New Mexico Daily Lobo

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DAILY LOBO new mexico

Spain sweeps

summer The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895

July 12-19, 2010

ARIZONA IMMIGRATION LAW HITS HOME El Centro forum urges UNM to take stance on issue

Albuquerque ideal for those fleeing discrimination

by Chelsea Erven

by Tricia Remark

Daily Lobo

Daily Lobo

The Raza Graduate Student Association is asking the UNM community to put its money where its mouth is through a boycott of Arizona. The RGSA hosted “To Boycott or Not to Boycott: UNM Community Responds to Arizona Boycott,” on June 30, a forum more than 35 students, faculty and community members attended. Meriah Heredia Griego, the senior program manager for El Centro De la Raza’s Division of Equity and Inclusion, said the forum was organized to put pressure on UNM to take a stance on the issue. “It starts with individual student clubs and organizations adopting the policy themselves and then taking it to the next level: to our student government and to academic departments and deans, and finally putting pressure on the Board of Regents and the President to take a stance on this,” she said. Christopher Ramirez, co-organizer of the RGSA forum, said the Arizona bill strikes a chord with New Mexicans. “The graduate program I’m in, Community and Regional Planning, is using UNM Funds to send a group of students to Phoenix to do research on transportation and planning,” he said. “I really feel like I have heard very specifically from the Arizona community that they want us to support the boycott and I think UNM support of that boycott is very important.” Since Senate Bill 1070 and House Bill 2281

were signed into law at the end of April, boycotts of Arizona have increased and now include 14 U.S. cities and nine national organizations, according to the May 20 issue of the Weekly Alibi. Forum attendees were encouraged to write their thoughts on sheets of paper hung on the walls of the UNM Ethnic Centers foyer in Mesa Vista Hall. Attendees wrote sentiments on the sheets of paper such as, “UNM, being so close to Arizona, has a duty to honor the voices of students calling for a boycott,” and “Money talks. A boycott may

b e one of the only ways to economically get a point across.” Voicing various concerns, including fear of racial profiling, the organizers’ main objection was that the laws could have a residual effect on other states and influence New Mexico lawmakers to draft similar bills, which would jeopardize UNM’s diversity, ethnic studies programs, and scholarship money for immigrants. “I am very concerned about the impact that similar legislation could have on the families and communities here if it were to cross the border between us and Arizona,” said Marisa

see Forum page 3

Some Hispanic immigrants and families may soon call Albuquerque their new home. As a result of Arizona’s “draconian” new immigration law, undocumented immigrants and legal Hispanic citizens are looking to escape the state, said Ralph Arellanes, director of New Mexico’s League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). “They’re leaving Arizona because of fear — fear of being racially profiled and arrested,” he said. “In New Mexico, they have a lot more liberty.” Albuquerque area realtor Tracy Venturi said she has talked to a few families choosing to move to New Mexico because of immigration issues in Arizona. “We have had a couple of folks from Tucson who state that part of why they want to get out is because of illegal immigration problems,” she said. “But they were looking to move before the latest stuff came up. It has to do with lots of things, not just (the immigration law).” The Arizona law states that

see Discrimination page 3

Lawsuit settlement ensures compliance with voter law civic participation.”

by Ruben Hamming-Green Daily Lobo

The New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division will now have to abide by a federal law and provide voter registration to people who apply for or renew state licenses. Steven Rosenfeld, a consultant with Project Vote, said this will encourage more people to turn out for local and national elections. “We know that anytime something

is easier to do, more people will do it,” Rosenfeld said. “A settlement like this with the MVD creates another pathway to

The settlement reached July 1 is in response to a suit brought against the New Mexico MVD and public assistance agencies for failing to comply with the National Voter Registration Act, which requires these institutions to offer voter registration for those eligible. It requires that two state coordi-

nators will ensure that New Mexico MVD and Taxation and Revenue Department offices comply with the NVRA. It also requires MVD offices to post notifications advising the public that voter registration is offered and that the MVD’s website and

Course touts benefits of traditional medicine by Danielle Boudreau Daily Lobo

The Women’s Resource Center is hosting “Traditional Medicine Without Borders: Curanderismo in the Southwest and Mexico” for the program’s 10th year this summer, lending insight into traditional and modern medicine. Student Affairs vice president Cheo Torres, who is teaching the course, said curanderismo is Mexican folk medicine that fuses Spanish and native health practices. Torres said this type of healing is not isolated to Mexico. “It’s all over the world,” Torres said. “This is the first medicine for many cultures — using plants, self healing and prevention.”

Inside the

Daily Lobo volume 114

issue 160

The two-week course includes a variety of speakers, including healers and health practitioners, doctors of Asian medicine, herbalists, practicing curanderas, a medical anthropologist and a registered nurse. During the second week, between 25 and 30 practicing curanderos will arrive from Mexico, stay on campus and lead talks in the class. “You’ll talk to Mexican curanderos that know the botanical names of hundreds of plants,” Torres said. “They don’t learn that overnight.” Curanderismo has been a tradition in New Mexico for generations, Torres said, but is not as prevalent as it once was. “People have access to allopathic or mod-

see Medicine page 3

computer systems are updated in accordance with the law.

Nationally, 30 percent of voters register at MVD offices, Rosenfeld said. In New Mexico, from 2007 to 2008, 182,071 people registered to vote, but only 2,765 registered at MVD offices, making the New Mexico average 1.5 percent. Several organizations filed the suit, including Project Vote, Demos and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. According to a press release, the suit was also leveled against other public assistance agencies, such as food stamp dispensaries, but

only the MVD and the TRD are affected by the settlement. The NVRA, more commonly known as the “motor voter act,” was signed into law in 1993. Rosenfeld said the bill, “the last major civil rights act of the 20th century,” has increased voter registration and turnout in complying states. “If this law was implemented (in New Mexico), you would have tens of thousands more people who would be able to vote,” Rosenfeld said. “We want to make sure there

see Lawsuit page 3

GOOOAAALLLLL!!

Long Nguyen / Daily Lobo Guillermo Trujillo anxiously watches the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final between Spain and the Netherlands at Fox and Hound Pub and Grill on July 11. The Spaniards would be victorious over the Dutch in extra-time of the match, 1-0.

Bellissimo

Not Messina ’round

See page 5

See page 9


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