University of New Mexico's SUB reopens: Students happy to be back Wednesday in wake of protest damage

A student union is a place for students to congregate and talk about their classes with friends, study for a midterm or listen to music and de-stress.

“It’s (also) a place where students come together to host events,” University of New Mexico freshman Lauren Wilson said. “A lot of people come together to make friends and learn new things.”

Walk inside the student union in the center of UNM’s main campus in Albuquerque on Wednesday, and one could find few traces of a protest that took place a day earlier. There were no police officers decked in riot gear or protesters holding storage bin covers like shields.

Instead, there were people standing in line waiting to order food, while others sat with their laptops working on assignments.

UNM students like Wilson and freshman Daysha Brooks said they were glad that the SUB — or Student Union Building — reopened. The SUB was closed on Tuesday because of damage that resulted from protests on Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

“It was pretty shocking knowing it had to be closed for the whole day yesterday,” Brooks said.

‘Surprised me’

Early Tuesday morning, 16 pro-Palestinian protesters, including five UNM students, were arrested after UNM Police and New Mexico State Police officers took down protester tents that were set up inside the student union.

Protesters had camped inside for several hours after moving over from the Duck Pond, where they have camped for over a week. The protest focused, in part, on the Hamas-Israel war, the treatment of Palestinians and divesting from Israel.

UNM spokeswoman Cinnamon Blair said Wednesday afternoon that the incident remains under investigation.

Brooks said, while she believes everyone has the right to express themselves, “I don’t think it should have escalated (to) where there had to be violence involved.”

Freshman Dawson Breen agreed.

“Protesting is a good thing, but I think they went a little too far,” he said.

The protests at the Duck Pond “didn’t look very large,” Breen said, but “the one in the SUB looked like it was on a bigger scale, which surprised me.”

The incident also created more anxiety for students than usual this time of year, Brooks said.

“There’s finals, projects and then there’s this, that additional stress,” she said.

‘Hope ... things don’t escalate’

UNM administrators have been dealing with stress themselves as they sort out the damage. But a group of volunteers lightened some of the load for the university on Tuesday.

Blair said the volunteers, including students and administrators, cleaned up the SUB.

“It was pretty amazing what they were able to do in one day,” she said. “The students are really excited to have their space back.”

Blair said while they got the chalk, paint and Sharpie marks off the walls, the walls will have to be repainted. Additionally, furniture will have to be replaced after being damaged when it was used to barricade doors to prevent police from coming in the SUB.

The administration is talking with furniture companies and vendors “to see what some of the replacement costs will be,” Blair said.

Brooks stood outside the SUB on Wednesday when she heard some protesters yell chants at a nearby Albuquerque Police Department recruiting event.

As she walked over and watched, she said, “I’m not opposed to their protesting, but I just hope in the future things don’t escalate the way they did the other day.”