Tag: Editorial Board

Abortion measure could change Albuquerque as we know it

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Editorial, By the Chronicle Editorial Board

The late-term abortion ballot measure has been fueled by out-of-state and out-of-touch anti-abortion activists, who have no vested interest in the values or daily lives of New Mexicans, and should be stricken down with a steady hand by true Burqueños.  Two of the major players in these groups, Bud and Tara Shaver, moved to our city for the specific reason of drum¬ming up anti-abortion regula¬tions, nothing more.  These groups call our city “the abortion capitol of the United States,” saying hundreds of people flock to Albuquerque to get late-term abortions.  In reality — as in, the real world — according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, New Mexico hosts less than half of the abortions that our neighbors Arizona and Colorado do, and less than a sixth of the number Texas does.  Out of the comparatively small number of abortions that are performed, only five per¬cent are performed on people who come from out of state.  In light of these facts, the title bestowed upon us by these propagandist groups seems less than fitting.  These groups falsely claim that abortion is dangerous to women.  In 2008, the most recent year for which this information is available, only 12 women died out of the more than 825,000 who received an abortion, according to the CDC.  That’s a 99.9985 percent safety rate; according to the FDA that is a higher safety rate than ciprofloxacin, a common antibiotic widely considered safe and widely prescribed for urinary tract infections.  The fact of the matter is that the arguments against abortion largely trends toward those of a moral and religious standing, and if one’s beliefs lead them to view abortion as wrong, so be it; that is one’s own personal conviction and decision to make.  That does not mean, however, that laws should be enacted to reg¬ulate a personal and heartbreaking decision — particularly not when the people who are leading this charge are more concerned with the politics of the issue than with the people who would be affected by this abortion ballot is passed.

Achievement coaches do care

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Editorial, By the Chronicle Editorial Board

If a student has an issue with an instructor, is struggling to pay bills at home or just needs a little help to do better, the best place to get help with these issues is with individual department achieve¬ment coaches, who go above and beyond to help students to succeed.  Achievement coaches can help students with an array of issues, but most of all they help them to get through the issues that life can bring and can makes a student’s goals seem unattainable at times.  They not only help with schol¬arships such as the rust fund men¬tioned in The Rust Fund front page story, but if students are feeling trapped in a class or are not getting the help they need, an achievement coach can let students know their options, and what they can do to get past the difficulties that can occur while taking a tough class.  Sometimes it may feel as if the school, faculty or administra¬tion does not care about the needs of individual students, but these coaches are there for this exact reason, and after meeting with an achievement coach one might change their minds, because they have helped many students over-come their individual problems.  So, if students are feeling as if they are trying their best and are still struggling, there are always options here at CNM, and the Chronicle suggests going to see one of these achievement coaches in individual departments and see exactly what options there are, and take advantage of these great resources here at our school.

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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Editorial: Preventing rape starts with education

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Editorial By: The CNM Chronicle Editorial Board

Rape culture needs to end and it must start with education.

Questioning what a victim wore or what the victim had to drink seems natural. Jokes about rape — such as the line sung by the men in “Summer Nights” from “Grease” — are so common in media that most people hardly notice.

Rape culture will not go away over­night. We need education on the subject, without judgment, spin or propaganda.

We need institutions like CNM to add rape culture to the list of cultural studies classes.

We need professionals to tell us how to handle situations where rape culture is happening. We need classes on preventing rape culture like the active shooter train­ing mentioned in “Active shooter training offered on Montoya, Westside Campuses” on the front page of this issue.

We need this because victims should not be afraid to come forward after a rape. We need this because teenagers think it is ok to video tape a rape, but do nothing to stop it.

The problem with rape culture is that it blurs the line. It can make people forget that we live in a world where actions have consequences.

Major news outlets like CNN have made comment about the recent guilty decision in the Stubenville rape case that lament the loss of promising careers – of the rapists, and of their lifelong labels as sex offenders.

What the national news media failed to acknowledge is the struggle the victim will have.

Images and video of her rape are on the internet forever. Her memory loss of the night will leave her with lifelong questions about how things got so out of control.

This case, from start to finish, is the product of a culture that embraces rape as funny or the victims fault or a common­place thing that happens all the time.

This is not ok.

Last spring, the CNM Chronicle wrote a special edition paper on sex and violence which included the story of a male rape victim.

He said his attackers were never brought to justice because the respond­ing officers did not believe a man could be raped.

His story can be read at thecnmchron­icle.wordpress.com/overcoming-stigma.

If the police can be taken in by rape culture, we must be educated in order to combat it.

So CNM, give us the option to learn.

There are so many instances where people tells us it is ok to think rape jokes are funny, that a person’s sexual history is relevant to a sexual assault and that a forceful or violent man is somehow sexy.

We need a place to that will help us examine the problem.

Editorial: Congratulations to CNM

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By The CNM Chronicle Editorial Board

  The CNM Chronicle Publication Board would like to extend its con­gratulations to CNM, and specifi­cally to CNM Connect, for a job well done in becoming a finalist for an AACC award, as mentioned in “CNM finalist in excellence award for stu­dent success” in this week’s edition.

Being one of five finalists in an award for student success is a great honor, and we are proud that CNM has gone to such great lengths in cre­ating the CNM Connect program.

The employees of Connect work hard to help students both academi­cally and in their personal lives.

The staff in the Connect offices often has heavily booked schedules, yet always seems to make time for any student who needs assistance.

This program has helped many students find homes, get scholarships and much more, and the Editorial Board is very happy to see CNM and the program recognized for its work.