Dec. 2 turned out to be a big day for immigration discussions at the University of New Mexico.
I was on my way to class in the morning when an obviously upset friend of mine urged me to read the front page of the Daily Lobo — UNM’s student-run newspaper. On it was a picture of a friend and fellow intern with a caption falsely describing her as undocumented.
Anger, disappointment, disbelief and disgust overcame me, and I had the urge to go crazy Latina on the Daily Lobo. It’s not often that I get so worked up over something, but as a journalist-to be (hopefully) and friend, I couldn’t pretend everything was hunky dory. It’s journalism ‘101′ to check and double check your sources. How could a newspaper staff make such a jarring and potentially detrimental mistake?
I spent the morning fuming and going over media law with a friend and had a speech ready by the time I went in to El Centro. There, I had a meeting with several staff members and students ready to march to the Daily Lobo building and giving them a smack-down. We came up with a plan and our demands, and made our way to the paper with a larger crowd than we expected. What was supposed to be a meeting with about five Daily Lobo and El Centro representatives, became a meeting with five Lobo staffers, seven El Centro representatives and a crowd of 15 to 20 others angered by the Daily Lobo.
I don’t want to bash on the Lobo, but it was very disappointing and irritating for me to see a libelous statement made by a newspaper that I was planning to write for at some point during my time at UNM. So when I went in there with my trusty AP Stylebook, I let them know they had failed the University by not reporting on the truth. Check your dang sources! It’s not such a difficult task, and if it is, do us all a favor and quit now. What they printed was libel and even though the First Amendment is a tough one to challenge, this case would hold up in court any day. Not only that, but had the student actually been undocumented, their stupid mistake would have cost her her future. Their mistake would have devastated a person’s life.
Someone from the Communications and Journalism Department should oversee the paper, and all staffers should be required to take a media law/ethics class before being published. A quick look at previous stories printed on the front page of the Lobo only this week shows how necessary it is for these students to learn about journalistic integrity and have someone to answer to. In fact, media ethics and law should be offered early on, instead of at a 400 level for all journalism majors.
The meeting went well overall and the Lobo printed an apology in the following day’s paper. It was well done and they are genuinely sorry, but sorry doesn’t change the fact that their reputation has been compromised and that a friend felt paranoid the whole day thinking right-wing nativists might attack her. 
Following the Daily Lobo’s publication of the photo and caption falsely describing the student as undocumented, the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico, unanimously voted to pass the DREAM Act resolution.
Quite the change, right? I went from complete disappointment to regaining faith in humanity with ASUNM’s decision.
The resolution was originally written by members of the Mexican Student Association and gained support from several organizations before making it ASUNM. The goal? For UNM to publicly declare itself in support of DREAM Act because it supports education.
As was proven that day, us brown folk can gather masses. Over 40 people showed up to the meeting. Maybe five of them were there to ask for more money for the Rugby team and the rest were there in support of the resolution. We definitely shocked the student senators as the biggest crowd to join them at one of their never-ending meetings in the time they had served. Even more surprising was the vote. The DREAM Act resolution passed 17-0-2. Not ONE senator voted straight out ‘nay.’ What?! My jaw dropped as I heard ‘yay’ after ‘yay.’
That day of highs and lows will be a day I remember forever. I learned more about journalism than I would have ever learned in a class. Turns out Spiderman’s Uncle Ben knew what he was talking about when he said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” I’m vying for one of the most powerful and life-impacting jobs out there, and I saw first-hand how detrimental one mistake could be. And yet, we wouldn’t have been able to teach about the DREAM Act without the media’s help. How bittersweet.
I created a short magazine about El Centro de la Raza for my Multimedia & Visual Communications class. Take a look 
