No solution

As a student one thing that is always on my mind is money. I never feel like I have as much as I would like. The whole reason I’m going to school is to increase my future earnings. Now one thing that has taken a toll on my budget for the past couple of years is gas prices.

The price of crude oil has hit an all-time high for the fifth time in six trading sessions. The high oil price is making gas and energy costs more expensive around the world, putting a financial strain on businesses and household budgets. This means that the American public is now spending more of their annual incomes to keep their vehicles on the road. At the current trend the price for gas will soon reach four dollars a gallon.

But these strains are not going to just be felt at the gas pumps. Most of all goods that are bought in the United States are shipped by truck. To compensate the trucking industry for the higher price of diesel, the price of goods are going to climb. As a student that spends a good deal of money on education I’m not pleased by this fact. I have been increasingly interested in finding ways to off-set this hit to my pocketbook.

With this gas price increase I have been very tempted to find a cheaper mode of transportation. I have been looking at everything from a hybrid car that gets better gas mileage to even bicycles. But living in a city that does not have a great public transportation system, and a sprawling landscape I find it necessary to have a vehicle.

There are two solutions that could solve our gas dependency problem. First the American people need to demand cars with better gas economy. It is a fact that American car manufactures cannot sell cars in foreign markets because their gas mileage is not up to foreign standards. Even in China, their mileage standards are twice what they are in the United States. Second, we need to use the technology that has already been developed. BMW produced a car that ran on water, but the idea never caught on because there is no money in water.

I also have an “American” attitude, being that I love my car. It is fast and loud and I don’t want to ride a bike all the time. I realize that I am being hypocritical because I'm suggesting that we need to make a change but I’m almost not willing to change myself. But I find this attribute to be in many of the people I talk to about this issue. So until people are ready to change maybe we shouldn’t talk about this subject anymore.

Mike Wilcox

Smoke free zones on The UNM Campus = a compromise

Okay, picture if you will someone (me) bicycling to campus. Heart is beating and pumping strong, lungs are expanding and taking in oxygen, mind is clear, and feeling pretty good. Only until I get to The UNM Campus and want to secure my bicycle to bicycle rack and then Blah!! As I have to pass through a cloud of cigarette smoke. And I think okay let me end my work-out by second-hand smoking a pack of “Fine Turkish Blends.”

I wanted to avoid the whole parking situation, help the environment and get some cardio, but every time I arrive on campus on my bicycle I have to maneuver through clouds of cigarette smoke. So I would like to embellish on Reyna’s blog about setting-up nonsmoking areas and designated smoking areas around The UNM campus.

I am a nonsmoker and to be honest I can not even conceive why someone would even want to smoke. Cigarette smoking can be a direct cause:
· Lung disease
· Heart attack
· Heart disease
· Hypertension
· Stroke
· Oral cancer
· Bladder cancer
· Pancreatic cancer
· Cervical cancer
· Pregnancy complications
· Low birth weight babies
And more… this is just the short-list. Cigarette smoking also turns a smoker’s hands yellow with stains and their face into a nasty craggy ugly fugly mess. Then there is the cost why someone would want to spend so much money cigarettes I will never understand. But if someone wants to understand how much they spend on cigarettes all they have do is multiply them amount they spend per day by 365 (days in a year) and that will tell them how much they spend per year. Then take that number and multiply it by 10 and that is a good estimate of how much one would spend on cigarettes in ten years.

And finally, as a matter of opinion, people who smoke just plain look stupid doing it.

But for those who do want to smoke cigarettes on The UNM Campus there is a need to establish specifically designated areas for them to go. That way people who want to avoid the smoke can avoid it, and for those people who love smoke, well they will know where to go.

Setting specific smoking and nonsmoking areas on campus would be a means to a compromise. And, this is something that UNM does have the resources to do. Additionally, UNM should offer resources to help smokers who want to quit to do so. If UNM does already have or offer these resources then UNM should do more to make people aware of what resources are available.

Once the boundaries are established students, faculty, and staff should be encouraged to and be at liberty to politely remind people of the smoking and nonsmoking boundaries. As previously noted in Reyna’s blog the area around the Student Union Building (SUB) where people are trying to enjoy their meal is one of the areas which needs to be a smoke free zone. As such, someone who is trying to enjoy their meal should not feel bad if he or she were to politely remind a smoker that they are in a smoke free area. If this is done with do care, tact, and politeness then the smoker should not be offended and the nonsmoker should not feel guilty.

The American Lung Association has a website: http://www.lungusa.org with information on smoking and smoking cessation; likewise, does the American Cancer Society at http://www.cancer.org/

For more information specific to establishing smoke free zones and designated smoking areas on The UNM Campus information is available from The UNM Smoke-Free Campus Coalition (COSAP). Contact information for COSAP includes:

UNM Campus Office of Substance Abuse Prevention (COSAP) - www.unm.edu/~cosap/
UNM Student Health Center (SHC) www.unm.edu/~shc1/ (505) 277-3136New Mexico Department of Health Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Program (TUPAC) - www
COSAP meets once a month and the next meeting will be April 24, 2008 at 2 p.m. in the Dean of Students Conference Room.

Establishing smoking and nonsmoking areas may not be perfect solution, but it is a good means of compromise for both parties.

Greg
****

SPAM for Breakfast

While enjoying a cup of coffee at home early one morning, you sit down in front of your computer. You have a long day of classes and work ahead of you, and want to make sure no important emails will affect your daily schedule. You open your UNM email account only to find that your inbox has been completely overtaken by spam. It’s everywhere. As you stare at the screen in awe at the hundreds of spam messages, even more messages are still coming in. What’s even more frustrating is these messages are not typical spam messages -- most of them are from Mailer-Daemon stating that your message could not be delivered, or was blocked from the recipient. This insinuates that your email address has been sending out spam to other users.

Just two weeks ago ITS locked you out of your account as you forgot to change your NetID’s password (a nuisance all of its own). The constraints for creating your new password were so difficult to abide by (and equally difficult to remember), surely no one could have compromised your extremely secure password already? But alas, here you sit at your computer screen with hundreds, possibly thousands, of apparently undeliverable spam emails from the Mailer-Daemon for messages that you did not send.

This issue is one that many deal with at the University of New Mexico; the ITS Support Center receives calls from UNM individuals every day who believe that their account has been compromised due to these spam messages. The reality is that the “spammers” are not actually gaining access to your account, nor is this issue related to the integrity of UNM’s email system.

Spam messages can be sent using various applications that make the return address “appear” to be any address the spammer chooses – therefore messages they send use headers that look as though your account is spamming others, when actually it is not. Replying to the sender and requesting to stop sending you spam will only verify to the spammer that you are a human – and could actually increase your amount of spam.

Alas, it seems the only way to tackle spam is to stop it at the source. Limit your distribution of your email address by only giving it out to trusted people. Create a free email account online and use it exclusively for signing up on web sites.

Emails that arrive in your UNM email often contain what is called a “subject-tag” which shows a percentage indicating the likelihood that the email is spam in content. If emails ever arrive not subject-tagged to your UNM inbox you can forward them to spamdrop@unm.edu to assist UNM with their spam filtering.

A quick search query for “spam” in UNM’s FastInfo knowledge base (http://fastinfo.unm.edu) found many answers relating to UNM’s policies on spam and what is being done about it. These resources indicate that a number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have reported an estimated 30-50% of all users’ email traffic to be spam. In addition, 80% of people claim that spam is among their top annoyances when using computers.

Of course these statistics provide little comfort to you, and what was intended to be your morning coffee break will now consist of repetitious trashing of spam messages. The question we need to ask is “what can be done to help stomp out SPAM”? I encourage any suggestions or feedback for methods to reduce spam attacks. The Internet is filled with resources for eliminating spam, but most of them do not work. What options do we have as innocent bystanders of the electronic communications, and how can we fight off SPAM? Perhaps one day we will live in a spam free virtual environment, but until then -- looks like you'll be having spam for breakfast.

South Lot Parking

Parking must be a difficult thing to control at the University of New Mexico. It is not the most pleasant thing to deal with every morning. Does anyone here have a South Lot parking permit? If you do, you know exactly what I am talking about. Leaving your house at least an hour before your 9:30 AM class just to make sure you make it there on time, is no fun. If you run even a few minutes after that, the chances that you will be standing out in the wind, under the pathetic protection at the South Lot shuttle are very high right? Students stand in quiet as they watch behind their back for the school shuttle bus to come towards their direction. The quiet students slowly start to push their way to the front to try to ensure a ride on this next coming bus because they have missed the last two. It’s unbelievable how impatient students can be this early in the morning.

Ever since the University took away Zia Lot as an additional parking lot for UNM students, the South Lot has become close to unbearable. It’s hard enough to find a parking spot that isn’t 300 feet away from the bus stop. Then once you do, you look forward to backpacks hitting you in the chest or little heels stepping on your feet.

You have to have some sort of parking permit to park anywhere on the UNM campus. If the parking attendants see your car without a parking permit, or without the correct parking permit for the lot, you will receive a parking ticket. A warning will be placed on your vehicle if this is your first time receiving a parking violation.

Staring March 8, and running through May 10, 2008, vehicles found parked in illegal areas or fire lanes etc., will be ticketed, receive a warning or locked into place with a vehicle boot, depending on the vehicle’s citation history. The punishments are pretty severe. I would be so angry and embarrassed if I came out to my car and found that it was booted because there was no place to park.

They have come up with two new ideas to possibly help with the parking problem. The first idea is having a program where UNM will lend you a bicycle for a year to help you get to and from places without having to deal with your car. This may work but still doesn’t fix the actual parking problem. If you live far from campus you are still going to have to find a parking spot then ride the bike to class. The next idea is a program called ZipCar. ZipCar is a rental car service available to students who do not have a vehicle. You are allowed to rent these by the hour or by the day. It seems like a good concept, but can only help with students who don’t have a car already and once again this would not fix the parking problem.

The University of New Mexico Parking and Transportation Services Department recently did apologize for any inconvenience parking may cause, but they should figure out other ways to help students who go to class every morning and have to deal with these problems.

I think they should have more student parking on or closer to the actual campus. I know that is hard to accomplish. I feel they should have more shuttles running to and from school in the morning so students can get to class at a reasonable time without having to be at the bus stop so early.

-Kyla

Smoking on UNM?

Should UNM become a smoke free campus? I’m sure we all have our own views on what should be done concerning this issue, but here’s my chance to voice (so to speak) my opinion. Sorry to those of you who are tired of hearing about this topic already.

I am not a smoker. For me it is easy to see where individuals who support this ban are coming from. With everything from walking behind some who is smoking to trying to eat outside the SUB while someone is smoking, individuals have a right to be concerned. The risk of secondhand smoke is not something we signed up for while attending UNM. It is known by many that secondhand smoke is a cause of some forms of cancer and diseases. For those of us who have asthma, it is especially difficult when exposed to secondhand smoke. The city of Albuquerque, along with the state of New Mexico, has implemented a smoking ban in 2007. With all this said, it may come to a surprise to many that I do not completely support this ban.

We must take into account those that actually do smoke. Some people smoke, that’s a fact. Most people who do smoke need to do so several times a day. It just so happens that some of these people attend UNM, and smoke on their way to class or after a meal. There is no possible way to stop these individuals from smoking, after all it perfectly legal to smoke (over the age of 18 of course). Many businesses and employers have recognized this need to smoke by some and allow break for those employees who do smoke. So what’s the solution to the smoking ban on campus?
I am not quite sure what, if any, the solution is to this. I do know that a campus wide smoking ban would not solve any problems. Just as we all have a right to clean air, these individuals have a right to smoke. Besides, if a ban was implemented, how would UNM control it? UNM does not have the manpower or the resources to stop every smoker on campus. Even though there is no perfect solution, I do believe some things could come from this awareness.

I believe that smokers should have certain sections on campus where they could smoke whenever they please. I also believe that some areas NEED to be restricted from people smoking. First, the area surrounding the SUB because there is a huge amount of people there trying to enjoy a meal. I also believe that the areas around entrances to buildings. It is a horrible experience to walk out of a building straight into a cloud of smoke.

Although I do not know the perfect solution to this problem, this is what I think could help. A campus wide smoking ban would not work, but that’s just my opinion. What’s yours?

-Reyna

Mitchell Hall--in need of improvement?

Every student at UNM will at one point have at least a handful of classes in Mitchell Hall. Like most buildings on campus, Mitchell Hall is old, or as the University likes to coin it, “historic”. I will be the first to admit, I happen to like the historic ambiance of the building, along the with the traditional small classroom setting. During my time spent at UNM, I know immediately, when I find out one of my classes will be held Mitchell Hall, that the classroom size will be relatively small. Unlike larger lecture classes, like those held in Woodward Hall, Mitchell Hall classrooms guarantee closer student/teacher interactions.

However, my likes of Mitchell Hall are overshadowed by too many dislikes I have accumulated over the years. On any given day, you may walk into Mitchell Hall only to smell the stench of sewer wafting through the hallways and into the classrooms. I have come to my own conclusion that Mitchell Hall’s plumbing may be just as historic as the building itself. This semester, I came to learn, after my Editing class had been complaining about the classroom being too hot, that some of the windows in Mitchell Hall cannot be opened. In fact, they seem to be welded shut, or at least, painted over. Or, maybe the sealed windows could be a form of weather proofing for winter months? During the winter months, you may become distracted by the clinking and clanking of the heaters as well.

Although the sewer stench and the clink clank sound of the heaters could at least be tolerated, along with a good chuckle, I have a hard time tolerating or even finding amusement in Mitchell Hall not being accessible in case of an emergency. In the event of a fire, or another type of emergency that would hinder students from escaping from the two doors, welded windows are not a good sign. Of course, if there were some type of emergency, I’m sure no one would hesitate to break a few windows to escape. After the Virginia Tech shootings last year, many students, me included, began to wonder how we could protect ourselves from a gunman if the door to each Mitchell Hall classroom opens from the outside, not the inside. These doors also do not have any locks. While walking down the crowded hallways, you may need to avoid getting too close to classroom doorways, because you may just get hit. Remember, these doors open from the outside only.

Year after year, someone will write a letter to the Daily Lobo editor about Mitchell Hall’s building conditions. Some letters have suggested knocking down Mitchell Hall and constructing a new building. Other letters have suggested simply renovating the building, which could include new plumbing, a/v equipment and secure doors. I have always been in favor of the latter. So, why is it, year after year, Mitchell Hall still remains the same? And no, the yearly paint job, although nice, isn’t what I call a renovation.

It seems other historic buildings across campus have been kept up in terms of good plumbing, windows that can open and doors that open correctly. In fact, Scholes Hall has received quite the face lift. Glossy tile floors and the heavy cherry wood doors give the building a nice executive ambiance, and rightfully so, because Scholes Hall is where President Schmidly and other UNM top executives and administrators conduct their business.

The mere volume of students passing through Mitchell Hall’s hallways and classrooms on a daily basis is enough to make the building seem haggard and its components, like plumbing and heating run ragged as well. For this reason, UNM should invest more of its money into improving building conditions, so that professors can conduct their classes and students can learn, without having to deal with these distractions or worry about being safe. If this does not change soon, UNM may be sending out the message that executives, not students are their main priority. I’m sure that many of you, as students of this institution would like to be UNM’s main priority.

Advise me?

The advisement system at UNM was implemented to keep students on track for degree completion requirements and provide information to students when needed. Although some schools and colleges at UNM have attempted to streamline the process, making it easier for both the advisement department and students may not have completely been accomplished.

Since Fall of 2005 I have been passed around to advisor after advisor and, of course, each gives me different advice. For those completing a major or minor in the Department of Arts and Sciences advisement tactics are changing! It looks to be at least this far a change for the better. Instead of advisors taking students by last name they will now take you by degree or program. What a concept!

You will now be able to speak to one person who knows not only you but your academic situation. The advisor will be able to concentrate on just a few programs instead several. The quality of advisement in Arts and Sciences should improve, at least we can all hope.

I know those who have to deal with Anderson’s advisement system have very mixed feelings. But overall I have to say that I have had great experience there. Turn around is exceptionally quick, information given is accurately and overall they are very helpful. But the size is much smaller in comparison to A&S, which is gigantic.

The Advisement Department at Arts & Sciences can be accessed via this link: http://www.unm.edu/~artsci/advise/advise.html and has tons of information. It provides something called The Electronic Advisor (a newer feature) which gives you information about common issues you may need to see an advisor about. It also provides a GPA Calculator that you can use to calculate what grades you need to reach a desired grade point average.

Also anyone who needs to see an advisor in any college should offer any suggestions that could possibly make the process more successful. A few weeks ago while in an appointment with my advisor I asked her about the accuracy of the degree auditing system that is being used. The one we students use is the Registration and Records sections of LoboWeb. Yep, that one. Well the advisors use the same program and have had several issues with it. For example, the system sometimes does not report an application for graduation has been submitted when it actually has.

I suggested to her that maybe advisors can mention these types of unexplainable errors to students to minimize panic. Informing students that a fault in the system could reduce miscommunication and misunderstandings among staff and students tremendously. I don’t know or have any way to know if it will happen but she took my recommendation with good reception.

So, overall we know that an improvement needs to be made. Some departments are implementing new systems, which is a very good start to begin finding a solution to the problem. As students we need to make suggestions or even take action to make advisement more successful, since we are the reason advisement was implemented to start with.

-Ashley

Big University, Little Class Selection

UNM is big. It is the states largest employer. I would guesstimate to say there are more than 20,000 students. To me a big University is a big attraction to students because it provides for alot of opportunity. Opportunity to join clubs, meet new people, and step outside your normal ways. Now these were definitely reasons I chose to transfer to UNM, but the biggest reason was frankly because it is big... Huge by New Mexico standards. Naturally I thought I would have a wide vairety of classes to choose from and a wide selection of time slots. Boy was I ever wrong!!!!!

It is nearly impossible to make a school and work schedule.. well work. For the past 4 semesters I have been burdened with the daunting task of making a school schedule that will fit with my work schedule. It is nearly impossible! I know what some are thinking.. Get a job that works with your school schedule.. Yeah I could do that... And make peanuts! I have tried arranging and rearranging a schedule that will work and I always come up on the short side of hours. Maybe this is UNM's way of keeping me longer so they can make more money off me. If that is the case, maybe they can use some of that money to hire more teachers, or give the existing teachers a raise so that they can focus on teaching and not have to scrounge just like me for a way to make a living.

The University seriously needs to refocus on students needs... Gone are the days where a student can work part time and still be able to support himself. Having a schedule that is not flexible is very hard to work with. I would hope that a University the size of UNM would be able to accomadate more students and realize that school is not the only thing we do!

Here is just an example of wha I am talking about: There is a class that I have wanted to take since about 3 years ago. Since then it has kept the same time slot. The reason I couldn't take that class is because I had to work at that time! The only other time it has been offered is guess what? A little bit later in the day; when I am working. I wish that whoever sets the schedule would realize that an early time slot would be nice too. Not just two afternoon time slots! Anyhow, trying to setup a schedule at UNM has got to be the hardest assignment I have received here!!!!

Guns on Campus?

In the wake of school shootings on college campuses over the past few years there has been a heightened concern over the safety on college campuses. Schools have created new emergency action plans, beefed up security on campuses and started training professors on better recognizing problem students. University and college presidents want to do everything in their power to make sure their campus is safe for all. There is one area though that people are split over; whether or not anyone should be allowed to carry a gun onto campus.

This has been a very hot topic over the past couple of years, and it’s one that I am still unsure how I feel about. As of right now according to UNM’s campus safety and security policy weapons of any kind, including guns, are prohibited on campus. Would allowing guns on UNM’s campus really make it safer or would it make it easier for someone to come on campus and start a shooting spree? If someone decided to start shooting on campus would someone with a gun be able to stop them, or would more people get hurt in the crossfire? These are the major questions that legislators are debating.

Some bills are already in the works for campuses across the country which would allow any person 21 or older who has a license and the correct registration and training to carry a concealed gun on campus. And many argue that if any attacks were to happen in the future that even having just one or two people near by with a gun could prevent catastrophes like the one at Virginia Tech. There have even been accounts such as the shooting at the Appalachian School of Law where a gunman was brought down by students that had guns, even though they did not have to fire their guns they were prepared to do so to save lives.

But the question that I come back to is, would I feel safe knowing that the people around me, my fellow classmates, maybe professors are carrying guns? Is allowing guns on campus really the answer to this very big problem? Does UNM need to consider changing its policy toward concealed weapons on campus for the greater good of all on campus?

But I don't wanna carry a tray...

So far in this life I have found it nearly impossible to do both work and school full-time. I find it amazing that people manage to do both AND raise kids at the same time. I can barely keep my own self fed and bathed while taking classes and working. I would much rather just do school full time but, as it turns out, I'm not independently wealthy and I have to work. So I work part-time. The problem with working part-time is that there are very limited options for someone who wants to work part-time but also wants a "grown-up" job (by "grown-up" job I mean a job in which one has some benefits, a reasonable wage, and there is a significant amount of sitting involved-- I'm not criticizing anyone's maturity level.) There are only a few industries that seem to really want a large number of part-time employees with restaurants and retail being two of the major ones. So, because of all this I'm a waitress with a college degree. I'd like to do something else, but everything I find either pays next to nothing or they would not be at all cool with me not showing up until about 4 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I've known quite a few people who also have an education and (/or) some marketable skills, but end up at restaurants because of the schedule flexibility. It definitely helps restaurants to be one of the only venues where decent money can be made and the schedules are flexible; they often get higher caliber employees than one would expect for the kind of work it is. So I don't understand why more employers aren't open to hiring part-time employees at "grown-up" jobs. Indeed there is an extra initial expense at hiring two people part-time vs. 1 full-time, and it's certainly more of a headache for the kids in HR, but ultimately such an arrangement could benefit employers. If the part-time employees would be willing to make a couple dollars less per hour, and if the benefits were more expensive for a part-time employee, it would be cost effective for an employer. Also, there would be less time wasted on the job, it would boost morale, and it would increase employee loyalty. It would do all these things with me, anyway. Also with everyone not working the exact same hours as everyone else, it would ease traffic congestion.

I also know that I'm not the only person in the world who wants a part-time job that does not require one to come home with aching feet and smelling of garlic (the person, not the feet -- well maybe both). Generation X and Y are both known for wanting a job and not wanting their job to be their life. I found a couple of articles from USA Today and other publications about my generation's value of work/life balance. They all talked about how it's a generation that wants to have time in their life to spend on the things that matter to them AND they want a career, not just a job. That's definitely me and it's most of my friends. These articles talked about the expectations young employees have, and it also made it sound like the expectations are being met. I don't think they are, to a large extent. I sure can't find an employer who wants to hire someone who wants a professional career but doesn't mind them working 25-30 hours a week. People want time for school and relationships and family and keeping the house clean and -- well, just other stuff. Yet whenever I look for part-time jobs on, say, hotjobs.com, all I find are jobs in retail and pyramid schemes. Why are those the only options? As the baby boomers retire there is bound to be a huge shortage of employees and maybe that will finally force employers to offer other options than 8-5 M-F workweek. Maybe we can all get together and demand something better. At least I hope so.

-Mandy

The Million Dollar Man

Nearly one year has passed since the University of New Mexico announced that, then head coach, Richtie McKay would not return as head coach. Nearly one year has also passed since the University of New Mexico announced it had hired former Indiana basketball sensation and Iowa head coach Steve Alford to the same position McKay once held.

The hire, at the time, was met with mixed reviews. Some believed Alford was using the school as a means to catapult his name back into the lime light and perhaps chase a "big school" position while others believed that Alford would come to New Mexico and either bring a wealth of success the program had yet to experience, or further set the program back and possibly leave it behind in ruins (a la Dave Bliss).

But the constant in all of the reviews of the hiring of Coach Alford was his salary. Whether or not you liked the hire, the seven figure salary that came with it was nothing short of shocking.

Now one year later, irregardless of what happens from here on out in postseason play, many writers, critics and so called experts are eating their words.

(Critics that include the writer of this handy dandy blog entry by the way)

It's hard to say a basketball coach deserves to be paid 10-times more than a police officer or high school teacher, but given the market of sports and the notoriously high salaries for their coaches and professional athletes - the $1-million dollar a year salary for Steve Alford seems like a coup for the University of New Mexico. For the first time in years, fans and passive watchers in the state of New Mexico are once again interested in the basketball program. For the first time in years (12 to be exact) the Pit posted back to back sellouts and with the surprising success of the program this season, the arena should inch closer to its legacy of being one of the loudest venues in the country.

And to me, if that provides interest in the school by residents and non-residents in the state - the salary was worth it.

Even if it only lasts a few more weeks.

Spring Break - Life’s a Beach? or Life’s a Bitch?

By Father O’KC

Woo-hoo! Spring Break is almost here. If you are unencumbered by life’s little burdens (and you have saved a little or have an unexhausted credit card), Spring Break means sun, sand, and irresponsible consumption of alcoholic beverages (just kidding). Or perhaps the slopes beckon. You might even get lucky, right?

But for other UNM folks, Spring Break isn’t so much fun, as it is a chance to catch up. This year Spring Break is my chance to get a few things done around the house, clean out the garage, and work a little on my extension course. Weather permitting, I may even go riding once or twice.

The week after Spring Break is a real bummer, right? The sunburn is starting to peel. All those assignments you neglected during break are now coming due. If you were imprudent, you may be having a hard time remembering who or where you are. If you traveled, the credit card bills are going to show up soon.

For me, as for other UNM students, faculty, and staff who have children in Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) or private schools that follow the APS schedule, the week after Spring Break will mainly be full of inconvenience and logistical headaches. Why? Because UNM and APS don’t observe Spring Break at the same time! This is a major pain, and I don’t understand why it has to happen.

It would seem that the two largest public institutions in Albuquerque could check with each other. Do the two administrations even bother to look at each other’s schedules? Wouldn’t it benefit the University’s administration, faculty, staff, and students to coordinate the two schedules? Wouldn’t it benefit the community? Wouldn’t it benefit the kids? Parents and children might even be able to spend some time together, maybe take a trip and spend a little money stimulating our flagging economy, or the kids could just help clean out the garage.

So I did a little Googling, to see if I could find any support for my idea that UNM and APS should, like, cooperate. I went looking on the University website for statements of community support. Surprisingly I had to dig deeper than I expected; usually big institutions link to their guiding principles right on the home page - not UNM. I did find the UNM Faculty Handbook fairly quickly (http://www.unm.edu/~handbook/A20.html) which contains Mission, Vision, and Value Statements approved by the Board of Regents in 2001. Here’s a sample, from the Mission Statement:

"The University will engage students, faculty, and staff in its comprehensive educational, research, and service programs. UNM will provide students the values, habits of mind, knowledge, and skills that they need to be enlightened citizens, to contribute to the state and national economies, and to lead satisfying lives. Faculty, staff, and students create, apply, and disseminate new knowledge and creative works; they provide services that enhance New Mexicans’ quality of life and promote economic development;..."

…and so on.
So let’s do a little deconstructing: “to contribute to the state and local economies” - well, that’s my idea about taking trips and spending money, just like our bachelor student comrades do. “To lead satisfying lives”, well my life would be a lot more satisfying if I had the knowledge that my kids would have my company every year when Spring Break comes up (by the way, the same issues arise around various holidays that UNM and APS have deemed somehow …incompatible). Anyway, let’s continue: “They provide services that enhance New Mexicans’ quality of life…” - this one is easy; do you know how many families need babysitters because one or more parents can’t take off during their kids’ Spring Break? Impoverished university students who like kids could make a bundle meeting the market demand for sitters during the week the kids are off.

So there I’ve supported my idea that UNM and APS should coordinate Spring Break schedules, and I didn’t even have to dust off the Vision or Values Statements. So why hasn’t it happened already? Surely, I’m not the first to propose such a radical concept. Or maybe they are doing it on purpose? Maybe the two institutions get a real power buzz knowing they can inconvenience a significant percentage of the city’s population in one easy step. Maybe they just don’t like their kids, and look for every excuse to not spend quality time with them. Maybe it just never occurred to them.

Honestly, this is the kind of thing I have come to expect from APS (ask me about the parking lot at my kid’s school some time), and it doesn’t surprise me coming from UNM either. So where do we go from here? Are there any ombuds-persons in either organization whose job it is to take suggestions from the little people, evaluate them for merit, and then implement them if found worthy? Is there anyone out there who understands why the status quo deserves to be perpetuated? If so, please share your understanding with me by posting your comments, so that the week after next, when I’m spending half my valuable time and all of my valuable money driving my kids to daycare instead of the zoo, I’ll know it’s all part of a larger plan.

By the way, all you bachelor students, party responsibly - OK?

ITS Absurd Password Change

With all the computer technology that we have today, one would think computer security, which protects our everyday e-mails and online accounts, would be set and permanent. For most UNM students, setting up a UNM e-mail account and a NetID is almost a right of passage. For each incoming student who goes through Lobo Orientation, it seems to be one of the most exciting parts for most to have their own legitimate campus e-mail, where most of us will send out a resume' or two to a future employer, use as a learning and communication tool with teachers, or to get the weekly Monday message from our UNM President. Although all of these little actions are something we do on a daily basis and rarely think twice about, something we do have to think twice about, is which password goes to what account.

Now for a moment, try and think about all the numbers you have stored away in your memory. Not just the online information, but information you have for you bank accounts, your parent's birthdays, or even your address. This is all information that we have to keep track of in order to keep up with our daily activities. I know personally I have several numbers that I have to keep track of in order to do simple tasks, such as check all three of my e-mail accounts in the morning, to sending letters to friends, to going to home my parents' house and having to know the alarm code, to checking my bank account online. It's the little things that we do everyday that require security information, which if you do not have a cheat sheet with every password you will ever use written on it, which I would highly recommend, it can be easy to simply get passwords confused. 

Narrowing it down to the passwords and e-mail accounts attached to them, the numerous online sites people have is staggering. Even listening to free online radio, listeners have to set up an account with a password to use the site. Recently, UNM's Informaiton Technology Services sent out several e-mails to faculty and students to change their UNM user id, or NetID password, which we use for WebCT, and our UNM e-mail accounts. This new password rule requires users to change their passwords every 180 days or every six months, and users will not be allowed to use a previous password. With all the passwords and e-mail account I have, it tends to get complicated remembering which password to use for which account, much less having to change a password I have memorized and used daily for three years. My hands are nearly trained to type the password, so having to re-train hands and memories, seems so Y2K and outdated. I feel requiring all UNM faculty and students who have a UNM NetID should not have to re-learn a new password just to ITS can claim it is keeping our information safe. My question is, how come ITS now feel like it is necessary for users to change for security reasons? And does this mean our information has not been safe all along?

While it seems nothing can be done unless users want their e-mail accounts to be inaccessible, I will be thinking of a new password similar to my current one so I can hopefully remember it along with the other passwords I have stored away. And maybe by the next six months I can re-learn and get used to this new password before I have to change it all over again. 

Wanted: Strong, Knowledgable Person to Teach Me a Lesson.

Like the annual returning of the ducks on campus, all UNM students face another event during their collegeic careers. It’s inevitable and every year it happens to hundreds of students. It may not have happened to you yet, but no doubt it has already happened to a friend of yours. What I’m talking about is the “bad” professor that every student seems to encounter at least once in their UNM lifespan.

It’s not that UNM has bad professors left and right. Far be it from that actually, instead it all depends on the student and his/her definition on what makes a bad professor. All people learn and respond to people in many different ways and while some academic relationships work out for the best, others crash and burn. Some students complain that it was the only professor available or that they didn’t know what to expect. And for the most part most students don’t know what to expect from their professors. They could end up with the hardest grader out there for all they know, or someone who’s not challenging enough for them. So are we as students powerless in our right pick of professors?

Some would say, “Just grin and bear it, it’s only a semester”, but I say “No”. I’m not paying hundreds of dollars a year for some person to teach me in a fashion I cannot grasp, or don’t like. I’d rather succeed in the class easily, than struggle to get a grade I won’t like in the end. So what hope is there in knowing a professor before taking the class? It’s not like they have myspace profiles that tell us all about them. Really, when it comes down to it, how much control do we really have in our education? The truth is that we have total control, but we need tools to help us implement that control.

One of those tools, in controlling our educational experience, lies in websites like RateMyProfessor.com or MySpace’s Grade My Professor Tool. It is one of the easiest ways to research a professor at UNM, before taking the class. Comments made by previous students on the professor’s teaching style, grading methods, and other aspects are all there for you to see. These sites serve as an invaluable tool in choosing what professor is right for you. For example say you need a class for just the credit, but don’t care too much about he subject. That’s when you use the sites to find the easiest grader perhaps. Or say you really want to understand a class, geared toward you intended major. That’s when you use the sites to find the professor that has good abilities to explain the subject thoroughly. Basically it all depends on you and what you want out of the class and the professor.

Yet, there are still obstacles. Some of the newer professors at UNM have yet to earn ratings and it’s true that the sites are still developing, as far as UNM professors go. You also must take some of the comments with a grain of salt and consider the student who made the comment also. Perhaps they failed because they were lazy, and the professor had nothing to do with it. It basically comes down to being smart about the comments. The sites however are still an invaluable tool in getting the best out of UNM, academically. So I say to you, if the internet has been able to help thousands to find love, why not utilize it to find that special relationship that works for you also.

Attendance Policies Arbitrary

I'm sure that everyone has sat down for the first day of class and heard some policy on class attendance. Usually this policy is something along the lines of,

"You are allowed to miss two classes with no penalty, after which your final grade will be reduced for each absence, and if you miss more than four classes throughout the course of the semester you will be dropped."

Now I know that not every class is the same, but this outlines the basic Arts and Sciences' policy on class attendance. We've all heard or read this so many times that we probably really don't pay much attention anymore, but I must admit that this policy is one of the things that i have never understood or agreed with.

Throughout my four year college experience I have been told by many professors in a variety of contexts that I am an adult and that as an adult I am old enough and mature enough to make decisions on my own, study and take notes on my own, do my class work and home work on my own, and that it is my responsibility to ensure that I get the most out of college. It's not the professors' job to make sure I learn, and I absolutely agree with this. However, I am simultaneously told that while I can make all these other decisions I cannot make the decision to come to class or not.

Now I understand the need to come to class in order to learn the material and succeed in the course, and I am not one to skip class a lot. Also, being involved with leadership myself, leading out with several group studies, I understand the frustration and disappointment that can occur for professors if students do not show up. I am not saying that we should all be able to never come to class and pass with flying colors. I simply do not understand why there are such strict policies on attendance in place.

One of the primary reasons that I view this policy as arbitrary and demeaning is that, as students, we are paying a lot of money to attend these classes. That should be reason enough to make us want to attend, but if it is not, and we choose to skip out, isn't that our prerogative? If we pay for the class we should be able to come and go as we please.

Imagine paying to go see a new movie that has come out. You buy your popcorn and soda and go sit down in the theater. Throughout the course of the movie you get up several times. Perhaps you are bored with the movie and are simply getting up to go outside and call a friend or maybe there is some reason. Imagine that you get up and go to the bathroom then a while later you have to take your child to the bathroom. By this time your get popcorn is empty so you get up to refill it and when you come back an attendant stops you and says that you have exceeded the number of time you can leave without penalty, so he takes your popcorn. A little later you get up to refill your soda and this time when you come back the attendant takes your soda. You're confused and upset, but you go sit down. Finally, close to the end of the movie you have to get up again for some other reason, maybe you really have to go to the bathroom or you received a text from a friend that needed to ask you a question right away. This time when you come back the attendant says that you cannot go back in and finish the movie. If you want to know how it ends you will have to pay to watch it again at another time, and there is no way you are getting your money back for the movie. We would all be outraged if this happened because we payed for the movie and should be able to leave and come back with no penalty or expulsion, yet this is exactly what happens in the classroom.

Now I understand that every professor is different and some are more accepting of absences than others, but I have had my fair share of professors who coldly assume that once someone has missed 3 or 4 classes they don't deserve to be there and drop them unquestionably. I have even had a professor who said that if you are more than 5 minutes late you shouldn't even come to class at all because you will be counted as absent, and 4 absence will drop your final grade by at least a full letter. This is ridiculous!

Students do need to attend class in order to succeed, but that success should be left up to them rather than placing arbitrary limitations that restrict a student to having no more than one reason in any given month that requires them to miss a class. Perhaps more emphasis should be placed on the work done that can potentially be made up if necessary than on the arbitrary physical presence in a classroom.

Parking

Parking at UNM is perhaps one of the most difficult parts of attending classes for commuter students. There are North lots and South lots, both of which require a shuttle to get from the parking lot to campus. These shuttles can add 15 to 30 minutes to the commute time, which can easily double the time spent commuting.

There is no easy solution; the parking lots are too far from campus to offer any other solution. With the cost of gas as well as maintenance on the busses, having additional shuttles running would only increase the cost of parking permits by leaps and bounds.

While some would get frustrated at the wait, and time spent on the shuttles, or perhaps become annoyed at not having a seat and being forced to stand, I think it only fair to take a step back and see things from another perspective. Parking permits already cost well over a hundred dollars, if the number of shuttles was doubled, one could only assume that the price of the permit would double as well.

To some, this may not be a problem. They may enjoy having twice the shuttles running giving them more opportunities to get to class easier. To others, the cost would not warrant the luxury.

I rode the South Lot shuttle for several years, finally getting sick and tired of spending, on average, 20 to 30 minutes to get from my class to my car. I now ride a motorcycle and park right on campus. I even pay half the price of a South Lot permit.

The motorcycle parking at UNM is often overlooked, as perhaps many don’t notice nor ride. There are several locations across campus that are designated motorcycle parking, most within throwing distance of your classroom.

The part I enjoy the most, by time I get home on the motorcycle, I’d have just gotten to my car taking the shuttle. While in the winter the situation isn’t always great, I have ridden in 20 degree weather to avoid the shuttle.

This post has perhaps come out having several parts to it. For the longest time I despised the shuttle, and if I was still riding it, I probably still would. Perhaps at least when I took the shuttle, I had time to sit and wait, which is something that many of us can probably use in our lives today.

Please, Use Your Turn Signals

I have two very simple desires when it comes to commuting to campus. First, I desire not to be killed by a careening car on the freeway. Second, I wish with every teeny tiny fiber of my being for South Lot to be clean, organized and for the wait for the shuttle to be less than five minutes. Alas, since transferring to UNM last spring, I have been caught in near-death experiences on the road more times than I can count and South Lot is routinely littered with glass, dog poo and various unidentifiable objects.

So why is it that Albuquerque drivers are so angry? Is it the green chile? I'm from Seattle, and I've seen my share of rush hour traffic, angry hippies and caffeinated soccer moms acting insane on the roads. But never, ever, have I felt the wrath of such aggressive and dominating drivers until I moved to Albuquerque. For example, just the other morning I was cruising along I-25 south nearing the "safety corridor" that should really be named "narrow stretch of roadway of hell." As usual, I tried my best to slow from 70+ mph to a more reasonable 60. For the record, I am still speeding, as the limit is clearly displayed as 55. But we all know that 60 is the same as 55 in the world of speeding tickets. And as usual, I find the bright headlights of another car pressed up against my bumper, impatient and ready to run me off the road. I must admit, I too would like to speed through this area of highway at 80 mph, but I have seen stealthy police vehicles hidden behind the on-ramp divider, just waiting for such a move. So every morning I try my darnedest to obey the law, and nearly every morning I am met with pure, unadulterated hatred. I have been flipped off, honked at and I've seen the angry faces of drivers behind me screaming at their newest enemy. So what's the deal people? You're not really going to get anywhere any faster by running me off the road. And when that day comes where the police officer IS sitting on the side of the road with the radar gun out, you will secretly thank me for forcing you to slow down. You will...

After my 7 1/2 minute journey from home to school, the horror is nowhere near over. Because I don't get to just drive to school. Oh no. I get to drive to the world's worst designed, worst maintained and slowest park and ride of all time. And to top it all off, I get to pay $117 a year for this fabulous service. It amazes me that for the past 3 semester, I have had a Tuesday/Thursday class at 9:30am. And it amazes me that for the past 3 semesters, I arrive at South Lot at or before 9am, only to watch 2, 3 or if I'm really lucky, 4 shuttles go by before I finally get the chance to elbow my way onto one. Clearly the University knows that throughout the day, there are high-traffic times when additional shuttle are needed. My question is, what are they doing with the thousands of dollars in revenues they bring in every year from parking passes? Couldn't some of this money be used to hire a part time driver? Maybe if we weren't paying our athletic coaches salaries worthy of brain surgeons we would have some extra cash left over for oh, I don't know...filling in the potholes that threaten to destroy my car every time I drive through South Lot? The idea of a park and ride is brilliant, but the execution here at UNM leaves much to be desired.

And it's not just the long waits to get on a shuttle or lack of maintenance of the parking lot that really offends me. It's mostly the fact that last spring my car was broken into in the middle of the day. Where was the yellow-jacketed security guard then? What is the point of paying to park my car in a supposedly monitored parking facility when it's just as likely to get broken into if it were on the street? Beyond security, why does the University allow solicitors to litter our cars with flashy postcards that often feature well-endowed females advertising some sort of club? There should be a law against such blatant disregard for private property. Just like there should be a law that if you change lanes in front of me and cut me off without using your turn signal, I should get to remove one of your fingers.

What is more important?

What is more important? Is your family more important than school or work? Is work more important than both school and family? We all strive for the best so that our family is happy. However, it seems that to get the best, we need an education. It is almost a vicious cycle!

At home, children are playing, screaming, hungry and seeking our attention all while writing an essay about an issue that does not directly concerns our life. We pause just for a moment, or it seems like a moment, to tend to our children and realize that two hours has passed. We return to writing the essay, which is due the following day or maybe in an hour, and find that we lost your train of thought. Do we give up? Before answering that question, we hear a loud crash. After investigating the noise we find that the lamp has just seen its last day. Now we put away our papers and prepare dinner.

Sometime in the middle of the night we finally return to our pile of papers and continue writing. After finishing the paper we realize that we may get about four or five hours of sleep. In the morning, we do it all again.

As students and members of a family, we each must juggle an extremely busy schedule. If we do not juggle our schedules efficiently, our grades may drop or a child may be left at practice or the bills may go unpaid. All too often people say that attending a university is comparable to a four-year vacation, but in reality, it is not a vacation. We work hard everyday to maintain our lives. Not only do we attend school and live as part of a family, we also have jobs.

Some of us attend school to become better employees for our company. We are always working toward becoming a better person. We want to be a better family member. We work hard everyday. Are the rewards of earning a degree worth all this hard work?

-Vivian

All NEW TRADITION!!!

In a day and age where people would rather converse through text message and instant messaging rather than speak on the telephone, and a professional can work out of their home than from a cubicle it is evident that the notion of traditional is changing. How has the collegiate atmosphere changed?
Two times in the past month I have heard an older individual criticize younger students about not understanding how the real world works. They base their comment on the fact that they are “non-traditional” students and have incite into the working world that they falsely presumed “traditional” students lacks. What is the distinction between “traditional” and “non-traditional” students?
Ten years ago there were two distinct types of collegiate students. The first designation “traditional” were students that were in their early twenties, fresh out of high school, and infrequently had a part-time job. The second designation “non-traditional” were students that were middle aged, had families to care for, had been in the professional world previously, and usually were currently a full-time employee and a part-time evening college student.
Do these classifications fit today - - NO!!! With soaring tuition rates, rising housing costs, and soaring gas prices more and more students, no matter the age, have part-time or full-time jobs to hedge the expenses of pursuing higher education. This work experience gained by younger students fulfills more knowledge into the real world, and falsifies the notions that a young individual does not understand how the real world works. More young people have children at a young age, and continue their dreams of a college degree. With this in mind those lines between tradition and non-tradition are faded and in areas totally dissolved. With this new definition and shifting demographics it would seem the new age “non-traditional student” would be the older “tradition”. So how can universities cater to these changing demographics?
The most effective way would be to lower tuition rates, and not burden students to accumulate tremendous debt in pursuing the American dream; however, we all know that this is not going to happen. Another more realistic alternative is to enhance the “non-traditional” learning environment. “Non-traditional” learning consists of anything beyond the usual 16-week classroom setting. Offering more courses that are conducted online, sorter condensed 8-week programs, intersession week long programs, and a wider range of late evening courses are all areas that would enhance and expand the learning experience for the new age “traditional” students. It is a new and evolving environment, and traditional universities should evolve with their students.

UNM: The Dreaded "Commuter Campus"

I live a grand total of four miles from campus, but every morning, it takes me at least twenty minutes to get there. And that’s on a good day. This is because I park in the South Lot. Uh-oh, you know where this is going.

To get to campus on time, you try to be parked in the South Lot at least a half hour before your class starts, and even then sometimes the crowd to get on the shuttle is so big that you’re late anyway. Why not just set the alarm and get there earlier? Because like most people who live off campus, you work in the evenings after class, which means that you stay up later to do homework, which means that you value your sleep just that much more. You know all of this because unless you live on campus, you’re faculty, staff, or you’ve got rich parents who are willing to pay for the parking structure, you’re forced to do it every day. If that’s not a commute, I don’t know what is.

Granted, the current setup UNM has provided for us is better than having no parking at all. But what good is parking if you can’t afford it? Unless you drive a motorcycle (for which parking permits are $63), be prepared to pay between $112 and $166 for lot parking per year if you’re a student. Because of a graduated-by-income parking fee, UNM’s own faculty and staff have to shell out anywhere between $112 and $1,600 depending on where they decide to park, but good luck finding a professor who parks in South Lot to save money.

When I attended New Mexico State University, parking permits were cheap, and there was a surplus of spaces. NMSU even offered free lots (on the edge of campus) for those who didn’t want to spend money to park. Now, just because you hate the parking at UNM (and trust me, everyone does; go ahead and ask), a cheaper, more efficient parking system is no reason to transfer down to NMSU. Instead, we, the academic community of UNM, must press for a change.

The way NMSU has been able to offer $40 permits (for both students and faculty) is through its cost structure: the reduction of their overhead costs has allowed them to pave lots, fund shuttles and security, and pass the savings on to the students. What exactly is overhead? In this particular situation, it’s the parking structure, or NMSU’s lack thereof. NMSU’s website has statistics detailing other universities’ parking structures, saying that such a structure would cost between $15,000 and $25,000 per parking space to build (have a look if you don’t believe me: http://nmsuparking.com/FAQ.html). And you wondered where all your money was being spent.

Rumor has it that the University has been looking into building another of these money-eaters. I would like to take this opportunity to beg that they do no such thing. Although undeveloped or otherwise available land is sparse in the Nob Hill/Student Ghetto area, I implore the University of New Mexico to find some and put it to good use. Come to think of it, last time I checked, there are a couple of available unpaved lots just south of The Pit (whose principal use is tailgating… remember now?). According to NMSU’s website, traditional parking lots cost around $1,000 per parking space to develop a lot on open land. With more “regular” parking lots at UNM’s disposal, UNM could afford to pay off the parking structure faster, eventually driving down the cost of parking. I don’t know about you, but that would make me happier.

So, how do we make this happen? Simple: all we have to do is expose the parking structure for the succubus that it really is, and support for a new one will quickly diminish. The fact of the matter is we have a right to relatively inexpensive parking here at UNM (cause if the Aggies can have it, why can’t we?), and I would like to know that the Board of Directors here at UNM have evaluated all of their options before the price to park goes up again.

Financial Aid at UNM is EPIC FAIL.

I’ve had more than one run-in with Financial Aid, as have many of my classmates, acquaintances, and friends. We’re all tired of how things are run over there, and since the blatant errors and complete ignorance of this department affects every student attending classes at this university, there’s no better time than the present to discuss the issue. For some reason, I’ve had to go see them about problems with my financial aid during every single semester I’ve been a student here - that's two straight years of having to wait to see an advisor who doesn’t really care about whether or not I get to stay in the classes that I'd registered for. I realize that as a student here at UNM, waiting there is something that’s to be expected maybe once or twice in my college career…but not during every single semester!

An example of why I’m fed up with how things in the Financial Aid department are currently running is something that happened to me in their offices last semester. Right before the deadline to be dropped from classes for lack of payment or financial aid, I suddenly got an e-mail from the Bursar’s office that said that I owed UNM $2500, the exact cost of my tuition plus my textbooks. Upon making an appointment with and then seeing my advisor, I was basically told to plan to make payments, because there wasn’t anything she could really do to help me.

At this point, I was livid with her, so I left the office and called a friend of mine that had the same problem. My friend had gone through the same thing that I was dealing with back then, so she gave me the phone number and e-mail address to the manager of the Financial Aid department. I e-mailed the manager, and she arranged to have me come in to see her immediately. It turns out that there was something that could be done about my problem, so she fixed the problem. The problem turned out to be a clerical error in my financial aid file – it said that I didn’t want unsubsidized funds. The problem was solved, but only after I had to go through a very maddening ordeal with an advisor that I thought actually cared about helping her students.

From many of my friends, I’ve heard horrible stories of being dropped from classes because of clerical errors over at financial aid, having an advisor say that there isn’t anything they can do about any problems and that they should think about a payment plan, and of people being blown off by financial aid staff when they call the office to get basic information about their status or to make an appointment with an advisor. As a matter of fact, at one time when I was over in the office making an appointment with my own advisor, I noticed one of the work-study students at the front desk was chatting away on her cell phone and filing her nails. She could have very well been helping out with the extremely long line that her co-worker was dealing with, but she was basically in her own world and didn’t even bother to look up at me when I passed her by. The Financial Aid department here claims to be here for students, but if this is the way they’re actually here for us, then I’m not sure that I really want their help.

From my own personal experiences and what I’ve heard from my friends, the Financial Aid department here at UNM is doing a very bad job when it comes to caring for its students, and until we as students make a stand and say something to the Dean of Financial Aid and the President of the University about how things are being done over there, things will stay on the same downward spiral…otherwise known as business as usual.

Student Healthcare Goes Above and Beyond on Campus

With the upcoming elections, there has recently been a lot of talk about healthcare in the media. This is an extremely important issue to me for a couple of reasons. First, I’m just one of those people who are always fighting off some infection. I catch everything. If someone I know has a cold, I catch their cold plus pneumonia. I don’t know what is wrong with my immune system. Maybe I didn’t eat enough Flintstone’s vitamins when I was a kid. (Actually, I probably ate too many. Those things were delicious!) The other reason healthcare is pretty high up on my list of socially important priorities is that not only do I frequent doctors offices but I also do not have health insurance. This would be potentially problematic if it weren’t for my success with the UNM Student Health Center.

Every time I mention the words: student health center, I see people’s faces scrunch up in distaste. These types of inexpensive healthcare faculties have bad reputations for being ineffective with poor patient care. I’m here to tell you that at the UNM Student Health Center this is not the case! I have personally used its services throughout my long student career and have never had better care.

The center offers inexpensive basic healthcare for students enrolled at least part time. They do offer health insurance to students each year but, their doctors’ visits only cost twenty dollars. That’s about the same or less than a co-pay through an insurance company anyway. Lab work is of course paid for by the student but, lab costs are much less expensive than that done for private practices and lab results come back in usually about an hour!. Patients can be seen by appointment or through the walk-in clinic anytime. Also, students are explicitly told to notify a nurse or other staff members if they are kept waiting for more than twenty minutes in line, in the waiting room, or in an exam room. Anyone who has spent the dreaded hours sick and waiting in a doctor’s office knows what a rarity that is!

The doctors, nurses, and physician’s assistants are the most amazing aspects of the health center. They are always thorough and never give you that sense of needing to move on to the next patient. I had another example of this excellent medical care recently. Over the winter break I was sick for a few weeks with a couple of different illnesses and was seen at the student health center. I was intensely ill and was urged by the staff to come back to track my progression several times over the course of three weeks. Every few days my doctor would call me at home to check up on me! Then she would ask me to come in to do follow up exams, which I was not charged for. With five doctor’s visits, several prescriptions, and extensive lab work, my total cost for the entire three weeks of care was only 100 dollars. I would challenge anyone to find a medical practice with better patient care!

I could go on and on about the amazing experiences I have had at our health center. My best advice is to experience it for yourself! I urge all UNM students and staff to utilize the many services provided by the health center, even if it’s just to get a cheap flu shot or to pick up your prescription in between classes. I’m graduating this semester and am sad to give up the student health center as my medical sanctuary but, I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to use it these last years.

VooDoo Economics and the Legacy of Ben Stein

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning I wake my daughter up an hour earlier than normal to get her ready. I drop her off at my sister’s in the NE Heights and drive a littler faster than normal to be on time for my 8AM math class. My teacher arrives on time and is friendly, approachable, and has a great sense of humor. Yes, she does wear slippers and always has chalk all over her butt, but that does not bother me. What does bother me is that when I am at home doing my homework (excuse me, trying to do my homework) I am lost and confused. I repeatedly ask myself, “Did we even talk about this?” I heard other students saying the same thing last week and have realized that she is just a poor teacher. I put a lot of effort, time, and money into my education. I take it very seriously and I wish that more teachers would do the same.

Most of us are familiar with the saying, “Those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach”. This statement is misleading because it implies that no skill is required to teach and it is just a fallback for those who are unsuccessful in practical applications of their degrees. This may apply to some teachers, but certainly not all of them. That could be the distinction between being a crappy teacher and a great one, the desire to actually instruct. I have been in school a long time (no I am not telling you how long) and found that teaching is an art and a skill.

I have had some amazing teachers and with their guidance and skill I have learned a great deal. I have had some teachers that made 45 minutes of class time an eternity. It reminds me of the classic scene from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” regarding Voodoo economics. If you are not familiar with what I am talking about, watch the video from the link and I feel confident you will understand my point. For example, my English 101 teacher would sing Amazing Grace whenever we didn’t know the answer to her questions and she wouldn’t stop until she heard the right answer. This situation made for some extremely long mornings. The only thing I was certain of was that she loved the McGriddle sandwich but everything else was fuzzy. Teaching requires more than spouting facts, sentence structure, and your personal life. Being a good teacher means that you care whether your students understand, how they learn, and what they will actually retain when finals are over. Most importantly, it should never, ever, ever include non-stop loops of Amazing Grace.

I understand that for most teachers their job is monotonous and that most students mentally checkout before class even begins. I do not care, even if a teacher has taught a class 52 times, it is the first time I have taken the class and I am eager to learn. I would have more empathy for bad teachers if there were not such outstanding teachers that have been teaching just as long. If I were to rewrite the famous maxim regarding teachers it would go something like this. “Those who are privileged enough to be able to apply their degrees in a job they love, more power to them. Those who have to find another source of income should only teach because they want to.”

Coming Soon!

In the next several weeks, this blog will begin to share perspectives from UNM students (all enrolled in a section of English 320) on various subjects related to life at the University of New Mexico. Stay tuned!