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January 21, 2016 | Volume 120 | Issue 37
Lottery deficit a focus for UNM admin, leaders 12 Hours
15-18 Hours
By Matthew Reisen
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Lottery scholarship woes are front and center as the New Mexico Undergrads would save legislative session ramps up. $145.39/Semester Associated Students of UNM Undergrads would save President Jenna Hagengruber said $128.92/Semester that currently the lottery is only able to fund about 95 percent of tuition for qualifying students for the scholarship instead of the previous practice of 100 percent funding. The lottery funds are depleting quickly, she said, and while the Liquor Excise Tax has been able to provide a supplemental $19 million to lottery funds, that source of funding is set to expire at the end of next year. President Bob Frank said UNM will be going to the legislature “to talk about, ‘how do we solidify legislative funding for the lottery so it doesn’t change?’” Frank said while the Liquor ExTuition figures from UNM Bursars website cise Tax was extended two years ago, that pillow is now up, and now they have to decide whethAmount lottery scholarship would cover at 100% er they will re-extend that or use some other means to protect the Amount lottery scholarship currently covers at 95%
lottery scholarship. He said Hagengruber has met and coordinated with all other presidents of higher education in the state to try and see if they could find a common agreement on what would be the best way to construct the lottery, and what could be the parameters of such a task. Hagengruber said students have been promised lottery funding for 100 percent coverage of tuition for in-state New Mexico schools since the bill was written in 1996. “This is a huge benefit to the New Mexico population and has been able to allow many individuals who wouldn’t be able to afford college to garner an education,” she said. “It is dire that students aren’t cut off from lottery funds now.” There may not be a single solution to the lottery scholarship and the lack of funding that is currently available to students, she said, but UNM is asking legislators and senators to keep in mind that a solution should not benefit students on a needs- or merit- based basis, but should be accessible to all students.
Jenna said UNM is also urging lawmakers to see that through funding education and putting New Mexico’s students first, the state will have a more educated population. Hagengruber said this will, in turn, hopefully benefit both the state of New Mexico currently, as well as the economy, by providing young adults who are prepared and ready to enter the workforce. “We, as students, are the future of not only this state, but also this nation. Investing time, effort and money into students is never a waste, and as ASUNM, we are urging the lawmakers to keep that in mind,” she said. “The more students we can help support receive an education, the more educated and productive our population will become, which can only benefit New Mexico. We are asking to put students first, because putting students first is also putting New Mexico first.” Matthew Reisen is the news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @dailylobo.
UNM program creates community for refugees By Elizabeth Sanchez University of New Mexico Associate Professor of Sociology Jessica Goodkind spearheaded the Refugee Well-being Project (RWP) here on campus in 2006, and it has since blossomed into a program that benefits all parties involved. Goodkind said by enrolling in her Health and Social Inequalities two-semester course, student volunteers can work directly with refugee families while other volunteers assist with different aspects of the project. When students volunteer for RWP, they must commit to nine months of work, she said, and after two and a half months in class, students are paired with refugee families from November through May. After this pairing they focus on learning and advocacy, as students help guide them through acclimating to their new lifestyles. Every week, UNM students meet with refugees during twohour “Learning Circle” meetings, sharing information on cultures, values and experiences, she said. During these meetings, volunteers assist their refugee partners by practicing English, filling out job applications, assisting children with their homework and more. Outside of the Learning Circle, students spend four to six hours with refugees helping them reach their goals and needs by mobilizing community resources, Goodkind said. Employment, housing, health and education are some of the many topics the groups might touch upon, based
on the family’s necessities. Goodkind called RWP: “A community-based participatory research project designed to better understand resettlement stressors, prevent psychological distress and promote mental health, well-being and integration of refugees in the United States.” Goodkind said she started the program after working for two years at a refugee camp during the 1990s in Thailand, where she helped refugees resettle in the United States. “When I returned, I visited many of the families who were now here in the U.S., and I saw that most were very isolated — they didn’t have the opportunity to interact with Americans very often, they weren’t welcomed here by Americans. Their cultures, knowledge and skills weren’t valued, and they had many difficulties accessing resources that they needed to start their new lives,” she said. “I saw that these issues were causing great stress for refugees and negatively impacting their mental health, and I knew that we could and should do better for the refugees who are resettling here.” She said that the program partners with refugees from around the world, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and the Great Lakes Region of Africa. Many have experienced war, displacement, the loss of loved ones and other painful events. Salah Al Naser, a refugee from Iraq, said a translator through RWP has helped him, his three children and his wife in introducing them to American culture
A Refugee Well-Being Project student spends one on one time with a project participant.
and generally making their transition much easier. Naser said his time with the volunteers was “an exchange of knowledge,” because both groups simultaneously learned from the other. “Whenever we need something, we know we can rely on them,” he said. Goodkind said she hopes the program will result in refugees feeling safe in the United States,
and that more Americans will grow to understand refugees’ experiences and welcome them. She also said she has noticed a change in her students’ mindsets after being a part of RWP, including their ability to recognize the perseverance of the refugees, their own privileges, the commonalities they share with their refugee partners and the injustice of society and the world. “Refugees are resilient —
Courtesy: Refugee Well-Being Project
they are people who have survived many challenges and who bring with them many strengths,” Goodkind said. “It’s important that we recognize these strengths and build upon them, both for the benefit of refugees and for other Americans.” Elizabeth Sanchez is a reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com