and three advocacy center staff members who emphasized that the new regulations will not affect the services and support they provide students. “Although these regulations do feel quite — I’m just going to say it, they feel gross, right? Everybody wants to throw up in their mouth a little bit about it, and that’s not a joke, really,” Lisa Lindquist, the director of the LoboRESPECT Advocacy Center, said. “But we pride ourselves in
By Beatrice Nisoli Courtesy Photo
knowing that we can help support folks through this process and that these regulations, although they feel that way, are not going to change the ways in which we continue to work and work through our process as confidential support folks.” The mandates also limit the range of complaints colleges are required to investigate by defining sexual harassment as “unwelcome conduct” that is “so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to education.” The new regulations have been condemned by women’s advocacy groups, leading Democratic politicians and some college students. Students for Survivors, a campus advocacy group at the University of
Cincinnati, sent a letter to their university president that “underscored the ‘devastating consequences’ that implementing the new regulations would have on victims of sexual assault,” according to an Inside Higher Education report. Armando Bustamante with El Centro de la Raza, Caitlin Rebecca Henke with the Women’s Resource Center and Africana studies and foreign language professor Stephen Bishop — who is also part of Faculty SAFE UNM — shared Lindquist’s sentiment about their continued commitment to advocating for students, particularly those in marginalized communities, like
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‘Culture of mutual protection’ guided negotiations @gabrielbiadora United Academics of the University of New Mexico (UA-UNM) and the UNM administration came to an agreement on Wednesday, Aug. 19 — two days after the start of the fall 2020 semester – about in-person and remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. UA-UNM released documents outlining safety protocols and procedures the union negotiated with the administration, including a joint communication statement sent to UNM faculty signed by Provost James Paul Holloway and memorandums of understanding, both of which can be found on the union’s website. The fall semester is now starting its second week with either hybrid or fully online classes and a total of 40 people affiliated with the Albuquerque main campus, UNM Athletics and UNM Health Sciences Center having tested positive for COVID-19.
Sigma Gamma Rho sorority recharters
All four ‘Divine 9’ sororities now active at UNM
Faculty union, administration agree to pandemic guidelines By Gabriel Biadora
Monday, August 24, 2020 | Vo l u m e 1 2 5 | I s s u e 3
The joint communication statement starts by recognizing “how difficult and stressful it has been to find ways to provide the best educational experience possible for students while ensuring the health and safety of all instructors in an ever-changing world dominated by COVID-19.” The document continues to list various safety guidelines for faculty and students alike, including the changing of facilities to optimize hygiene with increased sanitation and disinfection, posted reminders of mask wearing, a tailored directional flow so as to optimize social distancing and codifying the limitations of holding in-person or hybrid classes. The administration’s hiring of contact tracers follows, stating UNM is in the process of hiring five contract tracers from the Department of Health assigned to main campus to interview and test those who have been in close proximity to individuals who have tested positive. The document concludes with providing information on mental health
resources so as to build a “culture of mutual protection” amidst the pandemic. UA-UNM consists of several committees, among which is a bargaining group tasked with negotiating general faculty and union rights. A specialized committee consisting of Cristyn Elder, Lee Montgomery and Lucio Lanucara with Richelle Fiore — the national union representative from the American Federation of Teachers — formed within the bargaining group to negotiate working conditions amidst the pandemic upon its rise earlier in the year. According to Elder, an associate professor of rhetoric and writing, the joint communication was meant to provide the most significant information relating to the pandemic to the faculty. “The joint communication distilled for faculty, and therefore the larger UNM community, what was most important to know at a glance,” Elder said.
see Faculty Union page 2
@BeatriceNisoli Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., a historically Black Greeklettered sorority, was rechartered at the University of New Mexico on March 28. The non-profit organization was founded by seven schoolteachers during the perilous thickets of segregation on Nov. 12, 1922 at Butler University in Indiana. According to the sorority’s official website, "Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority's aim is to enhance the quality of life within the community. Public service, leadership development and education of youth are the hallmark of the organization's programs and activities. Sigma Gamma Rho addresses concerns that impact society educationally, civically and economically." The sorority upholds its “greater service, greater progress model” through the coordination of national and local programs. Organizations include March of Dimes, a non-profit organization for mothers and children, Cradle Care, which donates formula, diapers and baby clothes to new parents, Youth Symposium, which is intended to teach the youth community how to manage finances early on and Swim
1922, in which an Olympic swimmer administers swim lessons to low-income children in response to the disproprtionately high drowning rate for children of color. Since its establishment in response to Black people being turned away from traditional Panhellenic Greek life, Sigma Gamma Rho has expanded to over 100,000 members nationally and more than 500 undergraduate and alumnae chapters throughout the United States, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Canada and South Korea. The sorority was the last to be founded of the Divine 9, a predominantly Black conglomeration of five fraternities and four sororities. “Collectively, the historically African American fraternities and sororities (Divine 9) are leaders in our community and have played a prominent role in advocating for social justice,” Brandi Stone, UNM’s African American Student Services director, told the Daily Lobo in an email. “Prominent members of the D9 include Martin Luther King, Jr., (former U.S. Rep. and civil rights icon) John Lewis, Miss USA Dshauna Barber, Zora Neale Hurston, Colin Kaepernick and so many more.” Nicole Tucker, a junior major-
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SGR page 2
Courtesy Photo
Photo courtesy of the Eta Beta Sigma Alumnae Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority.