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Monday, Januar y 27, 2020 | Vo l u m e 1 2 4 | I s s u e 3 7
Stokes talks safety, athletics in State of University speech By Justin Garcia @just516garc
SUB — As University of New Mexico President Garnett Stokes launched into her State of the University address, she did so with dramatic context. “In our country, and even here in New Mexico, we are experiencing a crisis of confidence in higher education and its value,” Stokes said. She cited national polls and surveys — like a 2018 Pew Research survey that found six in ten Americans believed higher education was going in the wrong direction — as evidence of public skepticism that college isn't worth it. Those people, Stokes told dozens of administrators, faculty, staff, students and reporters, were wrong. “I think those surveys reflect an unfair cynicism about higher education, one we must work to overcome,” Stokes said. “Higher education, including research and innovation, has never been more necessary to better understand and improve the world in which we live.” In her second State of the University address, Stokes spoke about campus safety, the Athletics Department, various campus construction projects and administrative turnover, in addition to
acknowledging and highlighting student and faculty success. All of which she spoke to in a “crisis of confidence” context. Stokes is firmly entrenched as UNM’s president, two years into a five-year, $400,000/year contract. Her short tenure has seen a number of monumental changes, many of which have their origins in a previous presidents’ tenure. “I’m actually starting to feel less like the newest cast member of an established ensemble,” she said in her speech. Safety Among the biggest challenges facing UNM, the safety of staff, faculty and students was one that Stokes has promised to improve from the beginning of her presidency in 2017. In 2015, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) began a three-year oversight of UNM after a series of high-profile sexual assaults and a year-long DOJ investigation into the University’s handling of sexual assault investigations. “In interview after interview, UNM students expressed reluctance to report sexual assault to UNM because they feared retaliation or because they lacked confidence in the University’s response,” the 2016 DOJ’s report read. Late in 2019, UNM was released from that oversight after the DOJ said the school had “funneled new
resources into campus training, investigation and advocacy regarding sexual assault.” Despite that, UNM’s annual safety report said 24 people reported being raped while on main campus in 2018, the highest in five years. UNM officials attribute that increased number to increased awareness of reporting resources. In short, in spite of the increased amount of reported sexual assaults, UNM sees progress. “As a result, our investigations into sexual misconduct are stronger, more proactive and more transparent than ever ... and it must be reflected in everything we do,” Stokes said. She said that going forward, she would “formalize and institutionalize all the work we’ve been doing for the past three years, smooth out remaining bumps and serve as a model for other institutions across the country.” Otherwise, the president touted a 40% decrease in auto thefts on UNM property. She attributed the decrease — from record high numbers in 2018 — to additional police officers, more security cameras in parking lots and increased coordination with the Albuquerque Police Department. Athletics Stokes described the athletics program at UNM as a critical part of the University experience.
Netflix star talks about his Baha’i faith By Bianca Hoops @bianca_hoops Penn Badgley, star of the Netflix series “You,” spoke at the Student Union Building Wednesday night about his faith in the Baha’i religion. The University of New Mexico Baha’i Association along with a variety of volunteers put together the event to draw in students to learn about the teachings of the Baha’i. Badgley was asked to come through a mutual friend of Stephen Morris, the President of the UNM Baha’i Association. He was not compensated for speaking at the event. The goal of the talk, the first in
their spring series, was to get someone significant to speak about the religion to get students interested in Baha’i, Morris said. “The turnout we’ve had for our talks throughout the first semester had been low and we thought maybe we would get someone famous who is Baha’i,” Morris said. Badgley was welcomed with over 900 people, with standing room only after the chairs were filled. The line for the 7 p.m. free event started about four hours earlier. About 400 people were denied from entering after the SUB ballrooms filled up. During the talk, Badgley described his process from his early twenties when he started acting on
Sharon Chischilly / @Schischillyy / Daily Lobo
Actor Penn Badgley answers questions from students at the Student Union Building on Wednesday night, Jan. 22 at University of New Mexico.
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the television series “Gossip Girl” and how he wanted to pursue more in life. Originally Badgley said he had no interest in practicing any religion until he found Baha’i. “I began this path of intense spiritual search. I investigated a lot of different philosophies and systems and religions. I was never interested in religion actually at all,” Badgley said. Badgley stayed with a native tribe within Columbia called the Kogi tribe and met a Baha’i during his time with them. From that point, he eventually started to follow the path as a Baha’i. “One of the things that we do as Baha’i is engage in gatherings we call meaningful conversations and we’ll study the Baha’i teachings. We engage in this process of community building,” Badgley said. Badgley turned to the crowd to answer any questions once he talked briefly about his experience. “I can’t stress enough how much I believe in this as a meaningful course of action, but it’s not one everyone is going to take,” Badgley said after asked what he hopes for people to take away from his talk. Athena Cholas, 45, has been practicing the Baha’i faith her entire life and volunteered at the event. She said she was interested to hear about Badgley’s transition. “It’s to really find out how he made that jump from the materialistic world to now focusing his
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Sharon Chischilly / @Schischillyy / Daily Lobo
President Garnett Stokes held the second State of the University address on Thursday, Jan. 25.
“Lobo Athletics has the power to anchor us to the community, bring people together who may otherwise never connect and provide opportunities not available anywhere else,” Stokes said. While Stokes’ spent just under two minutes of her 45-minute speech on sports, the happenings in the Athletics Department dominated the news cycle during Stokes’ presidential tenure. Stokes approved a recommendation by UNM Athletics Director Eddie Nunez to cut four sports from the department to improve the budget outlook and
better comply with Title IX regulations, according to Athletics. The decision was met with community backlash at several UNM Board of Regents meetings in 2018. Despite the backlash, the decision stuck and the four sports, including the popular men’s soccer program, remained cut. In her speech, Stokes highlighted successes in the department, such as runner Weini Kelati, and emphasized unity. “It’s larger than any single player, coach or sport, and it’s never
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History professor hired to paint mural on history of IT in NM By Daniel Ward
@wordsofward34 Information technology (IT) is a large component to the development of our future, but the perseverance and understanding of its history is equally important for societal improvement. University of New Mexico History Professor Taylor Spence is helping to share the connection between IT and History through his mural “Can You Hear I.T.?” The mural project first started taking root in the summer, 2019 when Associate Provost Pamela Cheek recommended Spence as a prime candidate to paint a mural for the IT department. “I knew that Dr. Spence had been a professional muralist prior to arriving at UNM and that his work as a historian and teacher gave him insight into the UNM community,” Cheek said. Cheek said that Spence was immediately interested upon hearing about the project and reached out to the IT department right away. However, the IT department didn’t like his first proposal, saying the context was darker than they were looking for. “I think they were just really un-
comfortable with the darkness of it,” Spence said. “But what I realize is that when you’re a historian, you spend a lot of time with darkness.” He added, “As an artist I’m really comfortable with that, but I have to understand that other people aren’t.” At first, Spence said he struggled to find common ground with creating a mural plan that he and the IT department could agree on. He said they saw technology as liberating and a solution to most world problems, but Spence was more pessimistic about it because of the ways it has hurt people in the past. It all came down to how well Spence knew the people working within IT. He decided to get to know the people in the building. He said he wanted to express the messages the IT department wanted to preserve while still highlighting the historical perspective he thought critical to include. “We are so inspired by what we’re doing here, and to have this mural represents. That is just an amazing opportunity. To have the artist put that into his own projection of what we’re doing is just key,” Chief Information Officer Duane Arruti said. The mural is designed to be about the indigenous origins of IT here in New Mexico. It is going
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