There may be no event more exciting, yet terrifying, than college or high school graduation. After spending countless hours staying awake in lecture halls, surrounded by peers with shared ambitions of one day being successful in all aspects of life, graduation day should be the epitome of joy.

The days of imbibing unhealthy amounts of NoDoz and Red Bull before a final exam are done. Everything will be worth the struggles and sacrifice after receiving that piece of paper, right?

That’s the question that a lot of college and high school graduates have right now. The job market, no matter the job, is still tough and not everybody is cut out for college. It is a hard task to get a foot...

PART 2 of 2

Last week part one of an editorial on Racial Reconciliation was printed in the Gallup Sun.

At the end of Part One, I talked about my first experience with blatant racial stereotyping when I was 7 years old. When the little girl in the playground called me a “dirty rotten redskin” I don’t think she was born with that thought.  It was a learned way of thinking.  It is what children may see in the home when they grow up, what their peer groups practice, what they hear in music or see on other forums of life.

When my wife and I first moved to Gallup years ago we set about attending different Churches to see which one best suited our needs. In one Church one of the...

This week lawmakers will meet for the second special session called in eight months. At a cost of $50,000 a day, and no formal agenda or tax plan presented by the administration, New Mexicans should feel like they are being taken for a ride.

Although Governor Susana Martinez has announced her priorities for the reconvening—the budget, comprehensive tax reform, and confirmation hearings for her university regents—the focus of this special session should be the budget.

Our universities have no state funding for their fiscal year, which begins in less than 40 days. In addition, thanks to her veto of the bipartisan revenue package, the state lacks about $156 million needed to pay for...

The governor vetoed the entire higher education budget totaling almost $3 billion, along with the entire budget for the Legislature, to force lawmakers back to Santa Fe for a special legislative session to redo the state spending plan for the budget year that starts on July 1 and to overhaul the gross receipts tax system.

She says she is against raising taxes on New Mexicans but willing to allow some new revenue to support the budget. We’ve seen “no tax” pledges coupled with deeps cuts to higher education in other states and how distressing the combination has been to students, families, and communities.

For years, a number of governors have pitted higher education against...