Month: June 2013

Bringing the canvas to the campus

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By: Adriana Avila Senior Reporter | Photo by: Rene Thompson

ArtTemporary art is coming to Main campus. Fine Arts instructor Danielle Miller said the Arts Practices I course is creating art that can be shared in unusual places around the community.

While the class does focus on traditional art, it also covers contemporary and specifically forms of temporary art, such as art installations and land proj­ects, which take art out of the classroom and into the community where it can be shared in an unex­pected way.

“Part of what this type of art work tries to do is to put art out into the community in a way that people stumble across it instead of going into a gallery where you know you’re going to see a work of art,” Miller said.

Temporary art is meant to be somewhere for a moment and disap­pear right after. It gives a little bit of art, one piece at a time, to the community so people are surprised when the works are dis­covered, she said.

One of the class assignments was to create an urban canvas around the North building on Main campus by putting small colored pieces of paper around the exterior of the building with tape or icing so that they could easily be removed with no damage, she said.

“The assignment sheet said that it needed to be within walking distance of the classroom. It could’ve been off campus but it just had to be somewhere where we could walk to as a group so we could talk about and look at the art work that the stu­dents created. As long as it didn’t deface any property or block any movement for people,” she said.

Historically, tempo­rary art has been prac­ticed for some time and Miller’s class studies the various types of tempo­rary art in comparison to the more traditional types of art, such as paintings that are meant for gallery viewing, she said.

“It’s something that if you were going to install permanently anywhere as an artist you would want to make sure that you have all of the proper permissions in place. But these little temporary things that people could do are sort of meant to be ephemeral, to be there one minute and to go away the next,” she said.

The artwork that stu­dents in the class create are not in any way acts of graffiti or vandalism but projects focused on the idea of spreading art to those who may not have an opportunity to view art elsewhere, she said.

“At heart, these proj­ects are really meant to be not destructive. They weren’t destructive from the very source, they weren’t meant to be destructive, so if graf­fiti has that sensibility or association of being destructive then that’s not what these pieces are about, at all. I think the pieces were meant to be very playful and the students had an experi­ence of doing something unusual that was really interesting and a really different way to share their art work with the community,” she said.

A protocol for tem­porary art to be placed on campus is in the works, and Miller wel­comes the idea of sharing the art with students for longer than a couple of class meetings, she said.

“I think it would be great if we can make that happen because I think it does allow more people on campus to see the proj­ects and have that experi­ence; so if we can do that eventually, when a proto­col gets made for that, I think that would be great. Students put a lot of time and effort into these so it’s nice if they have the sense that people are able to see them and they don’t have to just put them up and then take them down

M.E.Ch.A unites chicano students

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By Daniel Montaño Staff Reporter | Photo by:  Juan Gonzalez

M.E.Ch.ACNM’s chapter of el Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlan is look­ing to enroll new mem­bers who want to make a positive change for higher education and the Chicano community, said Juan Gonzalez, Psychology and Chicana/o Studies major.

M.E.Ch.A is a student organization that pro­motes higher education, unity and empowerment of Chicana/os, the CNM Chapter of which can be reached via their Facebook page, which can be found by searching “M.E.Ch.A de CNM” on Facebook, or by email at mechacnm@ gmail.com, Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez is one of the founding members of the CNM chapter of M.E.Ch.A, and said that before he moves to UNM in the fall 2013 semester, he is looking for any stu­dents, Chicana/o or oth­erwise, who are willing to work to promote culture and higher education to help build the M.E.Ch.A organization.

“In 2013, M.E.Ch.A is not just Chicanos, it’s anybody who sees all these struggles, who knows what’s going on, and wants to help their communi­ties,” Gonzalez said.

M.E.Ch.A provides students a place where they can get support from fellow students, people who are going through the same things they are, he said.

M.E.Ch.A has gained a reputation since it was first created in the 1960’s as being a protest organi­zation, but Gonzalez said that in the new age of M.E.Ch.A, it has grown into a community-cen­tered activist group.

“A lot of people remember M.E.Ch.A. as ‘the protestors’ and all that, so a lot of people kind of look at us a little bit weird. But we can pass our resources along. We know a lot of people. We’re building a com­munity for people coming into the state or people who have any struggles,” he said.

When M.E.Ch.A was first established, it lobbied for Chicana/o studies, bilingual education and other similar programs, but now M.E.Ch.A looks to support any person or group looking to promote peace, cooperation and equality, Gonzalez said.

M.E.Ch.A revolves around the idea that through community and collective action, people can make a posi­tive impact together by helping and giving support to one another, Gonzalez said.

“We have some really good people here in Albuquerque, so we work together as a com­munity to help people out,” he said.

M.E.Ch.A was cre­ated in the late 1960’s and came out of the Chicano civil rights movement, said Ramiro Rodriguez, one of UNM’s representatives to the Centro Aztlan region of M.E.Ch.A.

The Chicano movement had many aspects—Farm work­ers rights, voting and political rights, land grants—and M.E.Ch.A came from the union of several separate stu­dent organizations that were working on rights for education within the Chicano movement, said Rodriguez.

“The objectives of M.E.Ch.A. became pro­moting higher education, our cultura and our story. We believe that playing a part in our story and in higher education is the avenue for changing our society. Our themes are usually education, activism, and el cultura,” Rodriguez said.

M.E.Ch.A is a national organization that is separated into 10 different regions com­posed of local chapters, based in universities and colleges, and local clubs based in high schools, Rodriguez said.

The first M.E.Ch.A in Albuquerque was in a middle school, but now has chapters at UNM, CNM, New Mexico Highlands University, Eastern New Mexico University and clubs in high schools statewide, Rodriguez said.

“Every year we have a national conference. I’ve attended this year’s and the year before. This year was in San Diego and the year before was in Phoenix. Some other things we do are like the national conference, we have regional meet­ings, statewide meet­ings, retreats, there’s the national Cuento where you get to talk to all the other Mechistas,” he said.

For more informa­tion on M.E.Ch.A, visit nationalmecha.org.

STEM UP gives Science, Technology, Engineering and Math students a leg up.

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By Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter

The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Undergraduate Pathway program, or STEM UP, is a collaborative effort between CNM and UNM to assist stu­dents in STEM majors, said Susana Sarmiento, Program Coordinator.

For CNM, those majors are: Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Physics and Nutrition, she said.

The goal of STEM UP is to help students suc­cessfully get their associ­ate degrees in one of the STEM fields at CNM, and then to assist the transi­tion over to UNM so students can continue on and get their bachelor’s degree, she said.

STEM UP helps stu­dents by providing tutors and peer mentors for the STEM fields, she said.

The peer mentors are current CNM stu­dents enrolled in one of the STEM fields who are paired up with new stu­dents to mentor them through the degree pro­gram, she said.

“The mentors will help by guiding the students as they take the same classes with them. The mentors hold study sessions; the mentors help them with getting connected with resources for STEM stu­dents. Since the mentors are very much involved in the program and knowing what STEM UP is doing, they can help students find resources out in the community they might otherwise miss,” she said.

The mentors con­tact the students on a bi-weekly basis to check on progress, whether it is by email or by inviting the student to a workshop, or even just sitting down with the student for coffee between classes, she said.

“Since the mentors are students going through the same challenges as the members of the program, they can help the students by guiding them through the problems they may face,” she said.

Students in an eli­gible program of study who want to get involved can contact one of the program’s two academic advisors, Douglas Atler or Nina Gardea, she said.

“The advisors will then meet with them so they can fill out our application. They will be given a passport which says the student will meet with an advisor reg­ularly, meet with their peer mentor, meet with a tutor and attend dif­ferent workshops. What we do from there is sign off items as the student fulfills them so they can show active participation and be eligible for a last semester scholarship at CNM,” she said.

The program got started through some talks between CNM and UNM on wanting to collaborate more in getting students to UNM for their four-year degrees, she said.

“The grant oppor­tunity was offered by the U.S. Department of Education and we got that grant two years ago,” Sarmiento said.

When the program started, peer mentors did a lot of study groups, said Alex Cordova, Physics major and peer mentor. The program now offers individual tutoring but overall the study groups have been more beneficial for the students, he said.

“My experience as a peer mentor has been awesome so far. I have had a lot more one-on-ones with my mentees this semester and I think as word gets out about the program, more people will be interested in meet­ing with us as peer men­tors,” Cordova said.

Sarah Thompson, Physics major, said she is optimistic about the pro­gram’s ability to help her get through her degree programs and transfer to UNM when she is ready.

“I think I should prob­ably have been more involved in the last few semesters as this pro­gram will likely help me to save my Math degree,” Thompson said.

This program is also a great opportunity for getting Native American students not only through their degrees, but to help prepare the students the professional environment, said Dorothea Bluehorse, co-advisor for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society.

“I really do encourage that the student organiza­tions continue with their study sessions. The Math League, the Chemistry Club, I think those are really great opportunities for our students to engage and be proactive in extra-curricular activities and I am hoping to collabo­rate with STEM UP and the Math, Science and Engineering department to make things happen,” Bluehorse said.

STEM UP

Academic Advisors:

Douglas Atler

datler1@cnm.edu

Located in the Academic Advisement Office in the Student Service Center, Main Campus.

 

Nina Gardea

ngardea@cnm.edu

Located in the L Building,

Room 200, Main Campus

Upcoming Events:

  • Fri. June 28: Workshop Financial Literacy 8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. MS Building, Room MS 301
  • Wed. July 3: Montoya Campus 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
  • Fri. July 12: UNM Walkabout 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
  • Wed. July 26: STEM UP at CNM Westside 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Dragons, and Jedi and elves, oh my! CNM Science Fiction & Fantasy Club

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By Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter | Photo by: Jamison Wagner

SF&F ClubThe Science Fiction and Fantasy Club is currently based out of the CNM Westside campus, but the club officers are discussing how to expand it to all cam­puses, said Lori Mehl, club adviser.

The club meets off campus at Kaboom Test Labs, a comic book store, every Monday at 3 p.m. to play Dungeons & Dragons. Students interested in joining should drop by one of the meetings, she said.

“We are really excited about the idea of getting a CNM Science Fiction and Fantasy Club at Main campus, one at Montoya and so on,” said Mehl.

In the fall semester, instead of Dungeons & Dragons, the club will be switching to various other events like board games and a SF slam around Halloween, where club members will be reading classic SF horror novels, said club treasurer and Liberal Arts major Christopher Martinson.

“Now in the future we are think­ing about doing a film festival, attending SF and Fantasy conven­tions for literature, movies and pop cul­ture,” said Mehl.

Playing Dungeons & Dragons has gotten students to put some of their classes to use, including classes in Anthropology, Political Science and Statistics and Probability, said Martinson.

“We like to incor­porate disciplines our members have an interest in. Some of the students in our club are involved in Anthropology and so they are helping to develop the charac­ters backstories and how their culture evolves. We have our art students working creating miniature figurines of the char­acters,” he said.

Mehl teaches a sci­ence fiction literature class at the Westside campus every spring, and shortly after the SF literature class got going three years ago, Mehl was approached by students who wanted to form a club for SF and Fantasy, Mehl said.

“The first semes­ter I taught the class, the students proposed we consider putting together a science fic­tion and fantasy club. I was very excited about this,” she said.

Some of the club members are work­ing on character por­traits of the group’s Dungeon & Dragon characters, said Martinson. A group portrait of the charac­ters should be done by fall, he said.

The club is also working on develop­ing a newsletter so people can stay up to date with club events, and have also commis­sioned a logo, banner and signage from one of the local student artists, he said.

“The artist is still working on the designs for us, and it will incorporate the CNM logo but still screams science fiction to people,” Martinson said.

The plans to expand the club to other campuses are still in the early stages and the club will likely need additional faculty sponsors at each campus, Mehl said.

If faculty or stu­dents want to help with starting a new SF and fantasy club at other campuses, they should contact club advisor Lori Mehl at lmehl@cnm. edu or Christopher Martinson, club treasurer at crmar­tinson@me.com for more information.

SF & Fantasy Club Meetings:

Summer semester every Monday at 3 p.m.

Located at: Kaboom Test Labs comic book store

10250 Cottonwood Park Road, Suite E Albuquerque NM 87114

CNM employee union takes a stand

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By: Daniel Montaño, Staff Reporter | Photo By: Daniel Montaño

CNM employee unionThe CNM Employees Union is sending a clear message to the American Federation of Teachers: unless AFT of New Mexico provides more services and support, CNMEU is going to leave the federation, said Andy Tibble, Reading instructor and president of CNMEU.

On Saturday June 8 at the Center for Peace and Justice at 202 Harvard Drive SE, CNMEU voted to leave AFT, by a margin of more than four to one. The union also passed a motion to defer the sepa­ration for a year in order to give AFTNM a chance to meet CNMEU’s expec­tations, Tibble said.

“I’m feeling good about the vote today. We got a very strong vote for a course of action that I think is a very prudent one.

Yes, we’re still will­ing to disaffiliate, but we want to give AFT an opportunity to address our concerns and we realize that in order to really do that it’s going to take a while. It’s not something that can be done in a week or two,” Tibble said.

Tibble said that CNMEU has had to handle most of its own negotiations, bargaining, and arbitrations without assistance from AFTNM and has been generally disappointed with the service that AFTNM has provided, especially in the recent case of Steve Cormier, a CNM instructor who many CNMEU members have said was unjustly fired.

Additionally, the membership dues that CNMEU pays to AFT have been rising over the past few years and now consume 90 percent of CNMEU’s budget, leav­ing little at the local chap­ter’s disposal, Tibble said.

“It just sort of came to a head, we had to look at other options. We can’t continue to pay a large percentage of our dues money to an orga­nization that’s not really as effective as we’d like to see it,” Tibble said.

Once talk of dis­affiliation started to spread, after CNMEU went to mediation in the meeting, AFT rep­resentatives started making phone calls to CNMEU members and showing up to their homes to discuss the benefits of remaining with the federation, Tibble said.

Shep Jenks, Anthropology instruc­tor, was one of the many members who were visited by the AFT and said that he was dis­appointed that the AFT was only willing to spend money when they risked losing a chapter.

“The rep that vis­ited me came from Houston; my friend had a guy from Pennsylvania. In air­plane tickets and com­pensation alone they had to be spending thousands of dollars to visit as many mem­bers as they did. So it’s obvious that when AFT wants to they can muster enormous resources, but with the Steve Cormier case we had to come begging and pleading for help and still didn’t receive any money from state,” he said.

AFTNM devotes a large portion of its resources to the Albuquerque Teachers Federation, which is com­prised of Albuquerque’s K-12 teachers, and Tibble said he is seeking a restructure of AFTNM that will have more focus on the state’s colleges.

AFTNM will have to show a commitment to helping out smaller, higher education unions like CNMEU, which has only about 300 mem­bers compared to ATF’s 3800, by providing new staff and reforming policies that shift ser­vice away from smaller unions, Tibble said.

“One of the things that we will be looking for is a field representative that’s dedicated to higher-edu­cation I think that would be a reasonable proposal to make. That person would have to be knowl­edgeable and an expert in higher-ed issues and cur­rently they really don’t have a person that fills that roll,” Tibble said.

Prior to the vote, AFT National President Randi Weingarten and Tibble struck a verbal agreement that if CNMEU waited to disaffiliate for a year then the AFT would work on implementing changes to AFTNM’s structure and would waive CNMEU’s state membership dues, Tibble said.

Now that the vote has passed, AFT national has a week to put the verbal agree­ment between Tibble and Weingarten on paper or the CNMEU will become com­pletely independent, but Tibble said he is not worried that it will come to that.

“We just need to make sure that what we’ve dis­cussed in conversation is going to be something that we can count on in writing,” he said

Stephanie Ly, presi­dent of AFTNM, spoke at the meeting on Saturday and said she expected the votes to turn out how they did.

AFTNM is willing to work with CNMEU to achieve a compromise on the fine points of what the CNMEU wants, par­ticularly since Tibble has shown he is willing to work with the AFT by taking Weingarten’s offer on deferment, Ly said.

“We have been trying to work out a deal with them for months now, so we’re happy that they are actually taking on a deal,” Ly said.

Although CNMEU did pass the motion to defer disaffilia­tion, they will remain largely self-governed for the next year, which Peter Lundman English instructor and CNMEU treasurer, said is one of the things union mem­bers had been hoping for.

“It gives us the expe­rience of autonomy, which is what we asked for a year ago. The state was unable to give it to us but appar­ently national is going to make it happen,” Lundman said.

If after a year period AFTNM hasn’t shown appropriate changes, the CNMEU will be allowed to leave the federation without a legal fight from AFT, Tibble said.

Peter Kalitsis, Architectural Drafting instructor, said that if the union becomes inde­pendent he thinks it will remain strong because of the money being saved in due fees and the year of preparation they will have before fully leaving the AFT.

“We have strong lead­ership with a vision for the future. This gives them time to prepare and to show that we are very strong,” Kalitsis said.

Nariman Arafi, Psychology instructor, said he hopes for full independence from the AFT after a year because he is tired of the higher education community being unrepresented by AFTNM and CNM instructors having to deal with under-instructed students coming from APS.

“APS says ‘we are going to send you the students who cannot read or write, can’t add two plus two and your higher education has to deal with it.’ No! No more, we will stand up for our own rights from now on,” Arafi said.

Achievement coaches provide support for student success

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By: Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter | Photo By: Jamison Wagner

Academic advisorAchievement Coaches can offer solutions and assistance to students facing problems in getting their degrees, said Monika Monje, achievement coach for Math, Science and Engineering.

There are 20 achievement coaches in the CNM community. Some are with CNM Connect; others are specific to certain schools such as Communications, Humanities, Social Sciences or Math, Science and Engineering, said Rob Carriaga, Trio achievement coach and Communications instructor.

One of the services the achievement coaches normally provide is workshops to assist students in building skills in different areas, she said. Some of the more popular workshops help students with time management or with test anxiety, said Monje.

“We used to have more workshops but we are currently revamping them over the summer so we will have a smaller number. For example, we are combining our note-taking skills workshop with study skills. We are also merging our how to manage test-taking anxiety with our test-taking skills workshop,” she said.

Even if students cannot attend the workshops, coaches can work with them on a one-to-one basis in these areas, she said. The coaches can sit down with the student and help to solve scheduling issues, she said.

CNM Connect has the Advantage Scholarship and the book scholarship and any achievement coach can help a student get that, she said.

“As far as campus resources go, one of the things we can help with is scholarships. We can help with the getting the Rust Scholarship for a student by writing the letter for them to get that scholarship,” she said.

The school coaches can also assist students who are trying to register for classes for a third or fourth time, as the students need special permission to do this and the coaches can help them get that, she said.

“We will also do follow-up appointments when a student has had to re-take a class to make sure the student will be able to pass and help them if they are having trouble,” she said.

Students wanting help from an achievement coach can set an appointment or drop by a coach’s office during walk-in hours, she said.

An achievement coach’s main goal is to help students succeed, said Carriaga.

“When working with students we help establish their needs, desires and goals pretty clear on what they want, but not necessarily clear on how to get it,” he said. Some students are

For example, if a student wanted to be a nurse and was having problems passing a nursing class needed for the degree, the stu­dent could meet with an achievement coach to discuss options, he said.

“My starting point is usually a ques­tion intended to find out what the student thinks is his or her strong points and compare them to the weak points so I can help the student work out what they need to do to pass,”” he said.

Visit cnm. e d u / d e p t s . / achievement-coach for a list of phone numbers.

Mental health needs to be addressed in this country

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By: CNM Chronicle Editorial Board

Yet another random act of multiple killings has occurred, this time in Santa Monica, Ca. on June 7. Six people were shot and killed on a rampage that began with the gunman killing two male family members and ended at the Santa Monica Community College library, with the shooter using what police have confirmed was an AR-15 assault rifle.

It is disturbing to contemplate that it could have been here; it could have been our school library where this carnage ended, or at any community college campus, for that matter. In August of 2005, five victims, including two police officers, were killed in a senseless rampage by John Hyde on Central Avenue in Albuquerque, and just this April when 24-year-old Lawrence Carpener stabbed four people at a Catholic church in NW Albuquerque in an unprovoked attack. This is becoming a widespread epidemic and nothing is being done about it; the incidence of mass killings keeps going up.

When the Reagan administration shut down all public and state run mental institutions in the 80s, the result was complete pandemonium. The skyrocketing petty and violent crimes even caused the state of California to consider involuntary commitment laws after this massive change by our government.

The courts incarcerated mentally ill people in our country in the prison systems instead, similar to the pro­cess in the early 1900s when these public institutions were first estab­lished. The gross conditions that the mentally ill have suffered throughout history have been rife with negligence and downright cruel.

These people are now placed in the general popu­lation of prisons and don’t receive the care they need, making the problems worse than when the afflicted had originally been incarcerated. Unless people can afford counseling and med­ication, there are no real resources to take care of this problem, which has gotten out of control as mass killings have become a more common occur­rence throughout the country.

No one wants to care or pay for the proper attention of people who are mentally ill. State, federal government and prison systems have all been neglect­ful of this ever growing issue. It truly is a travesty that no one is seeing the bigger problem here: mental health is an issue that has been ignored for far too long.

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Bringing community back to the front yard

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By: Daniel Montaño

A construction project taking place behind CNM’s main campus on Buena Vista Drive and St. Cyr Avenue is intended to create friendships, com­munity, sustainability and a super-adobe eco-dome, said Mitchell Olson, former CNM Art major.

Olson is one of the many volunteers partici­pating in the construc­tion. He said that the dome is part of a larger project within the apart­ment complex that will include many sustainable, eco-friendly aspects.

“We’re talking about beekeeping, gardens on the roof, water cisterns, community gardens, solar energy and integration with the public,” he said.

The dome itself is the hands-on portion of a work­shop taught by Biko Casini, a guest instructor at Cal-Earth Institute, who said that he has built similar structures in Australia, West Africa, India and Europe.

Casini’s workshops focus on sustainable, green building practices and advanced energy solutions, and he said that the project also emphasizes the changes that can be made when people join together as a community in friendship.

“It’s very much an exer­cise in corrective synergy and what happens when you get a group of people who are motivated together. You can actually physically change and move the earth around,” Casini said.

Jesse Kalapa, owner of the building where construction is taking place, purchased the 10-unit rental property six years ago and said that at that time the building had a poor reputation for vagrancy and drug use.

Kalapa said he has been working to change this stigma ever since he purchased the property, and this commu­nity project is just one among many steps to build a self -sustaining eco-village in the University Heights area.

“Well, my primary inten­tion for the property is that it’s the world’s most renowned model of sustainability. That’s a big goal but it’s coming to fruition through steps like this,” he said.

Kalapa also hopes to open his property up to the uni­versity community by estab­lishing an accredited course in partnership with UNM or CNM that will focus on sus­tainable building practices, he said.

If Kalapa’s proposed part­nership works out, he plans on turning one of the apart­ments into a live-in labora­tory, he said.

“Someone could live there for a week or a month and learn the basic techniques of sustainability,” he said.

Most community envi­ronments similar to theS one Kalapa is building tend to focus on growing and selling vegetables to bring an income to the community, but Kalapa said he wants to use waste products within the urban environment as a major con­tributor to his project.

Kalapa gained experi­ence with building solar panels from scrap materi­als during a trip he took to Ghana, and said that he plans on using waste mate­rials like glass to build the solar panels that will be included in the final project.

“So I’m looking at resources a little bit differ­ently than some hippy com­mune that’s growing corn and selling tomatoes at the grow­ers market. I think that’s great and wonderful but I also have an element of permaculture, taking advantage of the resources at hand,” Kalapa said.

All of the struc­ture’s components exceed building requirements. Kalapa met with city planners and zoning committee, and he said the super-adobe structure is con­sidered a flexible form of a stabilized rammed earth structure under building codes, and that he is pur­posely leaving a five-foot opening in the top of the dome in order to meet building requirements.

“So it’s not considered a structure, it’s a garden wall,” Kalapa said.

Those looking to be a part of the community are more than welcome to simply walk up and speak to anyone at the construction site, Kalapa said

For more information on super-adobe construction, visit calearth.org, or to vol­unteer check out the proj­ect’s facebook page at face­book.com/2105stcyr. For information on renting an apartment, e-mail jesseka­lapa@gmail.com.

A Weatherman’s journey through a climate of change

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By: Adriana Avila, Senior Reporter | Photos by MARKRUDD.COM and NYDAILYNEWS.COM

Mark Rudd leading the April 23, 1968 mass protest in front of the Alma Mater on Columbia campus.Mark Rudd marches for peace

“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”

Mark Rudd, a SAGE instructor at CNM from 1980 through 2007, and many of his former col­leagues adopted Bob Dylan’s famous verse from “Subterranean Homesick Blues” as an identity to spark a revo­lution in an attempt to stop U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Rudd’s most famous attempt at revolt was to halt
Chronicle: “Tell me about the SDS? What did it stand for?”operations at Columbia University through the largest student protest in American history. Mark Rudd sat down with the Chronicle and explained what it was like for him as a student protester and “Weatherman” in the ‘60s.

Rudd: “Students for a Democratic Society. It existed from 1962 to 1969 and it was the largest radi­cal student organization in the United States. It had chapters, independent chapters, on about 400 college and high school campuses, including com­munity colleges–the first community colleges. At UNM there was a consid­erably large chapter, very active in anti-war activi­ties and anti-racism too.”

Chronicle: “How did The Weatherman organi­zation form?”

Rudd: “Well, that was an aberration. It’s not something I’m proud of actually, although some people think it’s really cool but I actually think it was a mistake. We gauged a situation as being very much more revolution­ary that we could change the whole system, much more of a revolution than it really was. We had moved from a position, many of us had moved from a position of being just against the war to being against the system that gave us the war. We actually destroyed SDS by becoming too mili­tant and too far out.”

Chronicle: “How were you able to shut down protests you thought were not being run and orga­nized correctly?”

Rudd: “That was August of 1969. It was an anti-war demonstration in Central Park in New York on Hiroshima Day on August 6. The people who had organized it had the slogan ‘End the War, No More Hiroshimas, End the War.’ Well we were so arrogant we said it wasn’t enough to just end the war, we have to end the system that gave us the war. We were very factional. We attacked people who weren’t as radical as us. Making the anti-war movement as strong as possible but we actually weakened the anti-war movement by attacking it and saying it wasn’t radical enough. I can’t communicate this enough to people how many mistakes we made in the name of radicalism.”

Chronicle: How do you feel about what is considered radical activism nowadays, like ‘Anonymous’?

Rudd: “I certainly feel that ‘Anonymous’ and WikiLeaks have played a great role in putting out all these gov­ernment secrets that we need to know. Bradley Manning is a great hero. Imagine how they’re treating this guy like he’s a terrorist for get­ting the truth out. Think about that. They want to lock him away; they want to kill him actually. Horrible!”

Chronicle: Your most publicized feat was the protest at Columbia University. How was that?

Rudd: “I was 20 years old. It was amazing to be involved, for everybody. Columbia had a reunion, I wrote about it in the epi­logue in my book and for a lot of people it was one of the most important things of their whole lives and we knew it at the time.”

Chronicle: Why did you protest that day? Was it planned or spontaneous?

Rudd: “There’s nothing spontaneous. Things don’t just happen. There was a campaign at Columbia by SDS to edu­cate the campus about military research, aiding the war and also about the university’s expansion into Harlem, the black com­munity. People had their minds and their beings jarred by the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. and they said ‘what can I do about racism?’ and by then it was against the war too. Some of the people say it was the reason he was murdered because on April 4, 1967.”

Chronicle: What was your part in The Weathermen?

Rudd: “I was one of the founders of the faction called The Weathermen and we were organized hierarchically. We called ourselves the Weather Bureau. It was like a central committee that ran the organization and I was a part of that. I was also in the Weather Underground in the beginning but I dropped out very quickly.”

Chronicle: What is The Weather Underground and what did they do that was different from the Weathermen?

Rudd: “Bombings, for better or worse. The Weathermen were pretty terrible. We called dem­onstrations to fight cops.

It started in 1970 and the idea was to build a gue­rilla army. I quickly saw it wasn’t going to work, by then I was already a fugi­tive so I actually left the organization its first year and went off on my own.”

Chronicle: Do you think people would con­sider someone like you to be a terrorist now? Back then you guys were revolutionaries, but now that word seems to have turned into terrorists.

Rudd: “Absolutely. Now if you just dem­onstrate against the war or some­thing you’re called a terrorist.

One of the teach­er’s unions, not mine, mine was the American Federation of Teachers but the other one is called the National Education Association. They started to divide the turf. One of (former President George W. ) Bush’s cabinet secre­taries called the NEA a terrorist organization. They’ll call anybody a terrorist. The word used to be communist.”

Chronicle: With everything that’s hap­pened in the past, what do you remember most about it?

Rudd: “It’s funny; my most positive memory was being involved in mass demonstrations against the war, like being one out of half a million people marching against the war. I’m proud of that and that’s probably my most vivid memory.”

Chronicle: Do you have anything else to add to this interview?

Rudd: “The need to engage in politics so we can change policy. That’s important. We can’t ignore it. We can’t walk away from it and I think in order to engage in politics it’s going to take a mass movement like a civil rights movement or a human rights movement to get people mobilized, to get people thinking and active and learning and willing to take the time. Essentially it’s build­ing democracy, which we don’t have. Our democ­racy has withered, now that’s another question. Why did it wither?”