Students: Change UNM seal

Two Native American student groups want the University of New Mexico to change its official seal which depicts a frontiersman and a Spanish conquistador.

The Daily Lobo reported that the Red

Nation and Kiva Club said the seal is racist toward Native Americans because it reflects the state’s violent past.

Both groups plan to submit a petition to the Board of Regents to abolish the seal.

Policy and Administrative Planning director Pamina Deutsch said the seal was ratified by the Board of Regents in September 1969.

The groups also are demanding the reconstruction of the Native American cultural center, formation of a council of elders at the Board of Regents comprised of leaders from surrounding pueblos and the demand of tuition waivers for federally recognized tribes.

Intervention OK’d for water lawsuit

The board of directors for one of New Mexico’s major irrigation districts has voted to intervene in a lawsuit concerning decades-old permits and the authority to pull water from the Rio Grande.

Environmentalists are challenging the office of the state engineer, saying New Mexico’s top water managers have failed to force the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District to prove it’s putting the water to beneficial use.

The district’s counsel, Chuck DuMars, contends the irrigation district demonstrated that water rights were placed into beneficial use through the construction and operation of the district’s diversion and distribution system under a plan approved in 1928.

DuMars said the lawsuit should be dismissed. WildEarth Guardians argued in its suit that the state engineer has effectively given the district a blank water check for decades.

‘Lactation stations’ installed at UNM

The University of New Mexico has installed 21 “lactation stations” on campus for breastfeeding mothers, and the state’s other universities may be following its lead.

KRQE-TV reported that the university also has a new lactation policy and a breastfeeding support group. Women on the campus say the lactation stations are a huge relief and prevent the need to breastfeed or pump in restrooms.

The New Mexico Breastfeeding Task Force is impressed with UNM’s lactation policy and wants to use it as an example for other colleges and universities in the state. The Task Force’s workplace liaison, MJ Vargas, says the policy helps reduce the disparity for moms going back to school.

Central New Mexico Community College and New Mexico State University have also added lactation stations.

Domenici papers open to research

LAS CRUCES — The Political Papers Unit in the New Mexico State University Library Archives and Special Collections Department has completed processing the defense subseries of the Pete V. Domenici Senatorial Papers.

The 18 boxes are now open for use by researchers, a news release stated. The documents and materials in the collection focus on legislation, reports and policies related to the United States departments of defense and homeland security on both a national and New Mexican level.

A continually updated finding aid for the Pete V. Domenici Papers can be found at http://lib. nmsu.edu/domenici/ DomeniciFindingAid.pdf. Researchers can access the papers by visiting the Branson Library or by contacting the department at archives@lib.nmsu.edu and by phone at 575-6463839.