Thursday, April 4, 2013 Vol. 114. No. 26 roundupdaily.comtruweeklythe Round Up

New Mexico State University

by Tara Melton

staff writer

During spring break, a group of Aggies stood on Washington, D.C. soil with hundreds of Americans pro-testing for hours for one common rea-son: marriage equality.

Members of Aggies For Feminism raised money and traveled to Wash-ington, D.C. to attend the National Young Feminist Leadership confer-ence last week.

They spent the first day touring the nation’s capital and two days at the conference. The conference was full of workshops on feminism, racial issues, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, Bisexual and Queer issues, violence and people being manipulated by the prison system. They listened to accomplished women speak such as Tina Tchen, Chief of Staff to Mi-chelle Obama, as well as Executive Director on the White House Coun-cil on Women and Girls. They also heard from well-known feminists such as Terry O’Neill and Dolores Huerta speak.

“I was extremely happy to get the opportunity to meet and talk with some incredibly strong women who are leading the world into a better place,” said Christina Lombardo, AFF secretary and New Mexico State University student said.

Members of AFF also interacted with other students from different states who are working on feminist issues in different circumstances. Brandon Proctor, AFF member and NMSU student said he learned from the other perspectives that feminists on other college campuses have a harder time reaching their students than AFF has at NMSU.

Since they traveled in a larger

group, they were able to split up into groups to see different events and in accordance won an award for the largest group of people traveling the farthest distance.

According to AFF member and NMSU student, Davey Jones, they all said they felt empowered leaving the conference with information, ideas and tips on how to be more active on campus.

Rainy Estrada, AFF member and NMSU student said the conference left her feeling empowered and un-afraid to speak her mind now.

“You walk around this campus and people fight you on being a feminist,” Estrada said. “And this conference empowered me to know that others believe in what I do.”

On March 26, the Aggies For Fem-inism took their newfound activism and stood on Capital Hill in protest against the Defense Against Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, both of which are being debated on by the United States Supreme Court.

“It was exciting, there were hun-dreds of people there as well as a strong feeling of comradely,” said Emily Burr, AFF member and NMSU student.

Anne Marie Roberts said of pro-test: “The love and support from those people was inspiring. And the hate from the other side was sad, how can anyone be so full of hate?”

Aggies For Feminism is growing and increasingly building a com-munity on campus. Their goals are to work on issues such as women and GLTBQ rights, sexual assault, worker’s rights, visibility on campus, as well as reducing the stigma around the word “feminism.”

“We cover a wide scope of issues and voices,” Burr said. “We want to be as inclusive as possible, this in-cludes men.”

Aggies For Feminism holds their meetings 7 p.m. every Monday in La Vista Learning Center in the Garcia dormitories.

Aggies protest DOMA and Prop 8 on Capitol Hill

The Aggies for Feminism group traveled to Washington, D.C. for a confer-

ence and to protest current gay rights issues, which are being discussed in

Congress. photo by Matt Stopera for buzzfeed.com

by Nick

Njegomir

executive news producer

The New Mexico State University Board of Regents met Wednesday morning to approve changes to stu-dent tuition and fees, housing and meal plans and parking permits for the upcoming academic year.

For fiscal year 2013-2014, the NMSU main campus will see an increase in tuition of 3 percent. Tu-ition for in-state students is currently $3,020 per semester; a 3 percent in-

crease will be $90.60, making tu-ition $3,110.60. Out-of-state

students currently pay $9,534 for tuition per semester, and

will pay $9,822 after the three percent in-crease.The increase for out-

of-state, full-time graduate students is $295.20 per semes-

ter and $97.20 for full-time resident graduate students.

Tuition has steadily increased in recent years. This year’s 3 percent in-crease is slightly less than the tuition increase students experienced last year.

Some of the NMSU branches will also experience an increase in tuition and fees. The Alamogordo campus will see an increase of 1.3 percent, the Carlsbad Community College will have a 2.3 percent tuition increase and Doña Ana Community College will see a 1.6 percent increase. The Grants campus will not have a tuition increase.

All of the tuition increases were approved by all of the regents except for student regent Jordan Banegas, a

marketing and psychology major at NMSU.

“One of my priorities when I was appointed to this board was to keep education costs affordable for all stu-dents…I just simply cannot vote for students to continue to bear the brunt financially without further exploring alternate sources,” Banegas said.

Angela Throneberry, the senior vice president for administration and finance, presented the proposed tu-ition increases at the meeting and said NMSU’s tuition remains competitive with peer institutions.

Housing rates were also discussed at Wednesday’s meeting; there will be no increase for housing rates for the year ahead.

Tammy Anthony, assistant vice president for auxiliary services, said the housing price rates at NMSU are also competitive with NMSU’s peer institutions.

Over the past two years, NMSU has seen a decline in the number of students who use campus housing. Anthony attributed this decline to the declining numbers of people enroll-ing at NMSU.

To react to this occupancy decline, Monagle Hall will be brought “tem-porarily offline,” Anthony said.

There will also be cost increases for some of the meal plans available to students.

There are two categories of meal plans: mandatory and voluntary. In-coming freshmen who live on campus have the mandatory meal plan, and all other students can get a voluntary meal plan if they choose to.

The mandatory meal plans include the Aggie Unlimited Plan and the Aggie Choice 230 Program, which will have increases of 3.37 percent

and 3.4 percent respectively. This will bring the Aggie Unlimited plan up to $1,673 and the Aggie Choice 230 Plan to $1,628.

The Aggie 64 and Pistol 400 meal plans are voluntary plans, and will have price increases of 3.28 percent and 3.43 percent respectively. Both of the Family Resident Optimum meal plans will remain at the same price.

Parking passes will also remain at the same price. Faculty passes will stay at $95 annually; both commuter student passes and student resident passes will remain at $50 per year.

The final action item on the meet-ing agenda was the consideration of the NMSU football program joining the Sun Belt Conference.

While tuition increases may not be what students want, Regent Ike Pino, the board’s secretary and trea-surer, said there is a necessity for these increases.

“For the students, it appears that the burden gets larger every year,” Pino said. “The sources of revenue are something we have to continue to work on, but that (student tuition and fees) is the primary source of revenue unfortunately.”

by Jocelyn Apodaca

staff writer

A campus fire with an unknown cause set flame to Jett Hall Saturday and is forcing dozens of students, fac-ulty and graduate students to relocate classrooms.

In an e-mail Sunday, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Depart-ment Head Ian H. Leslie said the west wing of Jett had received the most damage. The damage came mostly from smoke, soot and water and will remain closed. There will be temporary access to offices on the 500

wing. It is unknown how long the repairs

will take. Most of the offices that were damaged from water had the rugs re-moved over the weekend.

The Office of Facilities and Servic-es have been working since Saturday to clean up the building. They are of-fering assistance to any faculty need-ing to relocate.

“I can say that 12 faculty, two in-structors and two visiting scholars were displaced,” Leslie said. “In addi-tion, many of our graduate students can no longer use their office space.”

The first priority is to be able to

find room to hold classes and then get faculty relocated. The building was fogged Saturday to lessen the smoky smell. A sub-contractor out of the Detroit area will be coming in for electronic cleanup. Leslie said to fac-ulty and staff should contact the OFS before turning any electronic devices back on.

The basement and Aerolab in Jett Annex were suggested for temporary relocation. There are also offices in Regents Row available for use. Many of the offices were available by Mon-day morning. Room 102 in Jett Hall is being used for semester advising.

Fire in Jett Hall calls for relocations

A fire in the west wing of Jett Hall

caused relocations for dozens of

students, faculty and graduate

students. photo by Monica Soltero

“I can say that 12 faculty, two instructors and two visiting scholars were

displaced. In addition, many of our graduate students

can no longer use their office space.”

- Ian H. Leslie

Tuition increases approved for 2013

“For the students, it appears that the burden gets larger

every year.”-Ike Pino

Former NMSU student killed in car accident last week

pg. 7

2April 4 2

commentary by

Kevin H. Culver

staff writerNew Mexico State University has

had notoriously lax admission stan-dards in its long history, but the times may be calling for a change.

Currently, entering freshmen for NMSU are required to have a 2.5 grade point average and a compos-ite score of 19 on the ACT. The philosophy of NMSU has been to provide higher education to a low-income area, granting those without the high-income means a quality and thor-ough education.

Given NMSU serves a relatively low-income popu-lation, the state cannot provide exten-sive educational benefits in primary education, as the limited money must be divided appropriately to meet all the needs of the state.

“I’ve thought that NMSU’s open door policy was a good idea,” said Christopher Erickson, Ph.D., an eco-nomics and international business professor at NMSU. “Even if you think a student is not fully qualified, why not give them chance at a high quality college degree.”

Such a philosophy may require a change as the cost of higher edu-

cation increases and it may cause students to accumulate extensive amounts of debt without ever gradu-ating.

“It’s not fair to admit a student who you don’t think can succeed only for them to drop out without a degree with thousands of dollars of debt,” Erickson said. “I now support raising admission standards so as to weed out students with limited chance of grad-

uating within a reasonable pe-riod of time (say 6 years).”

Erickson said less qualified students can be diverted to one of the NMSU community col-leges for reme-dial help, then articulate to NMSU in their junior or senior years. Tuition

continues to increase in a job mar-ket that does not allow for a student to pay it back in a sufficient amount of time. The student remains in an endless cycle of debt, and the edu-cational institution must take action for the student’s sake. Statistically

speaking, the current admission and graduating process at NMSU tells a different story. “Our graduation rates have been slowly improving over the past decade, and we are seeking to

by John Paul Schmidt

staff writer Dick’s Café will be opening an-

other store in the Frenger Food Court at the main NMSU campus Tuesday.

Dick’s Café has been a part of Las Cruces culture since 1959 and will soon be a part of New Mexico State University’s array of restaurant choices.

Ace Perez owns the business and many of his family members will be a part of running the new restaurant on campus.

“That’s my uncle, my dad and my son back there working,” he said dur-ing an interview at a table in Frenger; pointing out each family member doing their part in creating the new restaurant.

“I’m the third-generation owner of the restaurant,” Perez said. “We’ve been around for a long time.” Perez said he is excited about opening up the restaurant at NMSU because his restaurant and the university have been connected in several ways for years.

“I’ve had people come up to me and tell me their grandfather and my grandfather used to go to NMSU to-gether,” Perez said. He also said he feels Dick’s Café has been a favorite of NMSU students for many years.

“The opening of a local business on campus will be a great change of

pace from the chain restaurants and stores that have been opening their doors at the university,” said Brandon Sparks, a student at NMSU.

The restaurant will offer a large breakfast selection, including French toast and pancakes. Their lunch menu boasts burgers, fries, sliders and barbeque. Dick’s Café will be the only place on campus to offer barbeque selections.

“We smoke brisket overnight for twelve hours at the (original) restau-rant,” Perez said. Every morning, the

brisket will be brought onto campus for NMSU students, faculty and staff to enjoy.

Dick’s Cafe will be open 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. This will make them one of the only restaurants of cam-pus open on Saturdays, along with the new Panda Express and TCBY.

Dick’s Café is scheduled to open Tuesday.

JESCA CERVANTES FELICITA ARZU Managing Editor Executive Director

KEREN PEREZ JAVIER MEDINA RENE ARMENDARIZAdvertising Manager Director of Finance Director of Marketing

EXECUTIVE NEWS PRODUCERS ANDREA ROJAS, NICHOLAS NJEGOMIR,

BETHANY BLUNDELL

DESIGNERSNATE TURNER, MONICA SOLTERO,

KATIE TUNING

PHOTOGRAPHERS SELENE ROMERO, JONELLE LOPEZ

SUBMISSON POLICYThe Round Up welcomes submissions for publication. They can be dropped off, faxed or e-

mailed. Submittals become the property of the Round Up and will not be returned. The Round Up reserves the right to edit articles and cannot guarantee publication.

ADVERTSINIG POLICYThe Round Up welcomes paid advertisements for legal products and services. The Round Up does not accept ads deemed discriminatory in nature by the editor. Any advertisement that

might be confused with editorial content must be clearly labeled “Paid Advertisement.” Positions of ads cannot be guaranteed. The Round Up reserves the right to refuse publication of any

advertisement.ABOUT US

The Round Up is published during the academic year by students for the university community. Corrections of the print edition will be made on roundupdaily.com. Editorial content of the

newspaper is independent of advertising content. Opinions expressed in the Round Up are not necessarily those of the Round Up staff, NMSU or the Associated Students of NMSU.

Box 30004, Dept. CCNew Mexico State University

Las Cruces, NM 88003Phone: (575) 646-6397 Fax: (575) 646-5557

All Staff Writers, Executive News Producers and Editors can be reached at truprint@nmsu.edu

News briefsby Nick Njegomir

executive news producer

World news

North Korea to restart nuclear reactor

North Korea announced Tues-day it is going to reopen a nuclear reactor capable of producing weap-ons-grade plutonium, but implied it will be used for other purposes, Reuters reported.

North Korea has recently threat-ened South Korea and the United States. According to the report, the Pentagon announced another guid-ed missile destroyer has been sent to the western Pacific to assist with missile defense.

KCNA, the state-owned news agency of North Korea, reported that all of the nuclear reactor facili-ties are going to be used for electric-ity and military purposes.

According to CNN, Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. would not accept North Korea as a “nuclear state.”

U.S. news

SNRA recommends arming school staff

A group sponsored by the Na-

tional Rifle Association issued a re-port Tuesday calling for at least one armed security guard to be present at every school in the United States, the Washington Post reported.

According to the report, the measure comes after the killings in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 26 students and teachers in an elementary school.

The incident led to a public out-cry for gun regulation, but despite months of negotiations, senators have been unable to work out a plan for other safety measures, according to the Washington Post.

According to washingtonpost.com, recent polls show 90 percent of Americans support universal background checks when purchas-ing a firearm.

Gov. Martinez signs space travel liability bill

Gov. Susana Martinez was in Truth or Consequences Tuesday af-ternoon to sign legislation to protect commercial space travel companies from damage lawsuits, kob.com re-ported.

According to the report, the goal of this piece of legislation is to keep Virgin Galactic as the anchor for Spaceport America and attract more commercial space travel com-

panies to New Mexico. Martinez said this measure is

crucial for New Mexico to develop a commercial space travel industry. The liability limit would provide partial legal protection for space-craft manufacturers and their sup-pliers, kob.com reported.

Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, plans on flying tour-ists into space from the Spaceport, which is nearly complete, according to kob.com

N.M. news

news

NMSU evaluates admissions policies

See Admissions policies pg.3

Dick’s Café occupies last open spot in Frenger

Dick’s Cafe has been a local eatery since 1959. photo by Jonelle Lopez

“I now support raising admission standards so as to weed out students with limited chance of gradu-ating within a reasonable

period of time.”-Christopher Erickson,

Ph.D.

3April 4

by Lillian Bowe

staff writer

Commercials can be annoy-ing, funny, stupid and sometimes offensive. A particular commercial that can be viewed as controversial, showed farm animals being abused. This commercial was not only offen-sive but classifying a group of hard working people as torturers.

This commercial was about vegetarians and was sponsored by Mercy for Animals. Becoming a vegetarian is not a bad thing nor should it be condoned because being vegetarian is person’s right and they are supporting agriculture.

This commercial was offensive because it depicted farms and ranch-es as concentration camps, where animals are living in small cramped places and all animals raised for meat are tortured and abused.

On my family’s ranch, when it came to if the family or the cattle got the most money, it was the cattle, while my family had to cut back on shopping or other activities like go-ing to the movies.

Seeing videos of animals dying on ranches is troubling, and it is baffl ing to think that a farmer or rancher de-voted to their livelihood would ever do this. Farmer and ranchers in New Mexico make a special effort to keep their animals well fed and healthy, and they put their need second to the animals.

The pigs, sheep, dairy cows, cattle and goats are not cramped in tiny pens but are in the pastures running and playing. The reason hurting and putting animals in a stressful environment is such a ridiculous idea is because a stressed animal does not

produce good product. The U.S. Department of Agricul-

ture reported stress in animals has “a signifi cant deleterious effect on food safety…” Then why would a rancher who cares about his product induce stress on his livelihood?

Some believe the majority of farms are “factory farms” when most farms are residential or lifestyle farms in which operators report having another occupation and retirement farms. Both these farms produce less than $250,000 and do not fall under the category of “fac-tory farms,” according to the USDA.

According to the National Animal Interest Alliance, Mercy for Animals posted a video in 2010 of abuse on a dairy farm.

The video was highly edited and did not show the whole story of the abuse. The worker committing the abuse to the animals was fi red im-mediately after the abuse happened, which the video did not show. The

video was also edited to show the owner of the farm to be encouraging the worker to abuse. The owner of the farm was charged with animal cruelty, but after the grand jury saw the whole video, the charges were dropped.

This is one of the reasons not to believe in all the content in animal abuse commercials, but the main reason should be because of that rancher who spends all night with a cow having trouble giving birth, which he then might get kicked by that animal and then dusts himself off and goes back to working.

Animals should not be living in harsh conditions and abusing them is just as wrong, but a commercial that accuses the majority of ranches and farms being as places of torture also is wrong.

features & opinion

continue this trend,” said Melody Munson-McGee, planning offi cer at student affairs and enrollment man-agement at NMSU.

“For the class that entered in 2004, our six-year graduation rate was 45 percent, compared to 55 percent na-tionally for other public institutions in the same acceptance rate class as NMSU (75 to 84.9 percent of appli-

cants accepted).”NMSU continues the process of

raising the percentage of graduates over a six-year time period, indicating that the current admission standards and process is working. “We welcome all students who meet our admissions criteria, and we are not currently seeking to change these criteria,” Munson-McGee said. NMSU con-

tinues to serve a non-traditional stu-dent population, and the admission process refl ects such a diverse popula-tion, giving many opportunities they would otherwise not be able to ob-tain. The future of NMSU admission standards is foreseeably not changing, unless graduation rates plummet to a widespread low.

by Rebecca Atkins

staff writer

With the summer season quickly approaching and the warm weather in Las Cruces already well on its way, tanning salons will soon see a rise in traffi c.

As the only tanning salon still in business in the area, Gecko Tans has grown increasingly popular since Jan-uary, said Miranda Lovato who has been working at Gecko for almost a year.

“I do tan,” Lovato said. “I think overall I look better and much health-ier when I have color to my skin.”

One worry for tanning salon own-ers is the fact that all but one salon has closed down within the last year in Las Cruces. Some believe this has been caused by statistics relating to tanning and cancer.

Lovato said during the winter months business is defi nitely slower than when it is warm outside. In the winter, Gecko would see about 80 customers a day and now they are getting around 180 customers a day.

Another factor that will increase customers is the lack of options in the city.

However, according to The Cen-

ters for Disease Control and Preven-tion, indoor tanning has been linked to skin cancers such as melanoma, which is the deadliest of all skin can-cers. It may also cause squamous cell carcinoma and cancers of the eye, which is called ocular melanoma. This raises the concern as to whether frequent tanning bed users care or know about the dangers associated with indoor tanning.

Lovato said: “The dangers of tan-ning do concern me, but because of that, I try to not tan too frequently. Once I get a base tan I just try to maintain it, but I defi nitely don’t tan every day.”

Gecko offers Mystic tans and air-brush tans, which Lovato said are much healthier than the actual tan-ning beds.

The CDC website reported indoor tanning exposes users to both UV-A and UV-B rays, both of which are highly damaging to skin. Also, if you are under the age of 35, you have a higher risk of getting cancer from the tanning beds.

According to the CDC, the major-ity of frequent indoor tanners are be-tween the ages of 18 to 21.

Gecko offers discounts on tanning for NMSU students with a valid ID.

Cost of a killer tan is more than skin deep

ASNMSU to host scholarship banquet

features

opinion

“I would like to see discounts from the movie theatre. Students

don’t have a lot of money but we also need some time to relax and catch a movie, so a discount

would be nice.” –Annmarie Rascon

“Andeles, because I go there a lot and I know other students do as

well.” –Oz Munoz

Admissions policies continued from pg. 2

by Lillian Bowe

staff writer

The Associated Students of New Mexico State University will be host-ing a banquet at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the Corbett Center Student Union Ballrooms to raise money for the “Students Serving Students” En-dowed Scholarship.

The banquet will have a dinner and a dance for NMSU students and others who want to raise money for the scholarship. The banquet will be about students and student organiza-tions and Interim President Manual Pacheco, Ph. D., will be in atten-dance.

“We are hoping to accomplish our endowed fundraising goal as well as raise awareness of the importance and need of scholarships for students at NMSU,” said Charlene Shroulote,

ASNMSU Chief of Staff and co-chair of the organizing committee.

Shroulote said the meal being served will be “fancy” and the dance will have a DJ as well as other enter-tainment.

“We want to have a fun fi nal cel-ebration before the hectic time of fi -nals comes around; all while raising funds for a great cause, scholarships for students,” Shroulote said.

The banquet will also be an oppor-tunity to connect to the community and alumni and showcase what the students and student organizations contribute on NMSU campus.

The scholarship that ASNMSU is hosting the banquet for was an idea of ASNMSU President Breeana Syl-vas. One of Sylvas’ platforms was to fi nd more scholarship opportuni-ties for students. The scholarship, when funded, will be awarded to two

NMSU students, an undergraduate and a graduate student which will be picked randomly by a computer. All students who pay the ASNMSU fee will be eligible, but to be considered, students must fi ll out Scholar Dollars application. The scholarship is un-der ASNMSU and future ASNMSU presidents can continue the scholar-ship and make it grow.

“We have been working hard to make this a great event,” Shroulote said. “We would love all students to attend and celebrate with us all the hard work of the past year. It is going to be a lot of fun.”

Tickets for the banquet are $50 or $15 for students with IDs. Tickets can be purchased in the ASNMSU offi ce with cash or check. For more information about the banquet call the ASNMSU offi ce at 646-4415 or e-mail asnmsucs@nmsu.edu

What businesses would you like to see a discount from (from the ASNMSU program)?

Take It To The Streets

“I think we should get discounts at Village Inn. A lot of students

go there to do homework as well as Starbucks. We frequent these

establishments so a discount seems fair.”

-Isabella Lucero

“I would love a discount at Celebrate.” –Greg Reinow

Rancher ads do not depict real farm life

4April 4 4tru matters

Photo by Rebecca Atkins

Student FashionAnthony QuiterioClarksDenim Wrangler VestGeek Eyewear glasses“I like to be adventurous with my wardrobe, mix it up a bit. I am for-ever trying to kill the scene.”

5April 4tru matters

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E-mail your answer to roundup@nmsu.edu using the subject line “secret

location.” You could win a $20 gas giftcard from Pic Quik! Deadline for sub-

missions is tonight at midnight.

Congratulations to last week’s winner, Kerry Egan!

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6April 4 6

by Christopher Kelly

staff writer

The popular Chinese restaurant chain Panda Express recently opened its fi rst location in Las Cruces on the New Mexico State University Cam-pus on the corner of the Barnes & Noble building.

Never previously eaten Panda Ex-press before, the chance arose last week to try out the new Chinese chain.

They have quite a nice selection of food to choose from with many that are labeled as low calorie or health-ier choices. I chose for my meal the Orange Chicken, Broccoli Beef and Honey Walnut Shrimp with a side of steamed rice.

The chicken and shrimp were re-ally quite fl avorful while the Broccoli Beef seemed a little bland. The broc-coli was not over cooked and still had a good crunch to it though. Other dishes looked extremely appetizing.

The overall selection of entrées was rather large with various chicken, beef and shrimp meals along with plenty of vegetables either mixed with the meat or as separate dishes and sides.

The restaurant itself was very nice with tasteful decoration and lighting, even if it seemed a little plain com-pared to other Chinese places. Above all everything looked very clean and maintained, which greatly helped set my mind at ease regarding food qual-ity and safety.

The staff were all very friendly and helpful, and while the restaurant is not set up traditionally with a wait staff, the staff were willing to answer questions about the food and help anyway they could.

As a college student, pricing is al-ways pertinent to the dining experi-ence and while Panda Express was not the cheapest place, it was certain-ly not the most expensive. My three entrée with a side order was $11.69 in

total with a drink and an additional dollar charge for the shrimp dish. The amount of food and how full I was were perfect testaments to the value of the price.

Compared to other venues for

Chinese food Panda Express was a step above in food quality, if not nec-essarily in décor. The amount of food they give seems a little less compared to places such as The Mix Express.

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8)#&"*<= -Mike Rice, former Rutgers men’s basketball coach on the video concerning the abuse of his players. Source: CBS

by Andrea Rojas

executive news producer

The Downtown Art Ramble is a monthly showcase of different art, vendors and performers that spreads awareness regarding local artists in the Las Cruces area.

For more than fi ve years, the Down-town Art Ramble has hosted monthly events the fi rst Friday of every month in an effort to bring in people to the otherwise desolate downtown area.

Flo Dougherty, owner and artist of the Blue Gate Gallery, said since the fi rst ramble there has been a strong following of patrons. Currently, the ramble draws in roughly 300 people per event, reported lascrucescvb.org.

Aside from socializing at the event, perks include light refreshments, music and other kinds of live perfor-mances that vary from event to event.

Dougherty said “Webster defi nes a ramble as ‘a pleasurable stroll for en-joyment,’ which is exactly what they hope to achieve.”

Participation from local vendors and surrounding businesses that are looking to make a home sale has also been particularly good, Dougherty said.

Typically, each ramble has a fi tted theme to accomplish and all partici-pants are expected to accommodate this theme. In the past, some of the most popular themes have been the annual Fourth of July celebration and the Centennial theme where the ele-ments were very “vintage.”

The last ramble, held on March 1, had involvement from venues in-cluding: Branigan Cultural Center, Las Cruces Museum of Fine Art, Las Cruces Museum of Nature and Sci-ence, The Main Street Gallery/The Big Picture, Southwest Environmen-tal Center Cottonwood Gallery, M. Phillip's Gallery, Rio Grande The-atre's El Paso Electric & Carolene Herbel de Mesilla Galleries, Gallery 309, Justus Wright Galeria, MVS Stu-dios, Gina's Cantina, Quillin Studio & Gallery, Mountain Gallery, Aralia

Gallery, New America School, Art Studio Las Cruces and West End Art Depot Gallery

All ramble events are free to the pub-lic and take place in the downtown mall area. Festivities begin at 5 p.m. Friday and continue until 7 p.m. Maps are available at the Max Phillips Gal-lery, 221 N. Main St. For more information call 575-523-2950.

Monthly art showcase brightens downtown scenery

The Rio Grande

Theatre is one of the

spots on main street

that hosts art for

locals at the Downton

Art Ramble. photo by

Jonelle Lopez

Panda Express is a new option for Chinese food in Las Cruces

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7April 4 7

by Nick Njegomirexecutive news producer

New Mexico State University’s football program will be joining the Sun Belt Conference for the 2014 season after the Board of Regents ap-proved the move Wednesday.

According to a press release from the NM State Sports website, the Sun Belt Conference is “a league on the rise in football.” The Sun Belt Con-ference fi nished the 2012 season with its best ever computer-ranking aver-age.

Now that the Sun Belt has 12 teams, it can play a football champi-onship game. The Aggies will be im-mediately eligible to play for the Sun Belt Championship.

NM State football was last in the Sun Belt Conference from 2001-2005.

The Sun Belt currently has 10 teams: Arkansas State, the Florida

Atlantic Owls, Florida International, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Mon-roe, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, South Alabama, the Troy Trojans and Western Kentucky. Along with NM State, Idaho will be joining the conference.

“I look forward to joining the Sun Belt Conference in football in Fall 2014,” NM State Athletics Director McKinley Boston, Ph.D., said in a press release. “The Sun Belt has es-tablished itself as a solid football con-ference and our goal is to be a con-tributing member going forward….”

NM State football played better in the Sun Belt Conference than they did in the Western Athletic Confer-ence. In the four years the Aggies were in the Sun Belt, they fi nished as high as third place with an overall record of 20-27 and a conference re-cord of 15-11.

In the last fi ve seasons the Aggies were in the WAC, they had an overall record of 13-49.

NM State football will be an inde-pendent team for the 2013 season, and has 12 games scheduled; some of those include rivalry games against the University of Texas-El Paso and the University of New Mexico.

After that, NM State football will become a member of the Sun Belt Conference.

“The addition of New Mexico State marks a signifi cant moment for the Sun Belt Conference,” said Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson in the press release. “The administra-tors from our league have been work-ing hard and taking the initiative for the conference to continue its expan-sion during a time when national re-alignment has been extensive. Hav-ing an FBS program join the league will give us a school that is instantly ready to compete for a bowl bid.”

NM State Head Football Coach Doug Martin said he also looks for-ward to joining the Sun Belt Confer-ence.

“The Sun Belt is a conference that is on the rise and we look forward to contributing to it,” Martin said.

sports

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Headline for an editor, heartbreak for a friend

Discover where you’ll study abroad at usac.unr.edu

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livelivelearn

Alina Bourger, 21, died in a car accident

March 27 in Tucson, Ariz. Photo courtesy of

legacy.com.

by Jessica Cervantesmanaging editor

Editor’s note: Aspiring journalists are taught never to write “I” in their articles – even in opinions; however, rules should be broken when appropriate.

How I would have written the lead journal-istically: A recent New Mexico State University student and graduate of Mayfi eld High School died in a car accident last week in Tucson, Ariz.

How I am writing the lead personally: Last week, my life changed in a way I would not have expected. I lost an old friend who I took for granted and realized I believe some people were born to save others.

Alina Bourger was a 21-year-old girl who would have had a bright future. She recently transferred to the University of Arizona from NMSU to study education. She was a dedicated basketball player, loved barbecue chips and the color purple. Simple things she will now be re-membered by.

We met in middle school and were best friends for the beginning part of high school.

Eventually we did grow apart. But after her mother died a few years ago and I met her at her house to give my condolences, there was not a hesitation or beat skipped in our fi rst hug in months after trying to keep up with our busy lives.

On the morning of March 27, she took an “Arizona-left turn” and was T-boned by a Mus-tang in her silver Toyota Corolla on East Avia-tion Parkway and 22nd Street, according to re-cent reports.

Driving was when we spent the most time to-gether, so the thought of her losing her life in an accident was devastating since my strongest memory of her was eating lunch off campus in high school every day and listening to hip-hop.

Usually for a story of this caliber I would have immediately thought about sources and photos, but this time was different. Instead, I made zero phone calls and used my graduating classmates as my sources.

However, journalistically speaking, thoughts about the infamous Arizona-left turn arose. Based on Google Maps, the turn on 22nd Street

crosses a huge intersection that allows one to turn on a left with no green arrow, yielding to oncoming traffi c. Streets merging onto major roads in big cities should not allow drivers to turn at risk.

According to the Tucson Department of Transportation website, permitted and protect-ed arrows allow drivers to “turn when there are adequate gaps in opposing traffi c” during the “green ball cycle” of the light between arrows. This has been reported to reduce wait time at lights.

But if accidents in such intersections happen often, I would rather wait the extra minute at a green light listening to music than wait count-less days to be healed after someone’s death.

Maybe to you Alina Bourger will be a girl you read about in the newspaper, but to me Alina will always be a beautiful reminder that being a good person does matter even if in your lowest moment you may not believe it is the truth.

I never would have made it through some of the hardest struggles if it were not for you. Rest in peace my friend.

Football to joinSun Belt Conference

Former NMSU student killed in car accident last week

8April 4 88