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Thursday, Februar y 27, 2020 | Vo l u m e 1 2 4 | I s s u e 4 6 NAHJE FLOWERS
Historic ASUNM elections approaching
By Alyssa Martinez @amart4447 Voting for a $5 fee raise and on student body presidential and vice-presidential candidates is just over a week away. Beginning at 8 a.m. on March 9, undergraduate students can log onto their my.unm.edu account or make their way to the Student Union Building to vote on the constitutional amendment (Bill 5S) and chose from the four candidates vying for president and vice president. The constitutional amendment would upcharge all undergraduate students $5, bringing the Associated Students of the University of New Mexicomandated student fee to $25 per semester. The bill was touted by many senators as a more transparent option when it passed on Feb. 13 because it would clearly label the $25 amount as a government fee on the Bursar’s website. The fee raise push came after widespread consternation and cuts to student organizations’ budgets and appropriations. As previously explained by ASUNM Chief of Staff Jacob Silva, the student government fee has not been raised since 2002. In the nearly two-decade interim, the number of student organizations — such as the women’s rugby team, men’s ultimate frisbee and the Iranian Student Association —
have nearly doubled. Atop of the boom in student organizations, inflation has made it more difficult for the money to adequately cover their bills. $20 in January 2002 was worth $29.13 in January 2020, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI inflation calculator. If the fee raise doesn’t pass, some senators said that ASUNM would not be able to function properly and student organizations would continue to endure financial cuts. As for candidates, Mia Amin and Jacob Silva are running for ASUNM president alongside their respective vice presidential running mates, Ana Milan and Emma Hotz. Although the pairs are running coordinated campaigns — known as slates — students can vote for any combination of the candidates. The president’s duties include management of the executive branch, the eight ASUNM agencies and board participation, as written in the ASUNM constitution. The vice president oversees the Senate and makes appointments to committees. This election comes after the passage of Bill 3S on Feb. 12, which allows ASUNM officials — with the exception of Elections Commissions — to endorse anyone running for ASUNM office. The bill’s language attempts to force ASUNM senators to adhere
to UNM Policy 2060, which bars University students and employees from using UNM resources — such as office supplies, social media accounts and logos — to participate in political activity without previous approval. Elections Commissions Executive Director Todd Moe said he holds concern over the possible rift this election cycle may cause within ASUNM from “having to pick a side or the other” because only two slates are running. Moe previously spoke out against the
@BeatriceNisoli Building the Gateway Center on a University of New Mexico plot of land off I-25 and Lomas Boulevard is still under consideration despite the UNM Campus Safety Council’s vote of disapproval. The $14 million homeless shelter will house a projected 300 people and provide on-site resources for permanent housing. It will be open every hour of the day. Among the several possible locations for the shelter, city officials have considered University property, the Second Street and I-40 area, Montessa Park and the former Lovelace Hospital on Gibson. UNM’s Campus Safety Coun-
cil cited strained police resources, hampered student safety and the possibility of a subsequent decline in enrollment as reasons for voting 11-1 against the shelter. The Safety Council includes the dean of students, UNM’s emergency manager, the chief of University police, Associated Students of the University of New Mexico representatives and Graduate and Professional Student Association representatives, among others. Dean of Students Nasha Torrez said that a safety issue on campus could impact not only the student involved but the student’s hometown community as well, thus contributing to an already troubling enrollment decline. Torrez also highlighted the proximity of the shelter to
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Justin Garcia / @Just516garc / Daily Lobo
ASUNM elections commissioners selecting ballot positions for the 2020 ASUNM presidential election.
UNM Safety Council votes ‘no’ to homeless center on UNM Campus By Beatrice Nisoli
bill before the full Senate during public comment. ASUNM President Adam Biederwolf has also spoken about the tricky nature of endorsements as it relates to a ban on office chatter regarding elections and compliance with Policy 2060. According to Moe, there is no concrete policy to handle violations of Bill 3S, but penalties can range from a verbal callout to outright
UNM’s Greek row as a primary factor that concerned the council. “The proposed site is half a mile away from Greek row, and students who live there have already reported issues with folks who are homeless or transient,” Torrez said. “The proposed site is also a mile away from the dorms, and there have already been some instances where students have had negative interactions with transient people around that area.” Torrez said she would be more comfortable with the Gateway Center if UNM were able to provide an increase in security measures. However, Torrez said such initiatives would be complex and costly to implement. “UNM has excellent, committed police officers, but there aren’t a whole lot of them and
recruiting police officers is not easy,” Torrez said. “Plus, students from marginalized communities have expressed that more police isn’t the best answer and that we should implement other nonpolice security measures. But unfortunately, those initiatives would require a lot of infrastructure and a lot of money.” The safety council discussed security resources such as lockdown mechanisms for classrooms and key card access for all buildings on campus. Despite the effectiveness of these options, Torrez reiterated that the financial resources they would require to install and maintain are barely feasible for UNM. “Lockdown mechanisms for classrooms would need to be ADA accessible, and we would have to ensure that key card access can’t glitch to the point where students are locked out of a library accidentally,” she said. Torrez stated that she cast her vote against the shelter after attending multiple forums as well as garnering student feedback. “I sat down with the Panhellenic women and house
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Football player’s mother moves to sue UNM By Justin Garcia @Just516garc
Editor’s note: This updated story contains discussion of suicide. If you're feeling suicidal, you are not alone. Please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit Student Health and Counseling at UNM. A California law firm filed a notice of claim against the University of New Mexico regarding Nahje Flowers' death. California-based attorney Mika Hilaire is representing Flowers' mother Vickie Gilmore in the potential lawsuit. It's unclear if the notice of claim is a wrongful death tort claim. Hilaire did not respond to a request for comment before this story went to print. Flowers' took his own life on Nov. 5, 2019, according to the Albuquerque Police Department. An autopsy performed by the UNM Office of the Medical Investigator found Flowers suffered from bouts of depression at the time of his death. Juan Jimenez, a teammate of Flowers' at Susan Miller Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, expressed his grief in a phone call with the Daily Lobo. "I know it caught me by surprise," Jimenez said. "Nahje's teammates are all caught by surprise right now." Others said Flowers struggled with emotional health. "He was hurting for a long time," Zheniah Houston, another of Flowers' high school friends, told the Daily Lobo. "But he always made sure he helped people, because that’s what he wanted." Houston said the pair had met in their freshman year at Dorsey, in their school's Upward Bound program for college prep. She described her bond with Flowers as inseparable. "We called each other our soulmates, but we never touched each other because we were both disgusted by each other, so that was fun," Houston said. Justin Garcia is the Editor-inChief of the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at editorinchief@ dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Just516garc
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