Daily Lobo new mexico
wednesday October 8, 2014 | Volume 119 | Issue 38
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
GPSA student publication funds in a deadlock By Daniel Montaño Starting next year, UNM’s student publications will not have to wait for funding from student leadership, said Texanna Martin, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association. Two of UNM’s literary magazines had to wait to receive funding until
last week because the GPSA had to run through legal measures in order to send the money, Martin said. “This isn’t the sort of thing that has a 24-hour turnaround,” Martin said, “But now that everything is in place, there shouldn’t be a problem next year.” The GPSA provides funding to both “Conceptions Southwest” and
“Best Student Essays” but during the last Student Publication board meeting on Sept. 26, Jim Fisher, business manager for Student Publications, said the GPSA had not been living up to their promise. According to the bylaws listed on GPSA’s website, the organization is supposed to provide between 1 and 1.5 percent of its budget to provide
funding for the magazines. During the meeting, Fisher said for the past three years, representatives for the magazines had to petition for the funding, although they were supposed to be guaranteed automatic funding according to the bylaws and the work of a former GPSA Student Publication liaison. The GPSA did approve the funds
An A-maize-ing experience | See pages 8 & 9
after a financial council meeting on Sept. 27, and according to GPSA documents the funds were sent to student accounting on Oct. 2, more than six weeks after the beginning of the fall semester. Martin said the funds were delayed because the bylaws had to be officially ratified by their legal counsel.
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GPSA page 2
Showcase to feature students’ songs By Jonathan Baca
Diana Cervantes / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo Lisa Young and Jack Lemelin, 5, participate in a scavenger hunt at the grand opening of the Maize Maze on Friday afternoon. The Maize Maze incorporates learning as a key component for the event. This year’s maze focuses on farming and fractals.
Tonight nine students will share their creative passion and perform their original songs in a small coffeehouse as part of a unique new music class. The inaugural UNM Songwriting Showcase will start at 7 p.m. at Winning Coffee Company, where students from the new class, Music 435, will play songs they wrote as part of class assignments. Each student will perform two original songs, and a few will be teaming up to perform co-written duets. The class, which is the first of its kind in the history of UNM, was created and is taught by assistant music professors David Bashwiner and Kristina Jacobsen-Bia, both songwriters in their own right. Both wanted to teach a songwriting class at UNM, and Bashwiner said the idea was very well received by the music department.
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Songwriter page 3
Armored dinosaur discovered in northeastern N.M. Newly unearthed fossils on display at Museum of Natural History By Tomas Lujan Researchers at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science have discovered a new dinosaur species that is unique to New Mexico. Known as the Ziapelta sanjuanensis, researchers said the novel species offers fresh insights into the evolution and diversity of some of the oldest inhabitants of the state. Spencer G. Lucas, curator of paleontology and geology at the museum, said the Ziapelta fossils were found in the Kirtland formation at Hunter Wash, an area in the San Juan Basin located in northeastern New Mexico. The name Ziapelta or “sunshield” refers to the animal’s New Mexican roots and its armor plating, Lucas said. The 73-milliom-year-old fossils represent a new form of armored
dinosaur previously unknown in the late Cretaceous, he said. Although only the skull and collarbone were recovered, Lucas said researchers were able to speculate what it might have looked like by comparing it to similar fossils of known dinosaurs. Its closest relative is the Ankylosaurus, another armored herbivore known to occupy areas of northern Montana and southern Alberta in Canada. “This is the only known individual right now so this is a unique fossil,” Lucas said. “But the fact that its closest relatives are in Canada suggests there was some sort of genetic flow across the continent.” Robert M. Sullivan, a fellow museum researcher who had been working on a joint expedition with Lucas at the time, found Ziapelta’s bones in July 2011, Lucas said.
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Dinosaurs page 3
Sergio Jiménez / Daily Lobo / @SXfoto
Spencer G. Lucas shows the remains of Ziapelta sanjuanensis, a new dinosaur species that is unique to New Mexico, on Monday at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. The Ziapelta fossils were found in the Kirtland formation at Hunter Wash, an area in the San Juan Basin located in northeastern New Mexico.